Acadia National Park will receive $950,000 in federal funding for climate change-related projects and ecosystem restoration, the park announced Wednesday.
The money comes from $195 million in nationwide Inflation Reduction Act funding to be used to improve climate change resiliency in national parks.
At Acadia, the funding will be used to “create a model for addressing climate change vulnerabilities of coastal archeological sites, collections, landscapes and ethnographic resources using a ‘Two-eyed Seeing’ approach.”
Two-eyed seeing refers to considering both Indigenous and Western perspectives.
The park and Wabanaki Tribes will create an adaptation plan and guidebook using 25-35 threatened archaeological sites as case studies, “build[ing] on 15 years of consultation at Acadia National Park, Saint Croix Island International Historic Site and Roosevelt Campobello International Park with Wabanaki Tribes.”
The team will then develop and pilot a citizen science program to document and monitor vulnerable sites. They will also create public programs and lesson plans for Wabanaki communities and public audiences to communicate the value of indigenous sites in national parks.
Partners in the project will include the federally recognized Tribes, collectively known as Wabanaki Nations; the University of Maine; fluent Wabanaki language speakers; and Schoodic Institute.
