What’s an average day look like for a Summit Steward, Recreation Technician, Stewardship Crew member, or Wild Gardens of Acadia Intern? While days can vary from one to the next, here’s a peek at each role.
Katie Laska, Friends of Acadia Recreation Technician, replaces
batteries in equipment at the Schoodic Peninsula. (Photo by Becca Stanley/Friends of Acadia)
Recreation Technicians (a.k.a. “Rec Techs”) assist Acadia National Park staff in better understanding visitor use management and recreation-related impacts on the landscape. Friends of Acadia funds the Recreation Technician, who works closely with Acadia National Park’s Social Scientist and is managed by Friends of Acadia’s Recreation Technician Coordinator. Learn more.
Schedules vary / 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
8:00 a.m.
Arrive at Acadia National Park (ANP) Headquarters, chat, and prep equipment for the day ahead
9:00 a.m.
Hike to trail counter (example: Beehive) and validate (count) hikers coming up and down the trail
12:00 p.m.
Have lunch and conduct field observations or administer surveys to visitors (example: Sieur de Mont Springs)
3:00 p.m.
Head back to ANP Headquarters from the field
3:30 p.m.
Process and enter data from the field and get ready for the next day, where the tasks are entirely different
4:30 p.m.
Debrief and wrap up the day!
Dan Holbrook, Friends of Acadia Summit Steward, right, educates visitors about the importance of Bates Cairns to Acadia’s trails and history. (Photo by Lily LaRegina/Friends of Acadia)
Summit Stewards are an interdisciplinary team that work alongside Acadia National Park (ANP) staff to improve the visitor experience and reduce visitor impacts in the park by engaging with over 15,000 visitors annually. Summit Stewards traverse the trails of Acadia promoting Leave No Trace stewardship, interpreting the natural and cultural resources, and performing trail maintenance to preserve trail sustainability. Summit Stewards spend two days per week on Cadillac Mountain’s trails and summit and three days per week on trails and summits throughout Acadia. Learn more
Schedules vary / 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
8:00 a.m.
Start the day at the office in Acadia National Park Headquarters, prep your rove plan and equipment for the day
8:45 a.m.
Arrive at Cadillac North Ridge trailhead, spend time at the trailhead encouraging hikers to practice Leave No Trace during their visit
12:00 p.m.
After hiking up Cadillac while repairing cairns along the way, it’s time to eat lunch
12:30 p.m.
Spend time on Cadillac Summit educating visitors about Acadia, summit restoration, and general orientation aka where the bathrooms are
2:30 p.m.
Hike down Cadillac Mountain, noting any trail maintenance issues and chatting with visitors along the way
4:00 p.m.
Back to the office to fill out rove report for the day and debrief with the team, before ending the day at 4:30pm
Maya McDonald, an intern with Wild Gardens of Acadia, picks weeds in the Wild Gardens of Acadia in Acadia National Park (Photo by Will Newton/Friends of Acadia)
The Wild Gardens intern helps to prepare the Gardens for visitors every day, putting out brochures, post cards and scavenger hunts, checking to make sure the paths are clear of branches, picking up trash and/or raking paths. They also work with the Supervisory Gardener and volunteers to help maintain the plantings, weeding, staking plants, watering, spreading compost, repairing paths and edgings, or managing for pests, all the while interacting with the Gardens’ many visitors.
Generally 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
9:30 a.m.
Open the Wild Gardens gates! Fill brochure boxes, sweep entrances and bridge (and stones near the Mountain, as needed), and rake paths
10:30 a.m.
Put out the scavenger hunts and coloring pages/pencils and set up volunteers/greeters
11:30 a.m.
Fill the bird bath and Pond, water work area plants, and check bog plants, as needed
10.
12:30 p.m.
Check boxes and coloring pages/pencils
2:00 p.m.
Clean and store tools and tidy the work area and shd
3:00 p.m.
Check brochure boxes, remove some items if rain is predicted. Put away scavenger hunts, coloring pages and pencils
4:00 p.m.
Empty Shed trash and close shed windows and lock up
5:00 p.m.
Log entry for the day. Shut gates if late/dusk
Zoe Smiarowski (left), Friends of Acadia stewardship assistant, leads the service group from University of New England up the carriage road to floss the coping stones near the Waterfall Bridge in Acadia National Park. (Photo by Ashley L. Conti/Friends of Acadia)
Stewardship Crew Members work with the Friends of Acadia (FOA) Stewardship Coordinator and the Acadia National Park (ANP) Volunteer Coordinator to facilitate a long-standing volunteer stewardship program on Acadia’s trails and carriage roads. The program works with weekly drop-in and service group volunteers (mostly youth groups), contributing greatly to the maintenance of Acadia’s natural and cultural resources. Learn more.
Average workweek: Tuesday-Saturday / 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
7:00 a.m.
Start the day at the office in Acadia National Park Headquarters, check emails at desk, then head to volunteer tool shed
8:00 a.m.
Stewardship Drop-In volunteers start arriving, we all head into field ~8:30am
12:00 p.m.
Return to shed, eat lunch, & prep tools
1:00 p.m.
Head back into field to hike and scout future work projects
3:30 p.m.
Another successful day of stewardship complete!
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