MAKANDA, Ill. (WSIL) -- With the nice weather we've seen lately, some of our local state parks are seeing an increase in traffic. But with limited staff, it can be a challenge for some site managers.
This pandemic put a strain on different kinds of facilities, but Giant City State Park Site Superintendent Calvin Beckmann says it has allowed people to rediscover the outdoors.
He says visitation has gone up 20% since before the pandemic,
especially for camping. Beckmann says in a typical year they'll sell out once or twice, but in 2020, they sold out 6 weeks in a row.
He says when they opened for reservations this month weekends have already been booked.
Beckman says before the pandemic it was frustrating having to clean up waste around the park, but now people have been better about cleaning up after themselves.
He also says he's noticed more visitors have traveled from at least 5 hours outside our region to come explore, like this couple from the Chicago-area who says they've lived in Illinois for over 30 years and never seen this part of the state.
"With Covid especially, when everything in the beginning when everything was closed, being outside just felt normal like, 'oh, it's okay, these are normal times, you know?' I can still go for a hike and still go out and enjoy nature. So it's helped a lot," said Heidi Enright.
Beckman says although staff is small, they're dedicated to sanitizing and keeping the facilities clean. And he's excited to see more families come out and hike and people bring their bikes out to ride.
He says the increase in outdoor activity could be a foundation for more people to get back into nature and hopes this can be a trend for the next four to five years.
