In an effort to reach and educate more people about Acadia National Park — its cultural and natural history as well as the park’s role in today’s issues, such as climate change — the National Park Service recently issued a request for businesses and organizations interested in running new ranger-narrated activities in and around the park, starting this summer.
“People love their national parks and they want to connect to them,” said Christie Anastasia, Acadia National Park’s deputy chief of interpretation.
Every year, the park offers a wide range of free ranger-led programs within the park. But by collaborating with different businesses and organizations, the park can reach new audiences while incurring no additional cost. Businesses and organizations selected for this program will pay for rangers’ time, $55 per hour.
“We don’t make any money off it,” Anastasia said. “It’s just the cost for us to provide the ranger.”
“Adding park rangers to narrate private outdoor adventures in and around Acadia, such as boat trips, bike rides, bus tours, and hikes, provides a service to visitors and helps attract visitors to these businesses,” said Superintendent Kevin Schneider in a prepared statement. “We hope local boat operators, kayak companies, bike shops, youth camps, bus tours, and other businesses that serve visitors to Acadia National Park will apply for ranger-led services.”
The deadline for proposals is 4:30 p.m. EST on Feb. 24, and all applicants must meet requirements that are listed online at nps.gov/acad/getinvolved/dobusinesswithus.htm.
All proposals will be evaluated by a National Park Service panel to ensure that prospective businesses have the experience, equipment, business infrastructure and demonstrated intent to provide the proposed services. Accepted proposals will be valid for up to 5 years and ranger-led services will be marketed to park visitors in park facilities, program publications and on the park website.
This isn’t a new concept.
“Park rangers giving programs has existed almost as long as the national parks have existed,” Anastasia said. “Lots of people start their visits to a national park by going on a ranger-led program.”
In the late 1950s, Acadia National Park started incorporating boat cruises into its interpretive operations at the park, but in the early 1980s, the park budget could no longer support the number of interpretive staff needed to cover the full schedule of programs. At that time, existing boat operators, already working under memoranda of understanding with the National Park Service, offered to subsidise the cost of ranger narration. Since then, the operators of the cruises to help support the interpretive program.
“In more recent history, we went out last year and issued a request for proposals to try to expand it beyond [motorized] boats,” said Anastasia.
That proposal resulted in three boat companies being selected for the service, but no other types of businesses or organizations. This time around, Anastasia hopes that a greater diversity of businesses and organizations will submit proposals, such as private campgrounds, bicycle tour companies and kayak tour companies.
For information about this request for proposals, call Christie Anastasia at 207-288-8806 or email her at christie_anastasia@nps.gov.