A federal hiring freeze put in place by the new administration of President Donald Trump could make it even harder for Acadia National Park to fill seasonal positions, officials said Monday.
The recent reports that Trump has put a hold on hiring new federal employees has raised concerns that Acadia will again be understaffed this summer, even as visitation remains historically high. The number of visitors to the park has soared in the past decade, especially so since the COVID pandemic, coming close to or exceeding 4 million visits in each of the past four years.
Acadia has struggled to fill seasonal positions in recent years because of the shortage of housing on and near Mount Desert Island, where the lion’s share of the park is located. Developing housing for people who staff the park or partner organizations such as the Island Explorer bus system and Friends of Acadia has become a top priority this decade.
Supporters of the park say a freeze on hiring — which, according to the Washington Post, has even resulted in some National Park Service job offers being rescinded — could make matters worse.
Sen. Angus King’s office said Monday that the reports of job offers being withdrawn “are incredibly worrying.” Acadia typically fills 120 seasonal positions each year to deal with the influx of tourists, it said, and summer is approaching quickly.
“As visitation increases at our parks, Senator King is insistent that our parks must have the necessary funding to operate which includes, but is not limited to, both staffing and maintenance,” King’s office said Monday. “Without this funding, the visitor experience is likely to be negatively impacted.”
Officials at Acadia National Park declined to comment Monday on the freeze, and the agency’s officials in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
The National Parks Conservation Association noted that staffing at national parks had been in steady decline for more than a decade, even as they have become more popular as destinations.
“Park staffing has eroded by 15 percent since 2010, while at the same time, parks have experienced a 16 percent increase in visitation,” the advocacy group said. “A temporary hiring freeze could lead to even more unfilled positions.”
Stephanie Clement of Friends of Acadia said Monday that the organization was still trying to get details on how a hiring freeze might affect the park.
The Washington Post reported that, according to a White House memo, seasonal positions are not supposed to be affected by a hiring freeze, but Clement declined to comment specifically on what sort of positions may or may not be affected.
Clement said that, with the area’s existing housing shortages, a hiring freeze would create “another barrier” to the park having adequate staffing to meet demand.
“Any delays in hiring seasonal folks will create issues,” Clement said. “It’s incredibly important to make sure Acadia is able to hire the full workforce that it needs to serve visitors and to protect the natural and cultural resources of the park.”