Park Visitors
Park Visitors
Math Concept Reader
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Expedition:
Antarctica
by Aenea Mickelsen
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Park Visitors
by Ilse Ortabasi
Math Concept Reader
Copyright © Gareth Stevens, Inc. All rights reserved.
Developed for Harcourt, Inc., by Gareth Stevens, Inc. This edition published by Harcourt,
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Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 13: 978-0-15-360202-3
ISBN 10: 0-15-360202-3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 179 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
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Chapter 1:

An Internet
Quest
'
Mrs. Pacheco teaches in Denver, Colorado. Every year
her students conduct an Internet research project. She poses
a research question and instructs students to use a variety of
online resources to find the answer.
This year, her students are excited about conducting
research on national parks in Colorado. The information the
students gather will help them determine which park Mrs.
Pacheco has in mind for the annual class trip. Mrs. Pacheco
will offer clues to help the students figure out the answer.
The students decide they need to find the number of
visitors each park hosted last year. The students will compare
data from three national parks in their home state: the Rocky
Mountain National Park, the Mesa Verde National Park, and
the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
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(
Many visitors come each year to the national parks
in Colorado.
Mr. Kawanabe, the media specialist, is waiting for the
students when they arrive in the media center this morning.
The students log on to the Internet and launch the online
search engine. They enter key words like “national park”
and “visitors” to get a list of related Internet sites. To narrow
their search further, they enter “Colorado,” “national parks,”
and “visitors.” On the first Internet page is a link to Rocky
Mountain National Park.

“Wow, more than 3,000,000 people visited Rocky
Mountain National Park last year!” says Alfonso. “That is
about six times the population of Denver. I think people from
all over the country and the world go there to see the beautiful
mountains.”
As the students continue their searches, they learn more
about the national parks in Colorado. Les is surprised to learn
that Great Sand Dunes National Park only became a national
park in the year 2000. “This is amazing,” he says to the class.
“This national park is younger than I am!”
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)
Mesa Verde Park
Year Number of Visitors
1996 633,628
1997 648,596
1998 623,510
1999 656,023
2000 471,084
2001 537,474
2002 419,662
2003 454,742
2004 474,080
2005 519,649
Mesa Verde National
Park is known for its
cliff dwellings.
Mrs. Pacheco interrupts the class for a moment. She is ready to
reveal the first clue. “The park we will visit had an average of less

than 3,000,000 visitors per year during the last ten years,” she says.
With that piece of information, it was clear that the class would not
be visiting Rocky Mountain National Park.
Raul conducts another search and locates the link to Mesa
Verde National Park. He finds data that show how many people
visited Mesa Verde over a ten-year period. He reads about the parkʼs
special features, too. Mesa Verde has more than 4,000 known
archaeological sites. Its cliff dwellings are some of the most notable
and best preserved in the United States.
The parkʼs Internet site recommends that visitors plan to spend
a day or two exploring the cliff dwellings and beautiful landscapes.
Mesa Verde reflects more than 700 years of history of the ancestral
Pueblo people. They built homes on the steep cliffs, and reached
those homes with long ladders.
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*
Number of Visitors
Visitors at Mesa Verde National Park
Years
700,000
400,000
350,000
450,000
500,000
550,000
600,000
650,000
300,000
250,000

200,000
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Mrs. Pacheco suggests that the class make a graph to show how
the number of park visitors has changed over the past ten years.
There are many kinds of graphs. They could make a bar graph or a
circle graph, but a line graph is used to show change over time. The
students can use this graph to show the number of visitors to Mesa
Verde over a ten-year period.
Mrs. Pacheco demonstrates how to make a line graph. She puts
the years on the horizontal axis. The number of visitors goes on the
vertical axis.
Using the data they have found for Mesa Verde National Park,
the students create a line graph. The graph shows the number of
visitors for each year from 1996 through 2005. Representing the
data in this way makes it easier for the students to see how the
number of park visitors has changed from year to year.
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Chapter 2:
Where Will the
Class Visit?
Visitors enjoy building sand castles at the Great
Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
+
Students discover many interesting facts about the national
parks as they continue their Internet searches. For example,
at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, visitors are
allowed to slide down the sand dunes on a piece of cardboard.
They can build sand castles by the creek, or earn a Junior

Park Ranger badge.
This sounds like lots of fun to Marissa. She wonders
whether she would like the sand dunes or the cliff dwellings
at Mesa Verde more. She canʼt decide. Both parks sound like
fascinating places to visit.
Stephen is thinking about the pictures of cliff dwellings
and the tall wooden ladders. He hopes that they will go to
Mesa Verde because he loves climbing and adventure.
M
r. Kawanabe helps Marissa and Raul find visitor
data for the Great Sand Dunes Park. They record the data in a
table in their math notebooks.
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,
Number of Visitors
Visitors at Great Sand Dunes
National Park and Preserve
Years
320,000
200,000
0
220,000
240,000
260,000
280,000
300,000
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
By this time, the class has completed their research on
visitor data. They have gathered visitor information for Mesa

Verde National Park and the Great Sand Dunes National Park
and Preserve. In their math notebooks, the students construct
a line graph to show changes in the number of visitors over
time.
When they analyze the graphs, they discover that at Great
Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, the greatest number
of visitors came in 1996 and the least number of visitors came
in 1997. They wonder why there would be such a difference
just one year apart. Mr. Kawanabe says that would be a good
research question. Perhaps they will study that another day.
The data also tell them that both parks combined had
fewer than 3,000,000 visitors each year over a ten-year period.
The class waits for the next clue so they can discover which
park they will visit this year.
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-
Number of Visitors
Visitors at Two National Parks
Years
700,000
100,000
0
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
656,023

419,662
312,225
232,663
Mesa Verde Great Sand Dunes
Mrs. Pacheco is ready. She announces, “The class trip will be
to the park that had the lesser range of numbers of people visiting
over ten years.” She explains what she means. “The range is the
difference between the greatest and the least numbers of visitors in
each set of data.”
Seth has an idea. He decides to merge the two line graphs. This
way he can see the greatest and least number of visitors in each park
on one graph. He thinks it will make comparing the data easier.
Zack finds the points that show the greatest and least numbers of
visitors on each line and writes the value next to the points on each
graph in his math notebook. Together they compare the visitor data
of both parks. They see right away that Great Sand Dunes National
Park and Preserve has had fewer visitors than Mesa Verde National
Park. They still need to find the range of the number of visitors in
each park to find the answer to Mrs. Pachecoʼs question.
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.
This sign welcomes visitors to Great Sand Dunes National Park
and Preserve.
Marissa knows that she must find the difference between the
greatest and least numbers in the Great Sand Dunes data set to find
the range of visitors. Similarly, the range of visitors at Mesa Verde is
the difference between the greatest and least numbers in its data set.
Marissa compares the two graphs Seth and Zack have drawn.
She looks at each line and compares the point with the greatest

number of visitors to the point with the least number of visitors.
Marissa writes an equation to find the range of visitors at Mesa
Verde National Park.
656,023 – 419,662 = 236,361
The range is 236,361.
Then she writes an equation to find the range of visitors for the
Great Sand Dunes.
312,225 – 232,663 = 79,562
The range is 79,562.
Marissa has the answer. “Our trip will be to the Great Sand
Dunes! The range is less for the Great Sand Dunes than for Mesa
Verde.”
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&%
Chapter 3:
A Trip to the
Sand Dunes
The day of the trip arrives at last and the students load
the bus with camping gear, food, and other supplies. Finally,
the group of 32 students and adults climbs aboard. The bus
begins the journey to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and
Preserve.
There is lots of chatter as the students talk about their trip.
Some students look forward to sliding down the sand dunes.
Others are excited about building sand castles by the creek.
The entire group can hardly wait to get to the park.
When they arrive at the entrance to the Great Sand Dunes
National Park and Preserve, the park ranger counts how many
people are on the bus. Because there are 32 people in all, he

directs them to the group campground.
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&&
The Great Sand Dunes constantly change in appearance as wind
blows through the valley.
Rico has a park brochure and he reads it aloud so the
class can learn more about this national park. He reads that
the Great Sand Dunes are the tallest sand dunes in North
America. They cover 39 square miles and rise to almost 750
feet above the floor of Coloradoʼs San Luis Valley. Thatʼs as
tall as a skyscraper more than 60 stories high!
Over thousands of years, the winds blew across the valley
and carried sand with them, forming the dunes. Since the
winds blew mostly in the same direction, the sand built up
and formed the dunes. The dunes are held in place by water
flowing from the mountains surrounding the valley. Today, as
the wind continues to blow, it moves more sand through the
valley, constantly changing the appearance of the dunes.
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&'
Visitors camp
in the Great
Sand Dunes
National Park
and Preserve.
As evening comes, the group pitches tents and prepares dinner.
Everyone gathers around the campfire after dinner, where they
are joined by Jennifer, another park ranger, who introduces Mrs.

Pachecoʼs class to some of the wildlife they can see in the park.
As Jennifer talks about the park, Raul asks her, “Why do the
park rangers count the number of visitors?” Jennifer explains that
the people who manage the park need to know how many visitors
to expect each year and even month by month. Knowing how many
visitors have come in the past helps the park administrators estimate
how many visitors will come in the future. This information helps
the staff prepare for the people who come to the park. They need to
plan for enough campsites, restrooms, hiking trails, and rangers.
Marissa remembers the big difference between the number of
visitors in 1996 and 1997, and she asks Jennifer about it. Jennifer
says that one or two years can have surprising data, so they watch
for trends in the data. They donʼt depend on data from just one or
two years.
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&(
Each park has a variety of
plant and animal wildlife.
“Visitors arenʼt the only things we count here at the park,”
Jennifer says. “We also count plants and animals. We want to
know about the variety of plant and animal wildlife that lives
here.”
Jennifer tells the group about one project they are
currently conducting at the Great Sand Dunes National Park
and Preserve. This project counts the number of elk in the
park and wildlife researchers are helping with the project.
“We want to know whether the elk population in the park is
growing or shrinking from year to year,” Jennifer explains.
“We gather and analyze the data. It is important to know this

information in order to determine whether the elk herd will
have sufficient food to survive the winter months.”
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&)
&
)
Biologists count the wildlife
population in the parks.
Marissa thinks the project sounds interesting, but she is
puzzled. She wonders how the park rangers can possibly count
wild animals that constantly move around and are usually
hiding from people. She asks Jennifer to explain how animals
are counted.
“Most of the time, the animals living in an area cannot
be counted exactly,” Jennifer says. “Rangers usually have to
estimate the numbers of animals. It becomes quite a tricky
business! Biologists have invented clever ways of counting
animals in a population. Sometimes they look for tracks or
droppings and then make estimates of the number of animals.
For large animals, like elk, they may use airplanes and
count animals they can see from the air. Animals such as elk,
whitetail deer, black bears, jackrabbits, or prairie dogs do not
come through the parkʼs gate and let themselves be counted.”
Everybody laughs at this comment. The class visualizes all
the animals standing in line to be counted.
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&*
The Tiger beetle and the

Sandhill crane can be found
in the Great Sand Dunes
National Park and Preserve.
Jennifer continues to share stories and pictures of the
different species of animals that live in the Great Sand Dunes
National Park and Preserve. She talks about the sand dunesʼ
tiger beetle, which is found nowhere else on Earth. She talks
about migratory birds. About 30,000 Sandhill cranes migrate
through the San Luis Valley twice a year.
“Will we see the cranes or any wild animals while we are
here?” asks Raul. “Yes, you probably will,” Jennifer answers.
“But if you do, you must be sure to keep your distance.
And donʼt ever give a wild animal any food. That will keep
you safe and keep the animals healthy.” She concludes by
reminding everyone that they are visitors to the park, but
the animals live there year round. This place is the animalsʼ
home. Visitors need to respect the open space and its
residents.
By now, it is late. The group sings a few camp songs. Then
they crawl into their sleeping bags. Tomorrow will be a day
full of fun and adventure on the dunes!
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1
Photo credits: All photographs courtesy of the National Park Service.
With special thanks to Patrick Myers, Great Sand Dunes National Park
and Preserve, National Park Service.
Glossary

ancestral of or belonging to or inherited from an ancestor

cliff dwellings a rock and adobe dwelling built on sheltered
ledges in the sides of a cliff
data information collected about people or things
migratory animals that move seasonally
population the entire group of objects or individuals
considered for a survey
Pueblo people a member of any of about two dozen Native
American peoples called Pueblos by the Spanish explorers
range the difference between the greatest and the least
numbers in a set of data
trend a pattern of change over time
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Think and Respond
1. Look at the graph for the numbers of visitors to
Mesa Verde National Park on page 5. Which year
had the greatest number of visitors?
2. The Rocky Mountain National Park had a total of
3,236,142 visitors one year and 3,238,233 another
year. What is the difference in numbers of visitors
at the park between the two years?
3. In 1997, the number of visitors to the Great Sand
Dunes was 232,663. In that same year, the number
of visitors to Mesa Verde National Park was
648,596. How many more people visited Mesa
Verde National Park than visited Great Sand
Dunes during 1997?
4. Pick a national or state park or monument in
the state where you live. Find out how many people
visited that park or monument last year. Write

about the attractions or sites visitors might
find at that park or monument.
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