The Friends of Acadia charity is helping advance some major projects at Acadia National Park. The philanthropic group is led by Eric Stiles, who started as president and CEO of Friends of Acadia in July 2022. Formerly leader at New Jersey Audubon, Stiles lives in Bar Harbor with his family including wife Lydia, a teacher at Mount Desert Island High School. Stiles spoke with Acadia On My Mind about a wide variety of issues, including the record-long federal government shutdown, an expansion of housing for seasonal workers at Acadia National Park, the Trump administration’s treatment of federal employees and major projects at Acadia such as the initially estimated $850,000 East-West Connector Trail on Cadillac Mountain, called a “visionary project” by FOA. Here are edited questions and responses:

Q. No entrance pass was required during the federal government shutdown that ended Nov. 12, and the park lost a significant amount of entrance fees that normally would have been collected during October and part of November. Entrance fees could be used on major projects such as the Cadillac East-West Connector Trail, considered a visionary project by FOA.

ERIC STILES: You can’t make up for the lost visitor fees. The park may have lost $1.7 to $1.8 million in entrance fees considering it collected $1.5 million in October 2024 and there was a 5 percent increase in visits this October and fees were not collected during two weeks in November. That is big money. Eighty percent of those fees would have remained at the park to fund visitor service programs, personnel and infrastructure projects. In addition, the staff that worked during the shutdown were largely being paid from prior entrance fee revenue. The park was spending its existing kitty at a much higher rate while starving revenue that would be important for the future. It’s a double whammy.

Reduction in entrance fees could impact major projects at Acadia

Q. How will the National Park Service compensate for the $1.8 million in lost visitor fees? Will it need to cut or delay major projects at Acadia planned by the park in partnership with the Friends of Acadia?

STILES: The Friends of Acadia is fundraising for projects right now. Each is looking at entrance fees as a partial match. The entrance fees are an essential component.

I can’t say any of those projects are at risk but what we do know is that all those projects require the match. Park leaderships are going to have to make hard decisions over the next few months about what gets cut, what gets delayed given the significance of the decline in revenue.

Cadillac East-West Connector trail called visionary project

Q. One project is the Cadillac East-West Connector Trail on the summit of Cadillac Mountain. It would be constructed parallel to the summit road and would connect the main lot at the summit, used at sunrise, with a smaller west-facing lot, used at sunset. A grand opening is tentatively planned for spring 2027. It would improve access for the physically disabled, protect the alpine environment by getting people off a social trail on the summit and improve safety. Friends of Acadia calls it a visionary project.

STILES: I am sure that project will continue but will it be delayed? I don’t know. Right now, if you walk between the upper and lower lots, which folks do primarily around sunrise and sunset, they either walk on top of sensitive alpine habitat, including some endangered species, like the boreal blueberry, or they walk in the street. It has already been designed. The idea is to get people out of the road.

Q. A second major project at Acadia is the long-planned 125-space Liscomb Pit parking on the south side of Route 233 to replace the existing small lot for the Eagle Lake carriage road. Right now, the small lot fills up fast and cars typically park along the shoulder of Route 233, making it risky for people to get in and out of their cars. The park’s transportation plan said a current road – Liscomb Pit Road – would be widened and improved to provide access to the new lot and a 0.25-mile long connector trail would be used for reaching carriage roads on Eagle Lake and Witch Hole Pond.

STILES: The Liscomb Pit parking area is in the planning stage. It would be a safer and much better experience. It would move all of the cars off the side of Eagle Lake Road (Route 233). It’s a two-lane state highway with a 45 mph speed limit. You have kids and adults getting out of their cars. Someone coming to Acadia for the first time doesn’t know they are coming up on a potential hazard. This would also repurpose an existing cleared area. It is currently used as a work yard for the national park.

We have not started to fundraise for Liscomb Pit. The professionals at Acadia National Park have to take a look at the designs and make their decisions about timing and so forth. We fully expect that they will approach us at some point in the near future and ask us for assistance in fundraising for that project.

The Eagle Lake parking area, when it was designed decades ago, was meant for much lower visitation. As part of congestion management and health, life and safety, these improvements are really needed to support the visitation of today.

Friends of Acadia seeks funds to rehab Carroll Homestead

Q. A third project would improve the Carroll Homestead, which was donated to Acadia National Park in 1982. It’s an example of 19^th-century life on coastal Maine and one of the only accessible cultural history sites in Acadia. According to FOA, old cellar beams and sills are jeopardizing the structural integrity, and the ends of the house are sinking, causing cracking walls and floors.

STILES: Currently, no more than 4 people can go into the structure at any one time because of structural issues. We are raising significant funds to match entrance fee dollars. We raised just over $200,000 during a paddle raise at our benefit this year. Almost every 4^th grader in the area goes to visit Carroll Homestead as part of their local education. I can’t tell you the number of adults, folks in their 20s and 30s, who have shared their story about visiting the Carroll Homestead in the 4^th grade.

Q. You addressed staff at Acadia National Park on Nov. 13. It was the day park employees returned to work following the 43-day government shutdown. What did you tell the Acadia employees?

STILES: I had a tear in my eye. I was invited to represent Friends of Acadia to offer our thoughts and our appreciation and gratitude. I expressed profound gratitude to the people who are serving America and are now back at work. Those folks clearly want to be at work. They clearly want to be supporting the park and its natural and cultural treasures and the visitors. I hope that folks at national parks realize that America is with them.  Pew surveys show that Americans overwhelmingly support efforts to fund and maintain national parks. No matter your political views or your religious beliefs, whatever makes us different, we all come together in community at national parks.

Q. What is your stance on the National Park Service budget? According to the National Parks Conservation Association, the NPS is currently operating on $3.6 billion in appropriations approved for fiscal 2024, with only a continuing resolution approved for the 2025 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Acadia received $10.128 million, the NPCA said. For the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, the NPS budget remains undecided. The Trump administration proposed $1 billion cut, which would eliminate funding and staffing for about 350 park sites, from the smallest to some of the largest, according to an NPCA blog post. The House approved a six percent cut from NPS operations including cuts to deferred maintenance, while the Senate provides level funding. When the shutdown ended, the president signed a bill that extends the continued 2024 funding only until Jan. 30, meaning we are approaching another possible crisis that could mean further cuts to fees and major projects at Acadia.

STILES: Congress has only funded national parks and most of the federal government through the end of January. If you are working in the park and you are trying to plan for next summer, what are your resources? What is your budget? It’s a silly way to operate America’s best idea.

The Senate’s version of the budget was passed with bipartisan support. It rejects the $1 billion cut to the budget.

Second federal government shutdown looms at end of January

Q. Do you think there is a chance of another shutdown?

STILES: If I could answer that, I would start playing the lottery. We are hopeful that Congress passes appropriations prior to that. We don’t want to see another government shutdown occur. I don’t think folks in America want to see that occur.

Trump targets NPS workforce and climate change at Acadia

Q. It’s been a sometimes-turbulent and challenging year for the National Park Service. When President Donald Trump took office, he aimed at reducing huge annual budget deficits and federal debt of more than $30 trillion. He took aim at the federal workforce, including the NPS, imposing a federal hiring freeze on Jan. 20 and offering buyouts. This year alone the NPS has lost more than 25 percent of permanent staff, per the NPCA. Hiring for seasonal staff was included in the freeze for six weeks, delaying hiring during a critical period for the season. The Trump administration fired thousands of probationary employees in the federal government including 8 at Acadia who were among 1,000 NPS probationary employees let go. Federal judges ordered the reinstatement of probationary employees but legal challenges are outstanding. In September, just before the president called climate change “a con job” during a speech to the UN General Assembly, the Interior Department ordered Acadia to remove from Cadillac Mountain and the Great Meadow educational signs on climate change. Education about climate change is among major projects at Acadia. After that, a 43-day federal government shutdown put about 70 percent staff at Acadia on furlough and caused a lot of confusion and a loss of services for visitors. Do you think it will have an effect on morale long-term among park employees?

STILES: A government shutdown will not in and of itself affect morale for the long-term. But many park advocates and fans around the country are concerned about how folks at the national park service have been treated. The Interior Department planned to lay off 2,000 employees during the government shutdown. Congress and the president approved a bill that temporarily funds the government and bans a reduction in force through January 30.  It is so volatile. It is so unpredictable. It’s got to have an impact on the morale.

There has been consistent messaging from this administration to all employees, including those in the National Park Service, that are negative.

The Department of Government Efficiency sent emails to federal employees, encouraging them to resign their positions and later sent an email requiring employees to reply with 5 bullet points of weekly accomplishments or face resignation.

It’s corrosive. It impacts the morale and could threaten the future of federal recruitment and retention.

Shutdown causes diminished visitor experience at Acadia

Q. How did the shutdown affect Acadia National Park?

STILES: The whole thing was a real shame. We had nearly 600,000 visits in October during the shutdown, up more than 5 percent from October in 2024. The folks who came to the park had a diminished experience. The Hulls Cove Visitor Center was closed. Folks did not have rangers to answer their questions. There was no one to answer questions about trail and carriage road conditions, what was open and what was closed and the leave no trace principle. Ranger programs and educational programs were cancelled.

I am immensely proud that the community really came together in a powerful way. Eastern National kept the park stores operating at Hulls Cove and the Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton. [The park store is run by a nonprofit and its main goal is to raise money for Acadia through its sales.]

We worked very closely with so many great businesses in the area to promote visitor education and about how visitors could do homework in advance.

Acadia National Park kept the bathrooms open at Hulls Cove. The Island Explorer continued to operate.

I do think the 30 percent of the staff that did remain at work at Acadia during the shutdown were burning the candle at both ends to ensure the health, life and safety of visitors.

Expanding seasonal housing among major projects at Acadia

Q. Since starting at Friends of Acadia, you have led an extensive expansion of new affordable housing for workers at the park. Since the pandemic, the park has struggled to fill positions for seasonal employees at least partly because of the cost of seasonal rentals on Mount Desert Island and the area. In 2024, Acadia hired 115 seasonal employees, short of its need of 165. Are you making strides in solving this problem of affordable seasonal housing?

STILES: My guess is the total investment in seasonal housing for park employees is north of $16 million.

Each project is different. We always try to make sure that we are leveraging, that we don’t replace taxpayer dollars, or visitors’ dollars. We try to be nimble. Sometimes we may fund predesign work and Acadia National Park gets full funding for the project itself but if it were not for FOA funding the predesign work, they could not have secured that funding.

Q. In 2024, FOA bought six two-bedroom townhomes on Jordan River Road in Trenton. Plans called for renovating them and turning them into seasonal housing. Were they rented this year?

STILES: Yes. They were occupied by Island Explorer bus drivers and Friends of Acadia seasonals who worked in the park.

Also, in 2023, we purchased the Kingsleigh Inn in Southwest Harbor and that’s been housing 10 seasonal employees at the park. It’s been full every year. Earlier in 2025, we provided about $400,000 for specialized work, including septic and electrical, at the 13-site White Birches RV camp, which was almost full this year with park workers and several Island Explorer bus drivers. We shared costs for the new RV campus and trailer campus. A small percent of people who work as seasonals bring their own trailers, RVs and camper vans and they prefer to live in them.

Q. How did the campaign go this year for generating money for seasonal housing?

STILES: This year, the Raise the Roof campaign was successfully completed. We raised just north of $10 million. That included funds for construction in 2024 of eight bedrooms on 4 acres at Dane Farm off Jordan Pond Road in Seal Harbor and 56 bedrooms at Harden Farm off Kebo Street in Bar Harbor. Harden Farm is under construction and Dane Farm is complete. Dane Farm was full this year. It is like a field of dreams. Build it and they will come.

Harden Farm is being built in the two phases, each with 28 beds. The first phase, if construction dates continue to be met, could be completed in May. In each of the 28 beds, 16 have shared living space including kitchen, bathrooms and laundry. Twelve are very small efficiencies. That matches the workforce. Some folks are early in their careers and the idea of having their own bedroom and shared living spaces sounds attractive. Then, others prefer to have their own standalone efficiency. They pay more but they have the space to themselves.

In all the projects, people need to pay rent but it is affordable. It is attainable based upon making a seasonal wage of $18 or $19 an hour.

Q. You recently talked to a seasonal ranger while shopping at Hannaford’s in downtown Bar Harbor. He did not know you worked for Friends of Acadia and you were not wearing any branded clothing.

STILES: It was after hours but he was shopping and in uniform. I said thanks for serving the park and its communities and the visitors. I said, ‘Tell me about your experience.’ He said he loved the job and he loved the experience. He said, ‘The one thing that makes a big difference is where I am living.’ He was living off Jordan Pond Road at Dane Farm. He was going to apply to work at Acadia in 2026.

Acadia set to break record for annual visits

Q. The park is on pace this year to break the all-time record for visits to Acadia. With only December left to report, visitation is set to slightly exceed the 4.069 million visits of 2021, causing more crowds and traffic congestion. Why do you believe visits will be more than 4 million? Was it the nice weather?

STILES: Acadia National Park is so accessible. It has such amazing trails and carriage roads. It is easier to reach than many other national parks for first-time park visitors. The communities are just outstanding. You get to visit not only Acadia National Park but Downeast Maine. The largest growth percentage wise has been the Schoodic unit of Acadia National Park. More and more folks are also discovering Schoodic.

It was a beautiful summer. So was the fall. Weather always affects the visitation to the park, but I can tell you. . . when my family decided to come up here over a dozen times from New Jersey, it was not based on weather. We were coming rain or shine. I will say all the sunshine, while it was not good for growing crops and probably not good for wells, it was good for tourism.

According to a report by the state of Maine, tourism statewide has decreased from 2023 to 2024 and from 2024 to 2025. The same weather. Despite that, October in Acadia this year was up 5.1 percent over last year. Acadia is bucking that trend. It does show that Acadia has its own draw. If it was simply weather alone, we would not have seen that decline elsewhere in the state.

More education eyed before use of e-bikes

Q. What is your stance on e-bikes? Are they helping to create crowding and havoc on the carriage roads? How do you view them?

STILES: On the one hand, it increases accessibility. However, many of the folks using e-bikes are riding e-bikes for the first time. A lot of folks are on the carriage roads for the first time. It really is about educating people about the proper etiquette, the rules of the road.

On a recent trip to Utah, Lydia and I rented e-bikes at Zion National Park. Before we were able to hop on the bikes, we had to watch a 10-minute instructional video.

[Currently at Acadia, large tripod signs and other signs on carriage roads highlight rules including cyclists must yield to all other users, Class 2 and 3 e-bikes are banned, maximum speed is 20 mph for all users including bikes and horses and people should keep right and warn others before passing on the left.]

During the busy season, on Zion Canyon Drive, it is mandatory to take shuttle buses, but bikes can also use the road. One rule is that cyclists are required to yield to oncoming shuttle buses and pull over to let them pass.

My guess is that 90 to 95 percent of the folks on e-bikes were complying. They complied because it was education that was addressed through that video.  An information gap was addressed through that video.

Q: Do you think a similar video might be helpful at Acadia for people riding e-bikes?

STILES: Yes. It is just one idea. It is my sense that some additional efforts for education, engagement and enforcement might be helpful.

Q. Take Pride in Acadia Day, an annual volunteer effort in early November to clean up culverts and drainage ditches on the carriage roads, was cancelled this year for the first time ever because of the government shutdown. More than 350 people had registered for the event. What is happening instead?

STILES: Instead of having a large singular event – Take Pride in Acadia Day – we are having a series of smaller volunteer opportunities. Nikki Burtis, Friends of Acadia’s stewardship manager, is leading smaller work crews.  If folks are interested, our monthly E-Newsletter is the best place to stay apprised of these opportunities. People can sign up for the newsletter on our web site. The annual Earth Day Roadside Cleanup will be our next major event.