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Gov. Cox calls on federal government to help tame overcrowding at national parks in Utah, the West

Letter from Western Governors Association encourages more money for deferred maintenance and fewer barriers between public lands and gateway communities.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Zion National Park hikers hoping to beat the crowds on park trails wait their tun in line to catch a free shuttle at first light in 2021. Every bus leaving the Zion Canyon Visitor's Center in the morning is filled to capacity, carrying some 60 people in each car of the two-car shuttle. "This is nothing," said shuttle host Celeste Fuentes about the endless rows of hikers. "Sometimes it's all the way to the parking lot."