FOA President and CEO Eric Stiles. (Photo by Lily LaRegina/Friends of Acadia)

More than a century ago, people in this community came together to do something extraordinary. They created the first national park east of the Mississippi and the first in the nation established entirely from lands gifted to the American people.

Forty years ago, a new generation of friends drew inspiration from that same tradition of civic stewardship. They were volunteers, neighbors, and people whose own lives had been shaped by Acadia.

As you’ll read in the pages of this magazine, the 1980s were a difficult time for the National Park Service. Federal budget cuts had strained staffing and resources, and Acadia’s trails and carriage roads were in rough shape. For this group of friends, it was a call to action—and the beginning of what would become Friends of Acadia.

In the years that followed, Friends of Acadia got organized and went to work, taking on the deteriorating trails with a mix of volunteerism, fundraising, education, and advocacy that set the standard for our approach today. Friends of Acadia helped secure millions of dollars in federal funding to restore Acadia’s trails and carriage roads and raised matching funds, establishing first-of-their-kind endowments to help care for them in perpetuity.

I first visited Acadia with my wife, Lydia, in 1993. On many return trips over the years, I had the chance to witness firsthand the remarkable progress of those restoration efforts, and the difference that committed people, working together, could make.

Over the following years and decades, Friends of Acadia expanded its work to help the park take on new issues. To address congestion, we helped launch and expand the Island Explorer, which has now carried more than 10.6 million people through the park and surrounding communities car-free.

We’ve invested in education programs to inspire and engage the next generations of park stewards. And we’ve helped restore treasured historic landmarks, including carriage road bridges, lighthouses, and the Carroll Homestead.

And as the challenges facing Acadia have evolved, Friends of Acadia has been a committed and nimble partner in helping the park adapt.

As increased visitation and environmental change place new pressures on Acadia’s ecosystems, we are supporting science-driven restoration and conservation work in the park’s wetlands and summits to strengthen their resilience for the future

We are working with the park to expand attainable housing so Acadia can attract and retain the skilled, dedicated employees it needs to care for this extraordinary place. And we are working to make Acadia more accessible and welcoming. This summer, that included a new partnership with MDI Wheelers to expand free, assisted rides on the carriage roads for people who cannot bike on their own.

Forty years after that first group of friends stepped up to support Acadia, the spirit behind this work remains much the same: people coming together to care for a place they love.

To each of you reading this magazine, thank you. None of what you’ll find in these pages would have been possible without the sustained generosity, energy, and commitment of our volunteers, members, donors, partners, and friends. I hope you see your own hand in this 40-year story and know that you are helping write its next chapter.