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More Visitors at Copper Rim: A National Park Road Trip

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More Visitors at Copper Rim: A National Park Road Trip

Use park records to argue how more people, and more visits per person, change a canyon park.

Part 1: More people, more visits

Read the passage and use Table 1 to answer questions 1–3.

Bumper to Bumper at the Canyon

1Every summer, eighth grader Mireille Okafor and her grandfather take a road trip to a national park. This July they drove to Copper Rim National Park, where a river has cut a canyon about 600 m deep through layers of red and white rock. Her grandfather first visited in 1990, and he remembered finding an open parking spot at every overlook. This time the line of cars at the entrance gate stretched for 2 km, and the canyon road was packed from morning to evening. At the most popular overlook, they waited twenty minutes for a parking spot and then shared the railing with dozens of other visitors.

2At an evening ranger talk, Ranger Benedikt Aranda shared some of the park's records. Most visitors come from cities and towns within a day's drive, and the number of people living there has grown. People in the region also visit more often than they used to. Many families now take short weekend trips, and photos of the park's famous viewpoints are shared widely online.

3Ranger Aranda described several places that the records track. Juniper Spring, the only spring near the visitor center that flows all year, supplies water for the restrooms, drinking fountains and campground. Below the spring, a small creek is home to a tiny snail found nowhere else. At Overlook Point, many visitors step off the paved path to take photos. Where the ground there is now bare, rain has cut gullies 20 to 30 cm deep since 2005, and sand has piled up in the dry wash below the point.

4The park also has an air monitor that counts "haze days," when tiny particles in the air keep visitors from seeing landforms 80 km away. Such particles come from smokestacks, engines and blowing dust, and they can drift hundreds of kilometers on the wind. The nearest large cities are about 300 km upwind of the park.

5In 2022 the park started a free shuttle. In summer, most visitors now park at the visitor center and ride buses along the canyon road instead of driving it. Table 3 compares the July before the shuttle began with a July after it began.

Table 1: Copper Rim Visits and the Region (rounded)
YearPeople in region (M)Visits per 1,000 peoplePark visits (M)
199020501
20052580?
2020301504.5
M means millions. "People in region" counts everyone living within a day's drive of the park. "Visits per 1,000 people" is how many park visits that region makes each year for every 1,000 people living there.
1.
Park visits = people in region × visits per 1,000 people ÷ 1,000.

In 2005 the park had about million visits.

2.
Suppose the region had grown to 30 million people by 2020, but people still made only 50 visits per 1,000 people, as in 1990.

The park would have had about million visits in 2020.

3.
Compare your answer to question 2 with the real 2020 visits in Table 1. What does the comparison show about the rise from 1.0 million to 4.5 million visits?
Question 3 options

Part 2: What the park records show

Use Table 2, the bar graph and paragraphs 3 and 4 to answer questions 4–7.

Table 2: Copper Rim Park Records
YearCars in per day (July)Wildlife hit by carsHaze days per yearSpring pumping (m³/day)Spring snails counted
19901,20042040900
20052,40093480600
20205,0002152160250
"Wildlife hit by cars" counts deer, bighorn sheep, foxes and tortoises found hit on park roads in the whole year. Spring snails are counted each May in the same 10 m stretch of the creek below Juniper Spring.
Bare, Trampled Ground at Overlook Point050100150200250300350400450500550600199020052020YearBare ground (m²)
4.
Use the bar graph and Table 1. Compare 2020 with 1990.

The bare ground at Overlook Point grew to times as large, while the number of park visits grew to times as many.

5.
Use paragraph 3 and the bar graph. Which explanation best links the trampled ground at Overlook Point to the new gullies and the sand in the wash?
Question 5 options
6.
Mireille wants to argue that the growing number of visits is changing the park's living things (the biosphere). Circle each record that is direct evidence of a change in living things.

7.
Use Table 2 and paragraph 3. Which pattern best supports the idea that heavier use of Juniper Spring is linked to the drop in spring snails?
Question 7 options

Part 3: The shuttle and the next plan

Use Table 3 and the passage to answer questions 8–12.

Table 3: July Before and After the Shuttle
RecordJuly 2021 (no shuttle)July 2023 (shuttle)
Park visits in July600,000620,000
Cars on the canyon road per day5,0003,000
Wildlife hit by cars in July42
Haze days in July76
8.
Use Table 3.

After the shuttle began, the number of cars on the canyon road each day fell by %.

9.
Which conclusion about the shuttle do the July records support best?
Question 9 options
10.
Use paragraph 4 and Table 3. Cars on the canyon road dropped sharply, but haze days barely changed. Which is the best explanation?
Question 10 options
11.
The park expects about 6 million visits a year by 2035. Which plan would most likely let more people visit while slowing harm to the park's land, water and wildlife?
Question 11 options
12.
Mireille's grandfather says, "This park covers 1,900 square kilometers. A few million visitors a year cannot change its land, water, air or wildlife." Write an argument for or against his claim. Use at least three pieces of evidence from the tables, the bar graph and the passage, and explain how both the growing region and the way each person uses the park play a part.