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Amid funding crisis at NPS, Acadia sees cuts, bad behavior

Acadia National Park is overflowing with a near-record number visitors again this summer, but a hiring freeze and funding crisis at the NPS during the Trump administration left the Maine park short-staffed this summer and struggling to stop bad behaviors by visitors.

Hikers probably frown when they see this graffiti off the Great Meadow Loop in Acadia National Park. The vandalism was widespread at this location on Sept. 1 including graffiti on several boulders and a wooden bridge.

According to a little-noticed report by the National Park Service, Acadia has seen a nearly 30 percent decrease in seasonal staffing levels over the past decade, with a lack of affordable summer housing a key factor. People said they rarely see rangers on the trails or carriage roads, while some said the staff is overburdened with emergencies and other visitor services like fee collections and providing information at a new welcome center in Trenton.

The National Park Service in Washington did not respond to our detailed questions via email, but did issue a statement.

“The National Park Service continually evaluates staffing and budget needs at Acadia National Park to ensure we can meet our core mission of protecting resources and providing safe, high-quality experiences for visitors,” the statement said. “While we don’t have specifics to share, Acadia National Park remains committed to using resources responsibly and prioritizing essential services that support visitor safety and the long-term stewardship of the park.”

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Sign of times? Acadia signs on climate change removed, hidden

Once posted on popular trails on Cadillac Mountain and along Great Meadow, large Acadia signs on climate change are now stored out of sight, crowded behind a corrugated metal building, next to a roll of chain link fencing, a beat up canoe and a couple of portable toilets.

The National Park Service stored away 10 signs, including nine on climate change and one on the Wabanaki tribe, behind a building after the Trump administration ordered them removed from Cadillac Mountain and the Great Meadow.

The National Park Service hid away 10 tripod signs, each with 3 informational panels, including nine signs totally on climate change and one sign with one panel on the Wabanaki tribe and two panels on climate change. The signs were found behind a corrugated metal building near old toilets, canoes and a spare roll of chain link fencing. The signs were put here after the Interior Secretary ordered them removed from Cadillac Mountain and Great Meadow. Oct. 5 photo

Once part of Acadia’s public policy effort to educate visitors about the impact of climate change on the park’s summits and shoreline, the signs are a casualty of the Trump administration’s view that the climate crisis is “the greatest con job.”

Under order by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the National Park Service at Acadia National Park in mid-September removed 10 cedar-framed tripod signs, each typically with three separate informational panels on it. Most of the panels on the signs focused on the effects of climate change, but one panel on a tripod sign that had been on Cadillac celebrated Wabanaki history.

The removals came just before President Donald Trump called the climate emergency “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world ” during a speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 23.

Todd Martin, northeast senior program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the Department of Interior sent a letter to Acadia staff, indicating the Acadia signs on climate change were not in compliance with an executive order by Trump on March 27, called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Interior ordered the park to remove the Acadia signs on climate change, Martin told us.

Burgum issued his own executive order on May 20 with rules to implement the provisions of Trump’s order on federal lands managed by the Department of Interior.

A couple of reporters in early October found the climate change signs stacked behind a little-known building at Acadia, along with portable toilets, canoes and old equipment. The reporters visited the site on a hunch with no knowledge or tip that the signs were actually behind the building.

The history of the Wabanaki tribe took a hit when the Trump administration ordered this sign removed from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Photo taken on Oct. 5.

A sign that recalls the special ground of the Wabanaki tribe on Cadillac Mountain is now squirreled away in a dark place behind a building at Acadia National Park, along with signs on climate change. Under an order in May by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the signs were taken down by the NPS as part of a nationwide sweep, partly to rid national parks of displays that “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history.” Oct. 5 photo

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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. The park’s shuttle system, buses called the Island Explorer, operated as usual.

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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