Acadia Park entrance fee hike touted to address $65M in repairs

File photo / Laurie Schreiber Entrance fee hikes are proposed at Acadia National Park, starting in 2023, to help pay for infrastructure repairs.

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By Laurie Schreiber

The National Park Service has proposed an increase in the entrance fees at Acadia National Park to help address an estimated $65 million in needed infrastructure repairs and fund projects that benefit visitors and protect park resources.

If approved, a weeklong pass for an individual would go up next year from $15 to $20. A seven-day pass for a private vehicle would increase from $30 to $35; a motorcycle pass for seven days would increase from $25 to $30, and an annual pass would be $70, up from $55. Visitors under 16 years of age would still get in free.

The $6 vehicle reservation fee for Cadillac Summit Road, which is required from May through October in addition to the entrance fee, would remain in effect with no increase. The fee would not change for businesses operating in the park. The new fee structure would be in effect year-round.

Acadia's last increase was in 2018.

Entrance fees are considered a critical source of revenue used by the National Park Service to fund improvements to visitor facilities and services and complete resource management projects. Eighty percent of entrance fees are retained by Acadia National Park, with 20% distributed to other national parks.

Acadia has 452,000 square feet of building space, 86 miles of roads, 158 miles of hiking trails, 45 miles of carriage roads and four campgrounds. In recent years, park officials have said there's an ever-greater urgency to address the Acadia’ backlog of maintenance on basic infrastructure, ranging from maintenance buildings to visitor restrooms. Deferred maintenance has been deemed a priority and much of that is below the surface of what visitors see — culverts and the wastewater system. Some assets, like the maintenance building and nearby administration building, need to be replaced.

Projects funded at Acadia over the past few years include:

The Island Explorer bus system, at a level of 60-70%, for free service to park visitors and residents on Mount Desert Island and the Schoodic Peninsula.
Hiking trail projects, including a bog walk on Upper Hadlock Pond and Jordan Pond trails; rehabbing Great Head and Parkman Mountains trails; and replacing trail bridges.
Repairs to carriage road gatehouses, repairing campground restrooms and replacing damaged park road gates.
Increasing custodial services in response to an increase in park visitors.

The proposed fee increases are based on an NPS pricing structure that has been established for all areas in the National Park System that collect an entrance fee. The structure is set up into four groups that adhere to the park's legislative designation, with two groups that include a "national park" designation. The increase would move Acadia into the highest tier group along with other highly visited national parks, including Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Yosemite.

The entrance fee is authorized by a federal act that requires the NPS to provide a public comment period, which will be open from Nov. 30 through Dec. 29. Click here to find the comment portal.

In 2020, Congress passed the Great American Outdoors Act, a conservation bill that includes $9.5 billion over five years to help catch up on a $12 billion maintenance backlog at all national parks.