State Officials Say Camping Is Up In State Forests This Year

State forests are seeing an increase in the number of campers, thanks in part to a new campsite reservation system, state officials said.

Wisconsin’s six state forests saw a roughly 5 percent increase in campers from the past three-year average.

Department of Natural Resources state forest specialist Teague Prichard said the increase is due in part to the number of people reserving camp sites.

“They want predictability on when and where they can stay so we’ve added the reservation system to a couple of state forest campgrounds,” he said.

Prichard said people will be able to reserve camp sites at all state forests by the end of next year.

“There will still be many first-come, first-serve campsites,” he said.

Prichard said around half of their 1,150 campsites can be reserved. Around 250,000 people camp at state forests each year.