Rocks painted neon pink, trash left behind in a wooded area and an apparent rise in misbehavior and carelessness have some locals questioning the staffing levels in Acadia National Park.
“We can’t say for certain whether there has been an increase in graffiti incidents this summer, but given the level of visitation Acadia receives, it’s important for the park to have the staffing and funding it needs to care for Acadia and educate visitors about Leave No Trace practices,” Stephanie Clement, vice president of conservation for local nonprofit Friends of Acadia, said Thursday.
Last year, with more than 4 million visits recorded, Acadia had its busiest year to date since the park’s new visitation counting method began in 1990. Those numbers have slightly dipped this year, though August was still only the second time the park has surpassed 800,000 visits in one month, according to National Park Service statistics.
Between the influx of visitors and cuts to funding and staffing implemented by the administration of President Donald Trump, some locals are noticing the strain. The recent vandalism isn’t the only instance in which park visitors have left their trace this summer.
In early September, along the same section of trail, a hiker spotted an unsightly view for a stroll in the woods: a bright pink smiley face was graffitied onto a tree, as well as multiple boulders and a footbridge, as first reported by the blog Acadia on My Mind.
In mid August, locals vented on social media when someone posted photographs of dozens of visitor-constructed rock stacks along the sand bar connecting downtown Bar Harbor to Bar Island.
On a single Sunday earlier that month, a Friends of Acadia trail steward said they’d dismantled as many as 150 rock stacks on the tidal island, according to the Bar Harbor Story.
“Friends of Acadia assists the park in reaching visitors through programs like our Summit Stewards, who rove through the park assisting hikers, address issues like rock stacking, and encourage visitors to avoid inadvertently trampling sensitive vegetation on mountain summits,” Clement said.
But vandalism in the Acadia is only part of the problem. Locals have also reported instances of visitors disobeying park rules — actions that would typically be closely monitored by park staff.
Locals have spotted visitors swimming in Jordan Pond, which supplies drinking water for the village of Seal Harbor, Acadia On My Mind reported.
Lisa Walker, a Hulls Cove resident who said she’s used the carriage roads for a quarter century, told members of the Acadia Advisory Commission, a citizen body directed by Congress to inform the Secretary of the Interior on park operations, that she’s noticed a concerning change in carriage road etiquette.
“I had a personal experience of almost being run over by an e-bike,” Walker told the commission and park officials on Monday. “I walk with my dog, and it was scary. I had to pull the dog off his legs, jumping out of the way. The higher speeds of e-bikes are creating safety concerns when you think about pedestrians, families or slower cyclists, especially on blind curves.”
Kevin Schneider, the park’s superintendent, agreed that some e-bike users aren’t abiding by the rules of the road.
“As the carriage road use increases, and you get more congestion, it is more important to make sure everyone knows how to behave so that we can share that experience,” Schneider said.