2023 Friends of Acadia Board Chair William Eacho. (Photo by: Julia Walker Thomas/Friends of Acadia)

“This has been a disheartening end to the season. But in times like these, I am buoyed by the strength and compassion of our community.”

As I write this message, the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history has just come to an end. This prolonged closure has impacted communities and families nationwide, and my thoughts are with everyone who continues to feel its strain.

Here at Acadia, the shutdown hit at a particularly challenging time. Fall is one of the park’s most beautiful and busiest seasons, drawing visitors from around the world to experience our forests’ vibrant colors. The Department of the Interior directed national parks to remain mostly open, while operating with a fraction of their normal staff. Here at Acadia, that meant open trails, roads, and carriage roads – but with significantly reduced services, closed visitor centers, and canceled programs.

First-time visitors looking for guidance navigating the park encountered locked doors at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center. Ranger-led activities and educational programs for local schools were canceled. Trail and carriage road maintenance came to a stop, volunteer programs within the park were suspended, and important conservation management projects, including invasive species
monitoring and removal, were put on hold.

In the park, a skeleton crew of National Park Service employees continued working through the shutdown, doing their best to protect public health and safety while most of their colleagues were furloughed-separated from the work they love and uncertain when they’d receive their next paycheck. The shutdown occurred at the end of a year when park staff had already been asked to do more with less. The National Park Service has lost a quarter of its full-time staff since January, and a hiring freeze remains in place.

During the shutdown, the park was also unable to sell park passes or collect entrance fees, creating new financial challenges.

We estimate Acadia lost more than $1.5 million in fee revenue in October-funds the park depends on to support next year’s operations. At the same time, national parks, including Acadia, were required to draw from current-year entrance fee funds to sustain basic operations typically supported by federal appropriations, putting strain on both current and future resources.

This has been a disheartening end to the season. But in times like these, I am buoyed by the strength and compassion of our community.

The few remaining National Park Service staff in the field navigated the busiest weekends of the year with fortitude and professionalism.

Dedicated trail crew volunteers kept showing up, working outside park boundaries to maintain community trails, including the Giant Slide Trail in Mount Desert, the Trenton Community Trail in Trenton, and the Duck Brook Connector Trail in Bar Harbor.

And local businesses and community members worked with us to create and promote an Entrance Fee Donation program to give visitors who were unable to purchase a park pass due to the shutdown a way to support Acadia by donating the value of an entrance fee. I am incredibly grateful to every visitor who chose to help sustain Acadia in this way, and for the outpouring of support from everyone in our community who posted flyers, talked with visitors, and shared information online to help spread the word.

Together, we raised more than $30,000 for the park. While this is only a small fraction of the park’s lost revenue, every dollar makes a difference.

I am thankful that all of Acadia’s rangers are now able to return and carry out the important work of preparing the park for winter. Together with a broad coalition of park supporters in Maine and across the country, we will continue to call on Congress to fully fund and fully staff the parks we love. To all of you, our park service colleagues, our members, and friends: thank you.

Your partnership makes it possible for us to protect Acadia during these times of uncertainty and for generations to come.