Looking at the readers’ comments reacting to an article in The Washington Post about Deb Haaland, Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior, I noticed a comment suggesting that America’s national parks are being “rediscovered” by “most Americans.”

“In a time when most Americans are rediscovering the miracle that are these shared open spaces, national or regional parks, is a breeze of fresh air to have someone in command that understand and embraces the concept of “people’s land”.

I wondered if that was actually true — that most Americans are rediscovering open spaces. So I replied to the Post’s discussion board and asked if it was. That drew a comment from another reader:

”I’m just guessing here…but one would think that during a pandemic, It’s almost certainly a go-to alternative to normal leisure time for many.”

This was progress, of a sort. The first comment declared a thing (most Americans are rediscovering national parks) was true. The second ventured only so far as to say that “one would think” and recognized the statement was just a guess.

We shouldn’t just guess. When information is readily available, we should seek it and learn some facts before we speak. In this instance, the National Parks Service has published an annual report about attendance at all national parks. It is here at this link.

The report shows that visits to national parks in 2020 was down by 100-million visits from the year before, and was lower during the pandemic than anytime in the past 30 years. At Yellowstone National Park, September was a good month, but attendance at Yellowstone was down for the year, just like every other major national park.

Attendance at national parks is not a particularly critical issue. I’m certainly not condemning the two people who posted incorrect comments on the Post’s message board.

But I am suggesting that everyone should be more in the habit of looking up easily accessible facts before they speak. Evidence is often very easy to find. And if you get yourself in the habit of getting the facts about every issue, you will do it automatically and will be sure to be right about the important matters.