Celebrating a Groundbreaking Made Possible by the Great American Outdoors Act

VIP’s prepare to break ground on Acadia’s new maintenance facility, funded by the Great American Outdoors Act. From left to right: Carol Woodcock (staff of Senator Susan Collins), Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Superintendent Kevin Schneider, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau, Senator Angus King, Zack Schmesser (staff of Congressman Jared Golden), Eric Stiles, President and CEO of Friends of Acadia. (NPS photo)

About 50 people gathered at Acadia National Park headquarters on Saturday, April 29, for the ceremonial groundbreaking and official start of construction for Acadia’s new 32,000-square-foot maintenance building.

U.S. Sen. Angus King, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, and Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau were among the special guests who joined Acadia National Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider and Friends of Acadia President Eric Stiles to hoist a shovel of dirt to mark the momentous project that has been two decades in the making–and one made possible thanks to the Great American Outdoors Act.

The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), passed by Congress in 2020, directs up to $1.9 billion each year for five years into the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund to address the backlog of infrastructure repair and maintenance projects in our public lands. It additionally invests in Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools.

The GAOA is the single largest investment in public lands in U.S. history. This landmark bipartisan conservation legislation provides much needed upkeep of critical facilities and infrastructure in our national park wildlife refuges, national forests and recreational areas – all of which generate billions of dollars in private sector economic activity.

That landmark congressional investment is now directly benefiting Acadia National Park.

A new maintenance building has been a known need for the park for more than 20 years, but the project remained long relegated to the National Park Service’s deferred maintenance backlog. The GAOA is finally making this project possible.

VIPs prepare to break ground on Acadia’s new maintenance facility, funded by the Great American Outdoors Act. From left to right: Carol Woodcock (staff of Senator Susan Collins), Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Superintendent Kevin Schneider, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau, Senator Angus King, Zack Schmesser (staff of Congressman Jared Golden), and Eric Stiles, President and CEO of Friends of Acadia. (Photo by Julia Walker Thomas/Friends of Acadia)

Enhanced Maintenance Facilities to Serve Visitors & Protect Park Resources

In February, the National Park Service approved a $32.6 million contract for the firm Nickerson & O’Day to build Acadia’s new maintenance building, which will provide park staff with enhanced facilities to better serve visitors and protect park resources.

Acadia’s maintenance team works tirelessly to preserve roads and trails; conserve historic carriage roads and stone bridges; keep visitor centers clean and operational; manage construction projects, and the list goes on and on. Many park partnership programs also operate out of the maintenance buildings, including volunteer programs funded in part by Friends of Acadia which help maintain trails and historic carriage roads.

The current maintenance buildings are structurally unsound, undersized, and inadequate for the workload. The park’s staff, operations, and visitation have grown considerably since the existing maintenance facility was first constructed in the 1960s. With approximately 150 employees and staff based there, portable restrooms and temporary trailers were added to accommodate.

Park visitation has grown by approximately 70 percent in the last decade. In 2021, Acadia National Park had 4.1 million visitors who spent an estimated $486 million and supported over 6,800 jobs and $702 million in economic output in the local region.

The $32.6 million project funds construction of a new maintenance operations complex and demolishes more than 20,000 square feet of unsafe park structures. It will eliminate $4.4 million of deferred maintenance and repairs and is expected to be finished in February 2024.

The new facility will provide maintenance shops, equipment support space, restrooms, offices, meeting rooms, parking, and an updated septic system. The new maintenance building spaces, restrooms, offices, workspaces, and community areas will improve workplace efficiencies, lower heating and cooling costs, decrease fuel consumption, protect equipment investments from the elements, and improve accessibility.

“This moment is nearly 20 years in the making–and it’s hard to believe it’s finally here,” said Acadia National Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider.

“We are all eager to see this facility come to life over the next two years. It will allow us to be better stewards of Acadia’s diverse built environment: ranging from our historic carriage roads to our visitor centers, and everything in between.”

What’s Next…for Acadia and the Great American Outdoors Act?

It’s worth noting that the Acadia National Park maintenance facility investment will also contribute more than 425 jobs and $92 million to the nation’s economy. The groundbreaking is a long-awaited and critical project worth celebrating…AND there’s more work to be done.

“The Great American Outdoors Act is making key investments in America’s greatest idea – our beloved National Parks,” said Friends of Acadia President Eric Stiles. “The new maintenance building will be essential for stewarding Acadia and its treasures for generations to come. Friends of Acadia is grateful to the National Park Service and Maine’s delegation in making this vision a reality which will benefit tens of millions of visitors for decades to come.”

Years of limited funding degraded the ability of the National Park Service to address park infrastructure. Acadia maintains an estimated $1 billion infrastructure: 214 buildings, 153 trail miles, 71 housing units, six campgrounds, 82 miles of unpaved roads (including the historic carriage roads), 17 water systems and 18 wastewater systems.

That’s an enormous burden to maintain while being efficient and respectful of taxpayer dollars.

In addition to the maintenance facility funding, Acadia received more than $7.8 million in funding to rehabilitate water and wastewater systems at Schoodic Point.

Future Great American Outdoors Act projects could include rehabilitation of the former Navy housing at the Schoodic Education and Research Center, repairs or replacement of the Jordan Pond House facilities, and repairs to the Bass Harbor Light.

Friends of Acadia, is happy to enhance this work through contributions from our endowments and donor-designated funds to preserve Acadia’s trails and carriage roads, maintain historic buildings and prepare for the effects of climate change. But it will take a continued and increased public-private partnership for years to come.

While infrastructure projects like Acadia’s maintenance building may not excite park visitors, they are critical to ensuring that both visitors and staff are safe and have an enjoyable experience when visiting our public lands.

Learn more about the Great American Outdoors Act.