Rocky Mountain National Park and the Rocky Mountain Conservancy are pleased to announce that the park’s Artist-In-Residence program will begin accepting applications for the summer 2025 season on Sunday, December 1, 2024. RMNP’s Artist-in-Residence program is open to artists of all creative disciplines and genres. Interested artists are invited to apply.
 
    Art has played a major role in the creation of our national parks and in the preservation of our country’s wild spaces. Since the 1800s, artistic works have inspired people to travel, dream, explore, and visit their national parks and other public lands. Artist-in-Residence programs provide opportunities for artists to connect with our national parks and to gain inspiration for the creation of new artistic works. Rocky Mountain National Park, in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Conservancy, is one of over 50 National Park Service sites that currently host an Artist-In-Residence program.   
 
    Selected artists will serve in a two-week residency within Rocky Mountain National Park. During their residency, selected artists will reside in a rustic cabin located inside RMNP where the artists can gain inspiration and create artistic works. Participating artists will also host and facilitate at least two free public programs for audiences of all ages.
 
    Applications for the summer 2025 program will be accepted beginning on December 1 and will close at 11:59 p.m. MST on January 31, 2025. For all details on application requirements and how to apply, visit Rocky Mountain National Park’s Artist-in-Residence webpage at https://go.nps.gov/romo/air
 
    Applications will be reviewed by a panel of judges. The panel will select at least five artists to participate in the 2025 Artist-in-Residence program. Selected artists will be notified in April and upon selection they will be able to choose a desired time block for their two-week residency from a list of available options.
 
    Established in 1984, RMNP was one of the first national parks to create an Artist-In-Residence program. This program was on hiatus from 2017-2023 while the program was being restructured. Over the past 30+ years, program participants have included painters, fiction writers, poets, photographers, textile artists, composers, sculptors, musicians, and more!
 
    Selected artists will stay at the William Allen White Cabin, a rustic, historic cabin located near Moraine Park. During their two-week residency, artists will have the opportunity to explore the park, gain inspiration, share their art with the public, and create new works. At the completion of their residency, the artists will donate a fully furnished piece of work representative of their stay to the Rocky Mountain Conservancy. Rocky Mountain Conservancy will hold the rights to the piece of work and the National Park Service will have the rights to share the donated works with the public.  
    For more information on Rocky Mountain National Park, please call the park Information Office at (970) 586-1206 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/romo.

Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) will implement its 2025 timed-entry reservation system, beginning May 23, 2025. This reservation system provides day use visitor access in a way that protects resources while creating opportunities for high-quality visitor experiences.     
 
The system, established through the Day Use Visitor Access Plan finalized in May 2024, manages day use visitor access in a way that protects the park's resources, maintains positive visitor experiences, promotes safety, and supports the park’s ability to maintain daily operations. The system will be similar to 2024, with two types of reservations available. One permit will be for the Bear Lake Road Corridor, which includes the entire corridor, as well as access to the rest of the park. This reservation period will be from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. The second permit will be for the “rest of the park,” excluding the Bear Lake Road corridor. This “rest of park” reservation period will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Permits issued using the reservation system will allow park visitors to enter the park within two-hour windows of availability, with no set time for departure. The reservation system will apply to all areas of the park. The only cost associated with booking a reservation is a $2 recreation.gov processing fee. The Bear Lake Road Corridor timed entry reservation system will end on Monday, Oct. 20.  However, the rest of the park reservation system will end on Tuesday, Oct. 14.    
 
Reservations to enter the park will be available through www.recreation.gov following the below schedule.  
 

• Beginning at 8 a.m. MT on Thursday, May 1. This round of reservations will be available to enter the park from May 24 through June 30.   
• The next release will occur on June 1, for the month of July and any remaining days that have not been booked for June.   
• On July 1, reservations will be available for the month of August and any remaining days that have not been booked for July.   
• On Aug. 1, reservations will be available for the month of September and any remaining days in August that have not been booked.  
• On Sept. 1, reservations will be available for October and any remaining days in September that have not been booked.  

When planning to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, take time to consider your preparedness, skills, fitness and experience. No matter how you choose to recreate, be prepared to turn back when conditions change or if you are being pushed to your limits. Weather and conditions can change quickly in the Rockies. Before starting any trip, take time to explore the park's website and plan ahead for a safer and more enjoyable visit. 
 
RMNP is one of the most visited national parks. The park experienced a 44 percent increase in visitation from 2012 to 2019. In 2022, the park received 4.3 million visits. Even with a pilot vehicle reservation timed entry system in place, the park received some of the highest visitation in its history. Between 2016 and 2023, the park piloted several day-use visitor management strategies to address crowding, congestion, and impacts on park resources. These pilots demonstrated this strategy is effective at easing congestion impacts and improved the visitor experience in the park. The park also asked the public for their participation in envisioning the future of day use visitor access at RMNP during the summer of 2021 and the winter of 2022-2023.   
   
For further information about RMNP please visit www.nps.gov/romo, follow the park on social media @RockyNPS or call the park Information Office at (970) 586-1206.

11/2
Ignitions on the Headquarters Unit of the Front Country Prescribed Fire have been successfully completed, with approximately 100 acres treated during the past two days.

Crews were successful in introducing low-to-moderate intensity fire on the landscape and have removed fuels, including grasses and low shrubs. Another goal of this prescribed fire was to raise the bottoms of the canopies of trees and to increase crown spacing within the fire area.

To do this, some low branches on trees may burn in addition to the grasses and nearby brush. Raising the “crown base height” of trees decreases the likelihood that a future wildfire would move into the canopies of the trees. This work will help serve as a fuel break against potential future wildfires.

Fire crews will remain on site overnight. Visibility along U.S. Highway 36 has improved and smoke will continue to linger. U.S. Highway 36 inside Rocky Mountain National Park has reopened in both directions.

Fire Managers at Rocky Mountain National Park would like to thank all of the personnel involved in this operation over the past two days. Numerous cooperators, including federal, state, and local partners have been working with NPS staff in a variety of roles to ensure the safety of both firefighters and the visiting public.

11/2
​Rocky Mountain National Park's Front Country Prescribed Fire operations continue today due to favorable conditions. 

Approximately 50 firefighters representing several cooperating agencies are part of today’s operations. 

Visitors traveling to the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park are encouraged to use Fall River Entrance via U.S. Highway 34 when entering and exiting the park. Expect traffic delays and smoke on the roadway along U.S. Highway 36 inside RMNP. 

Currently, U.S. Highway 36 is open to west-bound traffic only from Beaver Meadows VC to Beaver Meadows Entrance. Motorists are encouraged to use caution when driving on U.S. Highway 36 between the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and Bear Lake Road due to smoke, visibility and fire crews working along the road.  To exit RMNP on the east side of the park, visitors are directed to use Fall River Entrance/U.S. Highway 34 to return to Estes Park. 
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In person fire information will be available at Beaver Meadows Visitor Center until 4:30 p.m.

11/1
​Weather and fuels conditions remained favorable today for Rocky Mountain National Park's Front Country Prescribed Fire.  NPS fire managers are being supported by numerous other fire resources.

Visitors traveling on U.S. Highway 36 near Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and Beaver Meadows Entrance experienced minor delays and smoke.  
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Firefighters completed ignitions at approximately 4:15 p.m. Crews remain in the field and will monitor the units that were burned overnight. Smoke was light to moderate through most of the day and dispersal went as anticipated. With cooler temperatures in the evening, smoke may linger and accumulate in low-lying areas. Firefighters are planning to continue with the prescribed fire tomorrow, if conditions allow. 

Stay tuned on Rocky's official social media channels and Inciweb (https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/cormp-front-country-prescribed-fire) tomorrow for additional updates. 

10/30
​​     Based upon the arrival of cool weather and the amount of precipitation in the extended weather forecast, fire managers at Rocky Mountain National Park are preparing to conduct a prescribed burn if favorable weather and fuel conditions allow. Fire managers may burn up to a 300-acre area.  This would take place west of the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and south of U.S. Highway 36.  Burning operations would be conducted over several days to limit daily smoke production.  
 
    The primary goal of the project is to reduce the threat of wildland fire to adjacent communities and park infrastructure by using prescribed fire to reduce the amount of fuel available in this area. When fighting the East Troublesome Fire in 2020 and the Fern Lake Fire in 2012, firefighters were able to take advantage of previous and existing prescribed fire and hazardous fuels treatment areas that provided a buffer between the fire and the town of Estes Park. Prior hazard fuels projects were instrumental in stopping the fire from jumping Bear Lake Road and Trail Ridge Road.
 
     Depending on when and if weather and fuel conditions are suitable, prescribed burning operations may begin late October or any time through the winter. Ignitions will likely occur on weekdays with smoldering and smoke emissions lasting for an additional 3-10 days. If burning operations take place, traffic control will be in place on U.S. Highway 36 within the burn area.
 
     Smoke may be visible both inside and outside the park.  Every effort will be made to minimize smoke impacts on visitors and the adjacent community; however, some smoke is anticipated to disperse east of the park.  Smoke may affect your health: For more information see https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health. No trail or road closures are anticipated but visitors passing through active burning areas may be escorted by fire personnel to ensure their safety.
 
    For the safety of visitors and firefighters, park visitors will not be allowed to stop along U.S. Highway 36 within the burn area. Visitors will also not be able to walk within the burn area.
 
     Safety factors, weather conditions, air quality, personnel availability and environmental regulations are continually monitored as a part of any fire management operation.  For more information please contact the park’s Information Office at (970) 586-1206.