Full story via Fox Bangor

Fox Bangor joined a group of hikers-turned-volunteer-soil-carriers on Wednesday, June 26 for the first Save Our Summits hike of the season. The goal of the weekly hikes: Get soil to the top of Sargent and Penobscot Mountains.

BAR HARBOR — Volunteers laced up their best hiking boots and hauled a mountain of dirt Wednesday morning as part of an ongoing effort to rejuvenate Maine’s summits and the ecosystems that thrive on them.

Hikers who took part in this year’s first Save our Summits hike filled their backpacks with soil and made the journey to the top of Acadia National Park’s Sargent Mountain.

The hike is a collaboration between the National Park Service, the Schoodic Institute and Friends of Acadia to help rehabilitate ecosystems that have been trampled and destroyed over the years.

“The types of plants that grow here don’t really grow anywhere else on the eastern seaboard,” said Acadia National Park Vegetation Biologist Jesse Wheeler.

Screen shot of Fox Bangor’s segment on the Save Our Summits hikes, which kicked off June 26 and run every Wednesday all summer.

“Once plants have been trampled — they die — and then the soil either washes or blows off the mountain,” said Chris Nadeau, climate adaptation scientist at the Schoodic Institute. “We don’t want to make gardens for invasive species, and we don’t want a dandelion garden up here on the summits.”

Organizers say volunteers are an essential part of the process because hikers can bring soil to areas that can only be accessed by foot.

Watch Fox Bangor’s full segment: Volunteers hike to restore mountain summits at Acadia National Park

Sign up to hike with soil during a future Save Our Summits hike: Save Our Summits Registration

Learn more about the vegetation restoration work: Restoring Acadia’s Iconic Summits