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.
