Do you love hiking to Acadia’s splendid summits? Or perhaps striking up conversations with strangers is one of your many talents. Maybe you’re a hands-on doer who gets a kick out of wielding a rake or a shovel.
Find a way to give back in Acadia that suits you best. Every bit of it matters a lot!
March 4th, 2026
With Friends of Acadia, you can volunteer outdoors or inside, just once or regularly all season, and you can express your extroversion or keep things lowkey.
However you volunteer, you’ll see a new side of Acadia, feel a deeper connection to the park, and leave this national treasure better than you found it. That’s pretty amazing.
If you like getting your hands dirty, but also struggle with long-term commitment, check out this half-day drop-in program that runs all season.
No trail-tending experience is required to be part of the Drop-In Stewardship Volunteer program, but you likely will learn a thing or two about all that goes into keeping Acadia’s trails and carriage roads in such stellar shape.
While being led by our amazing Volunteer Crew Leaders, you’ll help with important work like cutting back vegetation, clearing drainage features, and building bogwalks. This program runs June through October on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 8:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. (A half day goes a long way, as we like to say.) Come once, come many times – it’s totally up to you! Tools and instruction are provided. No registration needed – just show up! (Unless you have a big group – see more about service groups here.)
Learn more about the Drop-In Stewardship Program
Employees from Chilton Trust spent a day raking leaves from the carriage roads and clearing drainage, which helps reduce erosion and water damage during heavy rains. (Rhiannon Johnston/Friends of Acadia)
If you’re a first-rate cleaner-upper and/or feel especially grand with a rake in your hand), these 2026 events might be your bag.
As early spring begins to warm the air and melt the snow on Mount Desert Island, it also reveals a long season’s worth of debris. Each April, volunteers rally on the roadsides of Mount Desert Island and Trenton to clean up what the winter left behind, bagging the trash and keeping the communities debris-free.
You can help pick up trash and debris in the communities around Acadia during our Earth Day Roadside Cleanup on April 25, 2026. It tends to be a pretty lively and social affair, as well! Registration is required and opens about a month before the event.
Learn more at Earth Day Roadside Cleanup
Students from College of the Atlantic joke around while cleaning up the section of Route 3 near the school’s campus during the 23rd Annual Earth Day Roadside Cleanup. (Julia Walker Thomas/Friends of Acadia)
Help rake fallen fall leaves on Acadia’s carriage roads during Take Pride in Acadia Day. Whether you are a seasoned raker or a novice, everyone is welcome to participate. Groups meet in the field at assigned work sites and then we all come together in the afternoon for the popular “four Cs” lunch of chili, cider, cornbread, and cake. This year’s Take Pride is on November 7, 2026. Registration is required and will open closer to the event.
Learn more about Take Pride in Acadia Day
Members of the
Kappa Alpha Kappa Sorority at the University of Maine Machias stop for a
photo during the 2023 Take Pride in Acadia Day. (Photo by Julia Walker Thomas/Friends of Acadia)
Thank you to Chilton Trust Foundation for supporting our volunteer stewardship events and drop-in program!
If you like to hike with purpose (and a few extra pounds in you pack) trek on over to an SOS hike.
Help Save Our Summits in Acadia by hiking up Penobscot or Sargent Mountain with a bag of soil!
You’ll enjoy a stupendous hike in the park AND help Acadia National Park’s efforts to restore native vegetation during a Save Our Summits hike!
Acadia National Park, in collaboration with Friends of Acadia and Schoodic Institute, invites tenacious hikers to bring bags of soil to the summits of Penobscot and Sargent Mountains. This soil is integral to the ongoing summit restoration efforts in Acadia National Park. Hikes run twice a week – Wednesdays and Fridays – all season. Registration is required and rolls out through the season. Registration opens June 8 for the first hikes of 2026.
Learn more about Save Our Summits hike
Volunteers pose for a photo on the summit of Sargent Mountain during a soil restoration hike on June 26, 2024 at Sargent Mountain in Mount Desert Island , M.E. (Evie Linantud/Friends of Acadia)
If you’re an Acadia-loving conversationalist, you’ll probably love volunteering at the Membership Table.
Stationed just outside the popular Jordan Pond House Restaurant, our Membership Table is a place where park visitors learn more about Acadia and our work to support the park. They can also sign up to become Friends of Acadia members.
Volunteers take on shifts during weekdays from June to September where they help spread the word about Friends of Acadia and talk with park visitors from around the country and the world. If you enjoy engaging with people and have a passion for Acadia, you can be part of a team that makes a real impact.
Learn more about volunteering at the Membership Table
Brian Sale, a volunteer with Friends of Acadia, welcomes a new member at the Friends of Acadia Membership Table outside of Jordan Pond House. (Rhiannon Johnston/Friends of Acadia)
If you dig plants AND people, you might blossom as a volunteer at the Wild Gardens of Acadia.
During the summer and fall, volunteer docents greet visitors at the Wild Gardens of Acadia, which showcase the park’s indigenous flora.
The Wild Gardens includes over 400 plant species in thirteen sections designed to represent natural plant communities found within Acadia National Park, including mountain, heath, seaside, coniferous forest, and nine other habitats.
Training is provided for volunteers, and both weekend and weekday volunteer opportunities are available. It’s an excellent way to expand your knowledge about the Wild Gardens and share it with curious visitors.
Learn more about volunteering at the Wild Gardens of Acadia
Visitors admire the trees in the Wild Gardens of Acadia in Acadia National Park, on Wednesday, June 7, 2023.(Photo by Sam Mallon/Friends of Acadia)
If your inner volunteer prefers being indoors (and/or you appreciate a well-stuffed envelope), volunteering at the Friends of Acadia office might be your jam!
While volunteering outdoors draws lots of folks, some prefer to do their good on the inside. We have plenty of opportunities to help out at our offices in downtown Bar Harbor, things like helping to prepare mailing materials, stuffing envelopes, etc.
Learn more about volunteering at our office
Prepping attendee packets for our Annual Benefit and Auction.
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