Friends of Acadia CEO to step down after 10-year tenure

Courtesy / Ashley L. Conti, Friends of Acadia Friends of Acadia President and CEO David MacDonald, seen here a year ago at the top of Beech Mountain in Acadia National Park, will step down from his role in early 2022.

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By Staff

After a decade leading a nonprofit that's instrumental in advancing the interests of Acadia National Park, the group's chief has announced he will step down from his role in early 2022.

“It has been a tremendous honor to lead this institution and I am grateful for the opportunity to work so closely with our partners at the park and the thousands of people who make our mission possible,” David MacDonald, president and CEO of Bar Harbor-based Friends of Acadia, said in a news release.

Friends of Acadia directs much of its resources toward its four “strategic pillars” that focus on the visitor experience, ensuring resilience in the face of climate change, engaging youth more deeply in the park and maintaining Acadia’s trails and carriage roads.

Under MacDonald’s tenure, Friends of Acadia has expanded its staffing, programs and grants to the park, at a time when the park has faced a range of challenges. Those issues include climate change, resulting in heavy-rainfall events and associated erosion; and increasing visitor and roadway congestion as the park’s popularity has grown over the years.

In 2019, Acadia hosted 3.4 million visitors, ranking it No. 7 among national parks.

The number dropped to 2.7 million in 2020, but Acadia remained in the nation’s top 10, at No. 8.

For 2021, Acadia is projected to top more than 4 million visits for the first time in its history.

Friends of Acadia was founded in 1986, the year that Acadia’s legislative boundary was established. National park "friends groups" often step in when additional funding is needed for infrastructure needs or deferred maintenance.

Early initiatives included benefit auctions and annual Take Pride in Acadia Days that draw numerous volunteers to rake and clean up Acadia’s carriage roads for the summer season.

In 1996, the organization completed a fundraising campaign to leverage a commitment of $6 million in federal appropriations to reconstruct Acadia’s 45-mile system of carriage roads and to create a fund to maintain the roads in perpetuity.

Other initiatives have included working with state and local partners to avert a clear-cut on 1,600 acres on the Schoodic Peninsula adjacent to park lands, establishing a program called the Ridge Runners to serve as roving educators and researchers in the park, and co-developing and co-funding the Island Explorer bus system.

The nonprofit also established a campaign to restore and endow park trails, purchased 369 acres in Trenton to build the Acadia Gateway Center and successfully lobbied the Maine Legislature to limit open carry of firearms in Acadia.

During MacDonald’s tenure, the first phase of the Acadia Gateway Center was inaugurated, Friends of Acadia funded a watershed-based natural resource management program and a water-quality monitoring program at Jordan Pond, helped expand a Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program, hired Acadia’s first Cadillac Summit Steward team to reduce impacts and increase visitor engagement, helped oversee the growth of the Island Explorer system, and matched a new vista-clearing program along Acadia’s motor and carriage roads.

During the pandemic, the organization has established the Acadia Resilience Fund, raising more than $300,000 for Acadia to hire a visual information specialist and acquire equipment to conduct virtual educational programming for students and others; and supported Acadia in planning and engineering site improvements for the vehicle reservation test.

“After 10 rewarding years, I’ve decided that the time is coming for me to help transition to Friends of Acadia’s next president and CEO,” said MacDonald. “I truly believe that organizations benefit from new energy and leadership; just as individuals like me benefit from new directions and challenges.”

MacDonald said he would work with the organization’s staff and board members in the months to ensure a smooth transition.

Jack Kelley, chairman of the Friends of Acadia board of directors, credited the organization's recent success to MacDonald’s leadership, knowledge of constituencies, and dedication to protecting Acadia and its surrounding communities.

The board is conducting a local and national search for MacDonald’s successor with the goal of having a new leader in place by spring of 2022.