Tag Archives: amanda-pollock

Government shutdown at Acadia could close Cadillac access

UPDATE: Department of Interior on Wednesday released a plan for Acadia National Park and other national parks to operate during a government shutdown that started on Wednesday after Congress failed to approve a bill to fund the government at the start of the new fiscal year. In a release, the National Parks Conservation Association says the DOI plan calls for parks to be largely left open with minimal staff. The DOI plan does not urge parks to discourage visitors. Campgrounds, most of the Park Loop Road at Acadia, entrance stations, viewpoints and trails to remain open.

A federal government shutdown at Acadia National Park could hit on Wednesday, closing at least some parts of the national park during one of its busiest months of the year and hurting local businesses.

The Hulls Cove Visitor Center at Acadia National Park would likely be closed during a federal government shutdown. The flag, photographed flying at half-staff on Sept. 12, was lowered under a proclamation by President Donald Trump, to honor the memory of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated Sept. 10.

The shutdown of the federal government would come on Wednesday, Oct. 1, if Congress remains deadlocked on a bill that would extend federal appropriations beyond the end of the 2025 fiscal year on Tuesday. In past shutdowns, thousands of federal workers were put on furloughs, including employees at Acadia, but this year there could also be extensive firings of workers under a plan by President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget.

President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet on Monday with leaders in Congress from both political parties in attempt to reach an agreement that would prevent a government shutdown at Acadia and much of the rest of the federal government.

How would Acadia be affected by a federal government shutdown?

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New Gateway Center to cut Acadia traffic, parking problems

A huge new transit and welcome center quietly opened this month, launching a high-stakes effort by Acadia National Park and key partners to persuade more visitors to take the park’s fare-free shuttle and reduce Acadia traffic and parking problems.

The arrowhead emblem of the National Park Service graces a main sign for the Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton.

The Acadia Gateway Center, a key aspect of the park’s transportation plan, is strategically situated off Route 3 in Trenton about 11 miles north of the national park’s Hulls Cove Visitor Center, which can be so busy, drivers may circle around for minutes looking for a parking spot while at the same time having to watch out for pedestrians, bicyclists and RVs.

The Gateway Center, as yet largely undiscovered, aims to head off southbound visitors, allowing them to obtain information about the park and region, leave their cars and board the Island Explorer to reach popular attractions in Acadia on Mount Desert Island. The Gateway Center could also be used by commercial tours, boost carpooling and app-based ride sharing, and allow electric vehicles to charge up.

State owned and run by the MaineDOT in partnership with the National Park Service, Downeast Transportation, which operates Island Explorer, and the Maine Office of Tourism, the Gateway Center cost $32 million, including $27.7 million, to construct.

Planned for more than 20 years, complete funding for the project was uncertain until the first Trump administration awarded a stunning $9 million election-year grant in 2020, pushing financing to the finish line to tackle Acadia traffic and parking problems. US Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican up for reelection at the time, announced the grant as part of the Federal Transit Administration’s grants for buses and bus facilities program. Separately, in 2020, Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act, a bipartisan, multi-billion-dollar funding law, introduced by Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent and cosponsored by Collins, that provided $32.6 million for a maintenance facility at Acadia and $7.8 million to rehab water and wastewater systems in Acadia’s Schoodic District.

The Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton features Level 2 and fast-charging EV chargers and more than 400 spots in the day-use lot, which was mostly empty on a recent Friday.

The 270-space parking lot was full to capacity at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center on a sunny Friday afternoon at Acadia National Park.

Meanwhile, that same day, it was tough to find a place to park in the 270-space lot at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center 11 miles south in Acadia National Park.

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5 caught hiking in Acadia on closed trail, new boardwalk set

Rangers at Acadia National Park cited 5 people this spring for hiking in Acadia on a closed trail, as the park steps up efforts to protect peregrine falcons following decade-low numbers of chicks that flew from nests the past two years in the park.

National Park Service signs caution that people face fines or jail if they enter a trail closed to help falcon recovery.

National Park Service signs, posted at the foot of the Precipice Trail in Acadia National Park, warn that hikers can cause peregrine falcon nests to fail. The Precipice Trail is among several trails closed each year between March and mid-August to protect nesting falcons.

The crack down comes amid new concerns about protecting the falcons from people hiking in Acadia. One possible red flag: Acadia was home to the only peregrine falcon nest that failed last year among 26 nests in Maine, according to the Maine Peregrine Falcon Program Report for 2024.

The nest that failed last year was at Valley Cove in Acadia. Also, only three chicks fledged in 2024 in the park and four in 2023, down from an average of about seven a year, according to park statistics and park press releases.

A lot of factors, including weather, predators like the great horned owl, behaviors of individual birds and annoyance by people, can affect the very fragile process of breeding by peregrine falcons, officials said.

A peregrine falcon chick is banded near a nest at the Precipice in an earlier year, before recent concerns about a drop in chicks successfully fledging in Acadia, possibly as a result of rogue hikers on closed trails during falcon nesting season. (Photo by Keith Wozniak/Acadia National Park)

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8 fired, adding to staff shortages at Acadia National Park

Update 2/28/2025: Statement from National Park Service was added to this story.

Eight full-time employees at Acadia National Park have been suddenly fired, sparking a local backlash and raising concerns about further cuts to services for the public because of staff shortages at Acadia.

Ironically, Acadia and partners recently hosted in-person and virtual resume workshops to boost hiring for the upcoming busy season. (NPS image)

The terminations at Acadia are among 1,000 probationary employees who were terminated at the National Park Service across the country as part of President Donald J. Trump’s widespread cuts in the federal government. The 1,000 employees had worked for the NPS for less than a year.

Many people are upset about the staff shortages at Acadia in the wake of the terminations. The terminations constitute almost 10 percent of the approximately 90 permanent employees at the park.

“The whole thing is a complete tragedy…not just for the national parks but for the individuals who staff the parks,” said Maureen Robbins Fournier, a former longtime seasonal ranger at Acadia National Park. “Real people, not numbers.”

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Major deficit in hiring hits work on hiking paths in Acadia

A major shortfall in seasonal employees the past two years has caused some serious difficulties in maintaining hiking paths in Acadia National Park and providing other services during the peak season.

In 2024, the park was only able to hire four seasonal staff on the Acadia Trail Crew, even though funding allowed for 22 people, according to Amanda Pollock, public affairs officer for the park. That meant the park could only accomplish two major trail projects – the Great Meadow Village Connector Trail and the Bubbles Divide Trail – and had to postpone building a boardwalk through a much-photographed birch grove on Hemlock Path to protect the environmentally sensitive area.

Overall, the park each year attempts to hire between 150 to 175 seasonal employees but has only hired 115 seasonal employees each of the last two years with a key reason being a lack of affordable housing near the park, according to Pollock.

Hobbled by a lack of seasonal workers in 2024, the Acadia Trail Crew canceled plans to temporarily close Hemlock Path and build a boardwalk through the birch grove on the path. It’s currently uncertain if the prominent project will be completed in 2025.

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Lupine wildflowers of Acadia and monarchs in coming clash?

Cross over to Bar Island at low tide in June and July, and soon you’ll discover fields of majestic purple, blue and pink lupine wildflowers of Acadia, beckoning to be admired and photographed.

Lupine blooming on Bar Island in Acadia National Park.

Western lupine blooms in early June on Bar Island. The flower is popular with tourists who sometimes stop to pose for photos next to the purple, blue or pink flowers.

Squeezed along the edge of the fields stands a less showy plant – common milkweed – which could be missed if not for a sign calling this place a “Milkweed Habitat.”

These fields may be the site of a coming showdown between lupine and milkweed that could affect the fate of monarch butterflies in Acadia National Park.

As photogenic as the spiky tall flowers of the western lupine are, they are invasive non-native plants, threatening to crowd out the homelier milkweed critical to the lifecycle of the monarch, which recently became candidate for listing under the US Endangered Species Act. The faceoff between lupine and milkweed and the monarch could eventually come to a head on the island, just off the coast of Bar Harbor.

Acadia National Park seeks to protect milkweed habitat

An effort by the National Park Service to protect the soon-to-be-endangered Monarch butterfly includes spreading seeds for milkweed on Bar Island and staking signs to inform the public.

“If the western lupine is encroaching on critical habitats in the park…it would be a very high priority to remove it,” said Amanda S. Pollock, Acadia public affairs officer, in an email. In years past, the park’s Invasive Plant Monitoring Team “removed lupines encroaching on a significant area of milkweed to protect habitat for the soon to be listed as endangered monarch butterfly.”

Pollock said the team has managed lupine encroaching on milkweed on Bar Island, Fernald Point, and a small area near Great Meadow Drive. She said the team has removed lupine on Bar Island “but only a section of the field, near the milkweed and the path.”

The park has not planted any mature milkweed, but resource managers have spread seed in areas where milkweed would likely grow well, including Bar Island, Pollock added.

Western lupine competes for space with milkweed, which is vital for survival of monarch butterflies.

Which plant’s tendency to spread will win out: Invasive western lupine, on the left, or the later-to-bloom milkweed on the right? Monarch butterflies exclusively lay their eggs on milkweed, as the developing caterpillars need the milkweed sap for chemical defense against predators. This scene played out on Bar Island in Acadia National Park in early July.

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Vandalism in Acadia taints popular mountains and trails

Update 2/24/23: The National Parks Traveler picked up this story and put a national spotlight on the “paint-can-carrying hiker” who has been putting bright red blazes on rock cairns and trees in the park.

Update 2/24/23: Spring Trail added to list of damaged trails.

Winter is not even off-season for vandalism in Acadia.

Bright red paint defacing about two miles along the Spring Trail, the Penobscot Mountain Trail on the south ridge of the mountain and the Deer Brook Trail has been reported to the National Park Service, which is now investigating.

Historic-style cairn defaced with red paint on the south ridge of Penobscot Mountain.

An illegal red blaze was painted on the mantle stone of this historic-style cairn on the Penobscot Mountain Trail. (Photo by Kevin Young)

The illegal red rectangular blazes frequently were painted right next to the park’s official sky-blue blazes on the historic hiking trails, according to photos posted on Facebook by a hiker and provided to Friends of Acadia and the park in early February. At least three dozen historic-style cairns, trees and bedrock locations were painted with the red blazes, according to interviews with two hikers who took photos.

This is the latest example of a growing problem in Acadia and other national parks, with vandals defacing the landscape with paint, rock stacking and even human and pet waste. Now, the vandalism in Acadia has happened in the dead of winter, when the hiking trails are often little used and icy.

The illegal painting off Penobscot, the fifth highest mountain in Acadia, follows a rise in the number of citations issued by the National Park Service for vandalism in Acadia over the past two years, compared to the three prior years, according to park statistics.

Acadia National Park cairn marred by red paint.

This red paint damage on a cairn on the Penobscot Mountain Trail is especially galling because it occurred right next to a National Park Service sign that asks people to leave cairns as they find them. Rangers are investigating the illegal activity. (Photo by Kevin Young)

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