Dinosaur National Monument Chief of Visitor Services Dan Johnson presented at the Vernal Chamber luncheon last week providing an update on the Monument’s happenings. Dinosaur National Monument covers 210,000 acres with a third of that in Utah and two-thirds in Colorado. The Monument received its International Dark Sky Certification in 2019 which has increased interest in the Park. In the last two years, the Monument has taken 15,000 students from around the globe on Virtual Field Trips, allowing students to see the Wall of Bones digitally. 4,600 students were reached last October alone. There were 299,697 visitors to the park in 2019, just down from 2018 when 304,000 people visited the park. A study from 2018 shows the significant impact that visitors to the Monument have on the local economy as it’s estimated they spent around $18.3 million dollars in the surrounding community creating 222 jobs locally. Johnson also shared that, not surprisingly, the biggest year for visitors at Dinosaur National Monument was 1993 thanks to the release of the movie Jurassic Park. Over half a million visitors made the trip to Dinosaur National Monument that year.
