The report used publicly available National Park Service data, but it was not reviewed by park service staff, according to a spokesperson for the agency.

Sasha Travaglio, volunteer program coordinator for Joshua Tree National Park, said in a statement that the agency monitors its air quality to understand the pollutants impacting parks and works with government agencies on regulations.

There were some hopeful findings in the report, which provided an update to a 2019 report of the same name.

Several measures of air quality improved over time, with the number of parks with significant concern levels in at least one of the air quality conditions dropping from 96% to 70%.

Significant concern levels for unhealthy air dropped by 52%, while hazy skies plummeted 94%, which the report attributes to the implementation of several clean air regulations.

However, the recent report found 97% of national parks are still experiencing significant or unsatisfactory levels of concern from air pollution. And California has not seen the same improvements as the rest of the country.

The Golden State is home to four of the national parks with the haziest skies, with Sequoia and Kings Canyon — which are contiguous — once again claiming the ignominious top slot. Death Valley, Pinnacles and Channel Islands National Park also made the top 10 list.

The report also found 57% of national parks are experiencing serious concerns related to climate change.

While invasive species were identified as the primary climate threat facing national parks across the nation, California parks are disproportionately at risk of wildfires — the second-leading threat.

As of 2022, half of the state’s 20 largest fires ignited over the previous five years. About 4% of the state burned in 2020 alone, the worst fire season on record. Both national and state parks have paid the price.

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