Increasing visitor numbers and climate change are the park’s two primary challenges as it looks to the future. Visitor numbers are expected to stay strong this year.
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By the end of November, Acadia National Park had received over 4 million visitors, a record number likely driven by a surging interest in outdoor activity during the pandemic.
“It was an unprecedented year for visitation,” said the park’s superintendent, Kevin Schneider. “It topped the previous record, which was 2018.”
Increasing visitor numbers and climate change are the park’s two primary challenges as it looks to the future.
“I used to frame climate change as being the greatest long-term threat to Acadia and congestion being the biggest short-term challenge,” he said. “But increasingly, I see climate change as a challenge we are facing now.”
A major storm in June dumped 5 inches of rain in just a couple of hours, wiping out sections of the park’s carriage road system and a picturesque trail called Maple Spring.
“That kind of rain event was unprecedented in the park’s history,” said Schneider. “It’s the kind of symptom we’re seeing in a rapidly changing climate now. Responding to that is increasingly a challenge for us.”
In response, the park is employing a framework response called RAD, for “resist, accept or direct.” At Maple Spring, for example, the park is considering whether to rebuild, discontinue the trail, or move it.
“With these kind of storm events, is it sustainable to maintain the trail as we had before?” he said. “That’s a small example of how we’re starting to think about these challenges.”
As part of a suite of measures to address congestion, the park instituted a vehicle reservation system in 2021 at one of its most popular spots, Cadillac Mountain.
“We had a very successful reservation system last summer,” Schneider said. “We’ll continue that in 2022, with some back-of-the-house tweaks” such as selling tickets in person to support visitors who don’t have digital devices.
“I think visitation will remain strong,” Schneider said of the coming year. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see it plus or minus 5% to 10% what it was in 2021. But even minus 10%, it would still be one of our busiest seasons.”