ACADIA NATIONAL PARK ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING
Schoodic Institute, Moore Auditorium, Winter Harbor, ME
September 09, 2024, 1:00 p.m.
ATTENDANCE:
Ben ‘Lee’ Worcester, Chair
G. Bruce Wiersma, Vice Chair
Darron Collins, Member
Fred Ehrlenbach, Member
Kirk Emerson, Member
Jacqueline Johnston, Member
Carolyn Gothard, Member
Ken Smith, Member
Howie Motenko, Member
Matt Horton, Member
Pearl Barto, Member
Stephen Shea, Member
Kevin Schneider, Superintendent, ANP
Brandon Bies, Deputy Superintendent, ANP
Keith Johnston, Chief of Maintenance & Facilities, ANP
John Kelly, Management Assistant, ANP
Rebecca Cole-Will, Chief of Resource & Cultural Management, ANP
Kate Petrie, Education Coordinator, ANP
Eric Stiles, President & CEO, Friends of Acadia
Nick Fisichelli, President & CEO, Schoodic Institute
Congressional Representatives
Members of the Public
News Media
Staff of ANP
ABSENT COMMISSION MEMBERS:
Carl Brooks
Jeffrey Clapp
Kendall Davis
Bonnie Newsom
PLATFORM:
In-person & Virtual via Zoom
OPENING REMARKS
The Commission Chair, Ben (Lee) Worcester, called the meeting of the Acadia National Park Advisory Commission, Monday, September 09, 2024, 1:00 p.m. to order.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
A motion was made by Stephen Shea and seconded by Fred Ehrlenbach to accept the agenda for the September 09, 2024, meeting; all approved as is, no opposed. Motion carries.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
A motion was made by Fred Ehrlenbach and seconded by Bruce Wiersma to accept the minutes of June 03, 2024. All approved, no opposed. Motion carries.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT – Kevin Schneider, Superintendent
WELCOME – Kevin Schneider
Park Updates (Kevin Schneider):
Park visitation through July was up 1.2% from last year. Visitation for Schoodic Peninsula was down 1.1% through July. Preliminary data, not official data, shows August was the second busiest August on record. The busiest year was 2021, just after the pandemic. The Island Explorer ridership increased 5% from the previous year. It is still well below our pre-pandemic numbers for the Island Explorer, but we are seeing filled buses. Continuing to get people on the buses will be important.
Housing remains a critical issue for us and really defines our ability to recruit and retain our seasonal workforce. We just issued a solicitation to build 28 bedrooms at Harden Farm in Bar Harbor. We hope to make an award in the next week or two. We are preparing to design a second set of units in the next six months or so with a solicitation out to build 28 bedrooms at Harden Farm, which will give us 56 total bedrooms on site. These are going to be one-bedroom apartments at Harden Farm, along with 8-bedroom suite style accommodations with shared kitchen, shared living space, shared bathrooms.
Dane Farm on Jordan Pond Road is coming together beautifully with 8 bedrooms. These should be completed before the end of this calendar year.
We are looking at building a small campground for our volunteers and employees with their own RVs off Seal Cove Road in Southwest Harbor on a park parcel. This will replace the campsites we lost due to the construction of the new maintenance facility at park headquarters. The parcel of land is park property and a previously disturbed site. This will be RV sites with full hookups.
We are also continuing to make progress on the Town Hill parcel in Bar Harbor which was a former transfer station parcel. We, along with the Town of Bar Harbor, funded a site survey to determine wetlands and vernal pools that will allow us to understand what is buildable on the site. Friends of Acadia helped fund the park’s share of the survey. The property has a legal right of way, but there's no actual access to it. We have been meeting with the Town of Bar Harbor and we are going to start meeting with neighbors and adjacent landowners this fall, likely in October, to start talking about access to the site. 40 of those acres will ultimately be transferred to the Town of Bar Harbor for workforce housing on Mount Desert Island. The park will retain 15 acres for employee housing purposes or administrative needs.
The Schoodic Loop Road is down to one lane when you drive on the outbound connection. The January storm undermined the roadway. We are hoping to get some funding from the Federal Highway Administration for road repair both here and for other locations on the Park Loop Road on Mount Desert Island (MDI). There is potential for a supplemental appropriation to address other damage in the park. We received some contingency funding from our regional office to repair the roofs of several buildings on the Schoodic Peninsula.
Seawall Road is back up and running. I want to give a big shoutout to the towns of Southwest Harbor and Tremont, along with the contractors that made it possible. A reminder that this road is not a park asset, but it is on park property. It is a state highway, and MaineDOT is responsible for maintenance and repairs. I want to recognize the contractors that were involved: Rings Paving Company Incorporated, John Goodwin, Jr. Construction, Northeast Paving, GT Outhouses, Doug Gott and Sons, and BFP Trucking. We sent thank you letters officially to each of those contractors, but they volunteered their time, equipment, and staff to make reopening the road possible.
Transportation (John Kelly)
This is the 25th season of operation for the Island Explorer. Later this month, the Island Explorer is on target to carry its 10 millionth rider. Ridership continues to grow from suspension of service in 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19. Ridership increased 41% from 2021 to 2022 and increased an additional 8% from 22-23. Today, we are about 5% below our peak ridership numbers in 2019. The system continues to be a real key component of our Transportation Plan.
The Acadia Gateway Center is expected to open in the spring of 2025. It will provide an option to get on the Island Explorer. It is a Welcome Center that will be operated by the Maine Tourism Association and the National Park Service, along with Downeast Transportation. Thank you to the town of Trenton for support in moving that forward and making it possible. It has been a 20-year project. We will see you at the opening next spring.
- Bus Electrification Grant
At least 75% of the Island Explorer buses are going to be converted to electric buses over the next few years due to a $24M grant the state received from the Federal Transit Administration A 20% match came from the National Park Service and Friends of Acadia.
And finally, I just want to recognize Paul Murphy, the Executive Director, Jodi Moore, who runs the operations of the bus, and Felicia Jordan, who takes care of the fleet. There are others, along with nearly 100 drivers that make this operation available not only to the park visitors, but to our communities and the rest of the region.
Construction and Maintenance/Great American Outdoors Act Projects (Keith Johnston)
Keith Johnston is headed off for a 120-day detail as the Acting Superintendent of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.
The new maintenance facility, funded by the Great American Outdoors Act, has come along very well. The exterior shell is up, and they poured all the slab inside the building. A transformer was delivered. It is on schedule, and we are still targeted for completion in December of 2025.
We're going to be doing some work on the section of road between the beginning of the one way and Cadillac Mountain that will start in the middle of October. We've got about 8 major culverts in that roadway that are going to be replaced, either in various pieces or in whole, and that will end up leading to a full road closure on November 17, which is about 2 weeks earlier than our normal road closures on December 1st.
At that same time, we are going to close the road from Jordan Pond north lot to Cadillac Summit Road so that our crews can do significant repairs for the Lower Mountain Road. This will basically not allow folks to get up Cadillac during that window because there will be major construction on each side. We are, however, going to try to reopen that road for the Thanksgiving weekend so park visitors will have access to Cadillac Mountain and that road network for the holiday weekend. We've worked with our construction team to see that they can have road open for passage, and our own team will have the roads clear for passage during that time. We've been waiting a long time to get this work done.
The water/wastewater system for the Schoodic campus, funded by the Great American Outdoors Act, is largely complete. The project was to get rid of all the groundwater infiltration, rebuild the lift stations, tighten up the sewer system, and fix the water system. We have a new SCADA system which allows us to basically monitor our lift stations, our well plant, and the water production facility remotely, which will save us a ton of time. The next phase of the water/wastewater project here at Schoodic will be to eliminate the wastewater treatment plant, which we are looking to award next year. It will eliminate the entire facility and transition to a subsurface treatment system that’s right sized for the campus occupancy. That is being funded through the Repair Rehabilitation Program of the National Park Service.
The Great Meadow project is on track to be awarded at the beginning of next fiscal year, 2025.
The Bridge repair projects are at 30% design. We are just reengaging with the Federal Highways Administration for the next 3 bridges. We are beginning to entertain a contract with them to go from 30% to 70%. The next 3 bridges being looked at are the Fraser Creek Bridge at Schoodic, which won't result in any closure; The bridge on the Loop Road which goes over 233 (the proposal is to have a complete temporary bridge built beside it); and the bridge over Duck Brook Road. The administrative section that is basically is the old section that connects to West Street, will close fully, and have a detour out of the Visitor Center onto Route 3 up to Route 233. Right now, we don’t expect construction to take place until 2027-2028 because we have a lot of design work to engage them in, but those would be the next 3.
Education Program Updates (Kate Petrie) (PowerPoint Presentation)
We have 2 different sub-districts within the park that run education here at Schoodic. We are predominantly known for our outdoor schools. We have our Residential Education Program where kids stay overnight for 3-4 days. We work with them from 7:00 a.m. to 09:30 p.m. doing everything from geology, mapping, habitat study, to campfires, art, and night hikes. We offer 17 different programs, and the teachers can pick from them and organize programs that fit with what they are doing in school.
Our other district is on Mount Desert Island, and they work, predominantly, with field trips/day trips for Pre-K through high school. We offer a variety of program types. We now operate around the annual calendar and mirror the school year and have some staffing in the summer. Our biggest seasons are spring and autumn which is when we offer the Schoodic Education Adventure (SEA) program. This year for the last 12 months, September to September, we have worked with 4200 students from 48 towns.
In our residential education program, SEA Program/Outdoor School, we worked with 841 students from 27 towns which included Maine, New York, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.
Our Community Outreach had 2600+ people, mostly students, involved from over 9 towns. Throughout the winter, we do ice fishing, when we have ice.
Distance Learning Program reached 17,000+ students in 42 states this year. We offer 36 topics for pre-k through high school that includes:
- Habitats
- Food Webs
- Chemistry
- Birding
- Careers
- Physics of Nature (ocean waves, light, and sound)
Our Teacher Development Program had 121 teacher participants this year.
- At Schoodic or parkwide
- Some are one day programs on a specific topic.
- Summer programs where they attend 4 times.
- Six-week Acadia Teacher Fellow Program
Our Summer Family programming had 289 programs with 10,600+ participants. It included a Junior Angler Grant from the National Park Foundation and our first-time working with Fish and Feathers Interns. We also do library programs and Junior Ranger Stations throughout the park.
Our Early Career Internships has 10-17 Interns each year, depending on resumes, timing, funding, and housing. This year, it included our Fish & Feather Interns. They work with our SEA program, with programs on Mount Desert Island, and with our virtual programming through the winter. Many go on to conservation jobs in the National Park Service or related fields.
Sweetgrass FONSI & IRA Archaeology Project (Rebecca Cole-Will)
I am pleased to share some work we have been doing with the 5 Federally recognized tribes in Maine, effectively known as the Wabanaki. We have had some longstanding work to partner and expand collaboration and co-stewardship.
Since 2015, we have been engaging with the tribes around plant gathering. A regulation created in 2016 allowed for superintendents to enter into agreements with Federally recognized tribes around access rights and plant gathering for culturally significant plants. We have spent the last 8 years working together, creating partnerships, and building trust and relationships. Per NEPA regulations, we needed to do an Environmental Assessment to see if traditional plant gathering of sweetgrass in salt marches has an impact on resources in the park. Some of the challenges are to understand the tribal uses and needs around sweetgrass and build an analysis while also considering impacts to the resources and other parts of the park. We just completed a FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact) which Kevin signed off on in July. The next phase is to enter into specific agreements with each one of the nations to afford how that will work on a regular basis. We are only the 4th park in the whole system that has been able to get one of these agreements completed. It is a challenging process, and we are pleased to be able to have that opportunity here to expand that relationship.
The second project that is also part of this ongoing work with the Wabanaki Tribes is funded by the IRA, Inflation Reduction Act, and part of the funding for the park service was aimed at supporting Climate Change projects. Our work is around understanding the management of vulnerable coastal archaeological sites, called shell middens. They are significant cultural heritage spaces for the tribes. We need to know how to manage these sites moving forward. What information needs to be safeguarded if these sites disappear? What information do the tribes need to help us make good decisions around cultural resource management? This is a 5-year project being led by Dr. Bonnie Newsom, who is an Associate Professor at the University of Maine, and, as you know, an Advisor here on the Commission. She is also, a member of the Penobscot Nation and has been working in this area for many years. Along with her graduate students, she will be talking with tribal partners and tribal historic preservation officers in order to build a model for decision making. The Park will be a national model on how to engage and do that work together. The project will last about 5 years.
Dr. Suzanne Greenlaw, who is leading the plant gathering work, will be speaking here at Schoodic Institute on September 10th on reflections of how we have done this work together and co-stewardship.
OLD BUSINESS
None
NEW BUSINESS
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New Guide for Federal Advisory Commission Member - Brandon Bies
Brandon gave a brief review of the guide in the commission packets put out by the Department of the Interior of the responsibilities while serving as Federal Advisory Commission members, 3 different types of appointments, and responsibilities for holding meetings. If you note, on the bottom it states the Charter will be reviewed on a biannual basis. The Acadia National Park Charter has not been updated since 2011. The ANP Advisory Commission Charter is currently being reviewed and updated in Washington. Once we have a draft or update, it will be shared, and the commission will vote on it.
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2025 ANP Advisory Commission Meeting Dates - Brandon Bies
- February 03, 2025 – 1:00 pm, ANP Headquarters
- June 02, 2025 - 1:00 pm, ANP Headquarters
- September 08, 2025 – 1:00 pm, Schoodic Institute, Winter Harbor
A motion to accept the ANP Advisory Commission meeting dates/times for 2025 was made by Fred Ehrlenbach and seconded by Callie Gothard. All approved. No opposed. Motion carries.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Science & Education Committee – Bruce Wiersma
We did not meet prior to this meeting, but since I've got the floor. I want to thank Kevin and Joy for including your education and outreach and interpretation programs in front of the full Commission. That was really great. And a special thank you to Kate for the great job and really good job on the slides. Thank you!
Park Use Committee – Jackie Johnston
The Park Use Committee also did not meet. So, there's nothing to report at this time.
Lands Committee – Darron Collins
I am sorry I was not able to make it to Schoodic in person today. But the Lands Committee did have a chance to meet in the interim between our June 9th meeting and today. I think, first and foremost, we want to discuss the boat launch proposal a little bit more that we talked about at the last meeting. We want everyone on the commission, and more broadly, to understand that the Lands Committee is supportive of the work needed for the boat launch. We also wanted to emphasize that the strong collaborative nature between the National Park and the community of Mount Desert is ultimately important, and anything we can do that's in our purview as the Lands Committee to strengthen that relationship we'd certainly like to do. We didn't want our comments from last meeting in any way to be heard as that we weren't supportive. We were entirely supportive of the work that needs to be done at the boat launch. We just felt that the most appropriate way moving forward for doing that was with an exchange. We wanted to encourage the town of Mount Desert to sit down face to face ideally with Acadia National Park, in order to think through some of those options, and also wanted to emphasize that beyond an exchange there may be some other opportunities or other methods for acquiring the needed lands to make the improvements. One such possibility might be for implementing legislation, and that ultimately this was beyond the purview of the Lands Committee. But that would mean tapping into the Congressional Delegation in order to pursue some legislative way forward, or even considering a kind of land exchange, or a swap that would involve a 3rd party. And if this seemed reasonable, again, we wanted to encourage the town of Mount Desert to sit down with Acadian National Park staff, and again, face to face to figure out those options. So ultimately, again, we just wanted to emphasize that we're supportive of moving forward in a collaborative, constructive nature between the National Park and the town of Mount Desert, and we are at the ready to help make that happen in any way we can. Thank you.
A motion was made by Howie Motenko to accept The Lands Committee’s report in regard to the boat launch as reported by Darron Collins. Seconded by Kirk Emerson. All approved. No Opposed. Motion carries.
History Committee – No Report
FRIENDS OF ACADIA – Eric Stiles, President & CEO
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Commission members. So, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings we continue our stewardship as drop-in days. As a parenthetical note, Doug Hedeen is here and a volunteer crew leader. I got to walk the Jordan Pond Trail, the Bog Walk there, which took 5 years complete for the first time, and it's just amazing what the volunteers do with Acadia National Park to improve our trails. For anyone that is interested, it runs through the end of October. You can go to Friends of Acadia Volunteer and sign up and get out and give 4 hours back to the park. Our volunteer season will culminate with Take Pride in Acadia Day on Saturday, November 2nd, when we rake the ditches of the carriage roads from the leaves and do some flossing of Mr. Rockefeller's teeth. Our registration will begin in October. So that's always a lot of fun.
We're still holding lectures every Thursday night at Terramor at 5:00pm. It is free. We call it Pints for a Purpose, where we learn about the history, the habitat, the infrastructure, and Acadia National Park. So, anyone’s welcome to Terramor, located in Town Hill. It's open to the public, and some upcoming presentations include Billy Helprin, and he has a great talk about breeding loons on the island. We will have Chris Nadeau from Schoodic Institute, talking about climates, forward stewardship, how do you manage our habitats in the face of rapid change. And then Juan Martinez, a special nationally renowned figure on September 19th. He's a National Geographic emerging explorer, leader in the Children in Nature network and a national spokesperson focusing on getting you into the outdoors. They are free. and some of the money, if you do buy a pint, goes back to help support the Park.
Our seasonal employees will be wrapping up their work in late October, early November. We're going to be having a final presentation of the summit stewards and recreation technicians, our stewardship crew, and Claire Burnett, Community Volunteer Ambassador, on Tuesday, October 22nd, at 12:30 pm at park headquarters. If anyone in the audience is interested and wants to participate including joining remotely, just let me know. Get me your name and email address, and I will sign you up.
For our seasonal housing effort, and again, I want to recognize Howie who has been an invaluable kind of partner and given really important feedback, I think, on behalf of the Seal Harbor community. Dane Farm, which is a 5-bedroom and 3-bedroom residential unit located at the north end of Jordan Pond Road, in Seal Harbor is slated for completion this fall, with landscaping to be completed this coming spring. Upon completion, the land and the improvements will be transferred to Acadia National Park, providing 8 bedrooms for the 2025 season. We'll be having a celebration event in October with invitations to go out to the Chairman and any anyone else that's interested in attending that event is welcome to join us. Again, in addition to Howie, we want to thank the Seal Harbor community. We had 2 Town Hall meetings at the fire station, and then had 3 open houses for the community over the summer, so the neighbors could come in, visit the site, see the work in progress, and the feedback has been very positive.
As part of that effort to secure seasonal housing, we did close at the end of June on 39 Jordan River Road in Trenton, which would provide, in the 2025 season, the town homes on site housing for 20 to 24 bus
drivers. We will be working with E.L. Shea in the off season to address some deferred maintenance. We are excited to offer that to Island Explorer as a partner to try and help them continue to chip away at hiring staff. We will be charging rent, though it will likely be a reduced pricing.
We have also launched the public phase of our $10M Raise the Roof campaign. That $10M is seeking to leverage 20 million dollars in Federal and other sources for build out as Dane Farm and Harden Farm. That would be a total of 64 beds. I want to again thank and recognize our Congressional Delegation. They have come forward in a huge way to help us secure Federal matching funds. The largest check I ever got to sign in my life and, believe I ever will, was for 5 million dollars. We gave that to Kevin early this summer to match the $5M, thanks to our Congressional Delegation for the Centennial Challenge Funds. We were also able to secure a $2M contribution from the National Park Foundation. That will also go to phase one of Harden Farm. If anyone is interested in more information, I defer to the park. But I'm absolutely happy to answer any questions in regard to Dane Farm on Jordan River Road.
We are also in the just beginning our budgeting season so we will be working with Kevin and his team as we pull together our fiscal year 25 budget for philanthropic contributions and priorities for Acadia National Park.
Finally, just one comment is that just want to reaffirm if the town and the park see there's a valuable role or supportive role that Friends of Acadia can play in regard to the program, I just want to reiterate that offer. I'm struck by Mr. Lunt's observation of efficient manner. It is our firm opinion that the most efficient manner to move forward in regard to the boat ramp is a land exchange. You can proceed with much greater certainty, much greater rapidity, than getting Federal legislation passed. With all due respect to our Delegation. They are wonderful. Legislation tends to die versus Land exchange occur on a regular basis. So, I applaud Mr. Lunt’s continued conversation, and if there is a beneficial role that we can play, I just want to reiterate that offer. Thank you.
Ben Worcester: Does anybody have any questions? Thank you.
SCHOODIC INSTITUTE UPDATE –Nick Fisichelli, President & CEO, Schoodic Institute
Thank you. Just some updates from Schoodic Institute. We are Acadia’s primary partner in science in education. We work closely with our National Park Service colleagues and other partners, especially Friends of Acadia in developing conservation responses to rapid change in Acadia and engaging learners of all ages in the science and solutions. I think you've all heard of many of these projects that I feel very fortunate that we get to participate in, and volunteers get to help out with as well, and certainly working with Becky and her resource management crew, and Joy Absher, Kate Petrie, and the Education staff here at Acadia. Funding for these projects comes from many different sources. Certainly, volunteers are important, but also many other sources of funding. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law - Ecological Restoration has been a really important source of funding, especially for the Great Meadow and Bass Harbor Marsh restoration projects. And then also the Inflation Reduction Act. The IRA has also been a really important source of funding as well. A big thank you to the Delegation for supporting that really important legislation. Some of those projects, the funding is coming towards the end, and you know there's going to need to be continued support to help advance all of those projects, and change is not slowing down in Acadia. We're really just seeing it continue to accelerate. And also funding from other sources, Friends of Acadia, National Park Foundation, and also lots of support from individuals as well for all of these projects.
So, one of our intents is to make conservation more inclusive of people and perspectives and so one of our mantras is science is for everyone, and everyone can contribute to science, and that includes volunteers helping with bringing soil back up to eroded summits in the park, that includes the middle school students working with Kate and her team on science projects here on Schoodic. For example, this week we have a corporate group on campus of citizen scientists who are working with us as well as doing some professional developments. And then also, making conservation more inclusive people and perspectives on the perspectives piece, really embracing many ways of knowing beyond just Western science. And the pace and magnitude of change here in Acadia really demand that we incorporate many ways of knowing. Certainly, knowledge from those who make a living off the lands and waters. and also, through indigenous knowledge. Becky mentioned Suzanne Greenlaw, who's working on some of this this research here at Great Meadow as well as plant gathering. She'll be giving a talk tomorrow evening. It's the 5th and final lecture in our summer lecture series, and it's lessons from co-production research. Dr. Greenlaw will share how scientists are incorporating indigenous knowledge into responses to climate change, deforestation, species, extinction, and ecosystem degradation. Folks can sign up for that lecture online at schoodicinstitute.org, so it's available come here in person at Moore Auditorium or you can attend remotely. And so as mentioned, that's the 5th of our summer lecture series. If you've missed any of those 5, you can check them out on the Schoodic Institute’s Youtube Page.
And just for fun, we're throwing in the 9th in October. It is the keynote for the Acadia Science Symposium. This is our annual symposium for 100 plus people that come here that are part of Acadia's Community of Science and the keynote speaker on October 9th is Dr. Ray Sauvajot. He's the Associate Director of the National Park Service. He's the head of the Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate of the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. We are excited to have him coming up for the symposium. The symposium is one of 50 plus public programs that we have over the course of the year here on campus.
Kevin, you mentioned district visitation is down just like a hair through July. That is interesting. So, for just day visitors at the welcome center, we are up about 28% this year over last year. Right now, we're based about 30,000 visitors to the welcome center, last year we have 24,000. Also, sales in the bookstore and the welcome center are up as well. Maybe we're offering some better merchandise, but we're seeing more in our sales as well. We've had over 5,000 guest nights so far on campus here this season, and those wouldn't be possible without a functioning water and wastewater system, so certainly a big thanks to Keith and crew and for the Great American Outdoors Act funding that helped make those possible
Last thing I'll mention here. We did submit a congressionally directed spending request for funding to help restore, revitalize the overnight accommodations on campus and, specifically, to restore one of the 5 Schoodic Shores buildings and, through Senator Susan Collins leadership, that request has advanced out of the appropriations, and so hopefully there will be funding in the FY25 budget that will help support renovating one of the 5 Schoodic Shore buildings. Thank you.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Durlin Lunt, Town Manager, Town of Mount Desert:
Thank you, Mr. Collins. I'm very, very happy to hear that and, certainly, we are well prepared to sit down with the superintendent and the administration at any given time to try to go through those on ways that we've made some progress.
I also wanted to come here today to report on a resolution passed by the Mount Desert Selectboard and signed a week ago. Martha Dudman, from our selectboard, is joining me here today. I am very happy to have her here. So, this resolution is going to be included in the town's comprehensive plan and we have an expressed goal around the comprehensive plan that we are rewriting this year with the expressed goal of the restoration of the working waterfront of Otter Creek Village. That is our ultimate rubric which we want to put this all under. I think you could probably appreciate that in past years these various items have come up back and forth between various superintendents, town managers, selectboards, and they've really always sort of gone on to what I would call a gerbil wheel. But ultimately, nothing has happened, and I think that putting it under the under the overall program of a waterfront restoration would prevent that from happening again. Also putting this into the town comprehensive plan would also mean that it would survive municipal administrations, municipal selectboards, park administrators, and Park Advisory Commission members. This is something that would give it a good deal more permanency. I wish I could say that the resolution would eliminate all of what we perceived as injustices to the village of Otter Creek. It's been a long time, almost 90 years, which basically one individual's dream became a nightmare for that village from which we still have not welcome. This is a great start, and I'd also like to give some praise to Acadia National Park for its work on the study of the causeway over at Otter Creek. It was very interesting report, and it did show some areas which it would like that there may be some flushing issues. It also indicated that this is something that needs to be further studied in order to be able to understand the full dynamics of the causeway over the water flow into the inner harbor. And so, I'm hoping that that will be considered. And to continue to build further studies that would be done. I think that would be a very good thing.
There are 5 simple steps on the selectboard resolution, which will go into the comprehensive plan are, 1) restore tidal flushing to the inner harbor of Otter Creek to the state prior to the construction of the current causeway; 2) reestablish access to egress and boat ramp in an efficient manner, allowing for vehicular traffic and attached boat trailer to efficiently maneuver and exit via simplified land acquisition process to be undertaken in cooperation with representatives of Acadia Park, Department of the Interior, Maine’s Congressional delegation, and other stakeholders; 3) we'd like to see to see the scenic vistas of the harbor from Grover Avenue, which are currently overgrown for aesthetic reasons, as well as the safety and security of the inner harbor and its assets; 4) restoration of the traditional village trails abandoned since the Rockefeller land acquisitions for the benefits of both residents and Park visitors; 5) definitively determine ownership of the quarry road, therefore, enhancing the villages trail system. If owned by Acadia National Park, which we suspect that it probably is, we'd like to work with the Administration to enhance its usability to transport supplies to and from the harbor area, as was common before the park acquisition of that road. The process to accomplish this needs to be carried out for the 6 C’s Rule. 1. Creativity or Process, we have to be able to think outside the parameters which we have used in the past. 2. Common Sense. 3. Collaboration 4. Conciliation. We would like more acknowledgement from the Interior Department of the irregularities of that original acquisition process in 1936, but doing this in a state of collegiality, and both parties being willing to compromise as necessary. Closing off this particular topic, the past need not be prologue towards the resolution of problems vexing both Acadia National Park and the town of Mount Reserve. The old excuses are not acceptable, as were the Jim Crow laws and gender rights and inequalities by the 1950s no longer acceptable. Working waterfront in Otter Creek Harbor will in no way degrade the viability of Acadia National Park as the cultural and scenic treasure. You need not restore the fish houses or the wharfs that were destroyed by all the park administrations, merely allow the reasonable use of those few that remain. Thank you very much.
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: Just for clarity, the boat launch and boat ramp referred to is known as the Otter Creek Town Landing. There is a boat launch there, and a wharf. What we call it is the Otter Creek Town Landing. That should be the correct terminology for it.
Durlin Lunt, Town Manager Town of Mount Desert: Thank you to the Lands Committee and for allowing my presentation last meeting. I will take your recommendation to our Selectboard and see how they want to proceed.
Lee Worcester; Commission Chair: I think with the comments Durlin has made today, is that they are prepared to get in touch with the park and park staff to open up this dialogue with regard to the boat launch and the other topics we were just made aware of due to the resolution the town passed. I will leave it in your hands to keep that ball rolling.
Durlin Lunt, Town Manager Town of Mount Desert: Yes, we will try to do that.
Durlin Lunt, Town Manager Town of Mount Desert: I just wanted to make one quick comment on why the selectboard is still pushing forward for an expedited process as opposed to the land swap. Because we feel that, basically, what the original acquisition of Otter Creek harbor was very irregular. The process, which we think deserves a consideration of some sort of reparation. Perhaps it isn't the correct one, but it's one that I would think would be as good as any. Because if you look at it, why was Otter Creek singled out and why as Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor spared a similar fate? And I think maybe part of the reasons was there were no lavish summer cottages or hotels on either the eastern or western shores of Otter Creek Harbor, only simple working class structures maintained by people trying to scratch out substance living during challenging economic times, when that economic employment opportunities were few, and the best of those few opportunities were controlled by the very same individual whose designs were responsible for the taking of our inner harbor. That's why we are so insistent on some sort of expedited process rather than traditional land swap. I thank you for your time.
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: First of all, I want to talk about the agenda. A lot of people don't come to these meetings because they don't want to sit here and listen to all park business. I think that the park business could be at the end of it. They're going to be in the end, anyway. Some just don't want to [sit through it all]. They won't come. They will not come and sit here all day to speak at the last thing.
In the minutes of the meeting here they talk about, when I talked in the last meeting and it was a little messed up here, and I don't think, this is quoting me I guess, I don't think they should even be allowed feed the deer. This is the Friends of Acadia so to speak. That's what I said, so to speak, and that didn't get put in. Then.in other words, what I was saying was, is that when you feed the deer, they get used to being fed and then they can't take care of themselves, and that's the same thing that's happening here with the Park and the Friends of Acadia standing up here because they give so much money, and they think they’re just going to have all the influence in the world as far as decisions that are made in the park. And they shouldn’t be allowed to have that influence. The reason why they are is because they give so much money. And what I meant was if the park can’t take care of itself, then we get rid of it. Simple as that. We don’t take money from special interests.
Anyway, this sign here [holds up sign], for any of you who don’t know what the wall of death is, it is otherwise known as the Otter Creek Causeway. And why it is the wall of death is that everything up inside there now is all dead. It used to be a beautiful estuary, full of life, lobsters and crabs and clams and flounders and all the fish came up in there and now it’s dead with green crabs. It’s got to be taken care of. Clean up the mess. When you strike out, it didn’t work. The swimming pool thing was a big brainstorm anyway. They were trying to get the people off the beach at Seal Harbor. Clean it up. Clean up the mess. That’s all we ask. Why do we get angry about it? We get angry because nothing’s being done.
I asked a question about the damage to the fisherman’s landing on the west side where the fish house is, and I don’t know that I really got an answer. I asked, has the damage to the fisherman’s landing on the west side in Otter Creek been assessed yet and, if not, why not.
Kevin Schneider, Superintendent: I don’t know.
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: It is probably the most damage. Some of the most damage done on the coast. At least $100,000 worth of damage. It’s like a tsunami came in there, wiped it right out. And nothings been done yet. It’s all monumental, a disaster, a real disaster. The park has just as much right to use that landing area as the fisherman and anybody that uses the fish house. The park owns the fish house property. So, they should be taking more of an interest in all the activity. Not just trying to push us out, and push us out, and push us out. Now for 30, 40 years on it, from one superintendent to another.
Howie Motenko, Advisory Commission: When you are asking about the damage you asked Kevin about, you said the western waterfront?
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: The fisherman’s landing on the western seashore.
Howie Motenko, Advisory Commission: Are you talking about the fisherman’s building? I am trying to understand what you are talking about. The land beside the fisherman’s building?
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: No. That is just part of it. That is called the fish house. It belongs to the Otter Creek Aid Society. The area right in front of it. The boat slip and the boat slip wharf.
Howie Motenko, Advisory Commission: So, you are not asking about the building itself, but the landing, specifically. And you are asking the park that questions because they are the owners of that?
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: No.
Howie Motenko, Advisory Commission: Then why are you asking the park that?
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: Because they have just as much right to use it as we do.
Kevin Schneider, Superintendent: Let me see if I can clarify. The boat landing right in front of the fish house. It was unpermitted construction done by the Otter Creek Aid Society.
Howie Motenko, Advisory Commission: So, my understanding is the structure there was not built by the park, and there was a lot of controversy over the yeas about it, and now Steve is suggesting there should be some resolution to that being destroyed. What I am trying to understand, from you Steve, is why are you asking the park to do it if the park is not responsible for the land or own the land?
Kevin Schneider, Superintendent: We own the land where the fisherman’s landing was constructed. That is National Park Service land. It was constructed on National Park Service land illegally.
Howie Motenko, Advisory Commission: I got it. So, the park didn’t build it so why are you asking them to repair it? That’s all I am trying to ask.
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: Because they have just as much right to use it as we do.
Howie Motenko, Advisory Commission: But you can use it too. So, you can repair it. I’m just trying to resolve it.
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: We are going to have to. I know they are not going to chip in. It goes back hundreds of years. We didn’t get no permit for it. It’s never gone nowhere. The park does not own it. They own all the fish house lots around out little fish house. The fish house Maine law was 5 rods by 10 rods. Our little fish house was one little parch from 1873. And the park owns all the other ones. They absorbed every single one of them.
Lee Worcester, Advisory Commission: I think this is way too detailed of a discussion for it to be had. I think we get your public comment and general gist and hopefully, in the near future there will be some dialogue between the town and the Park Service with regard to the boat launch.
Steve Smith, Resident of Otter Creek: I would like to say I don’t appreciate the Friends of Acadia putting in their two cents on how we ought to handle the situation; trying to influence the situation with their money. Thank you.
Eric Stiles, Friends of Acadia: I just want to correct the record. The Commission may have been left with the impression that FOA sets priorities for the park. We do not. The park makes a request of FOA for philanthropic needs as it determines. So as the Friends of Acadia, we don’t come forward and suggest projects. We don’t come forward and suggest priorities. We are here as a philanthropic partner to the Park to support things that the Park and the US. Government deems are priorities, that we try and step forward to provide those resources as best as we can. I take exceptions with the characterization that we set priorities for the park, more inceptions for creating endowment for the trails that was not an FOA priority, identifying seasonal housing, gateway center, etc. So, I just want to correct the record as to the nature of the relationship between Friends of Acadia and Acadia National Park. Thank you.
Mike Hyde, Citizen:
Hi, my name is Mike Hyde, and I'm here representing nobody but because I've been reading about the Otter Creek matter in the paper and a lot of what I had to say was preempted by Dr. Collins [contact for the Lands Committee]. But the gist of what I wanted to say was that if you go down and look at the boat ramp, it would be hard to pick worst place for a boat ramp. It's terrible, and it might be workable in the future if the inner harbor somehow was restored. But nobody would choose that place for a boat ramp today. To build that without addressing the bigger problem, the inner harbor, would be a big mistake. When people tell you, let’s rush it, let’s do that. I just want to say there’s another point.
Kirk Emerson, Advisory Commission: May I just ask could you enumerate the reasons why you think the boat launch location is so problematic?
Mike Hyde, Citizen: Well, it is a really steep site. I was just down there this morning. Especially if you haven’t been down there, you should go look. It’s a really steep rocky site. At low tide, it is several hundred feet of water. At high tide, you can’t get a boat of any size out through the causeway, so why would you put a boat ramp there today? With those options, you would have a ramp that you could use a few hours a day for boats up to a very small size. It's possible there's a better place where a construction project might be helpful, and it is also a protected ecosystem. All this should be taken under consideration. So, I think that kind of global approach they are talking about is more important. I want to congratulate you on taken that step.
Alida Liberty, Resident of Lamoine:
I have lived in Lamoine since 1999. and this may seem very insignificant, but I'm a senior citizen. I've volunteered for Friends of Acadia. I've donated to Friends of Acadia. I love the area; we're blessed to be here. I miss the spontaneity of being able to go up to Acadia, pick up a pizza from Pats, and maybe a bottle of wine with some friends, and I miss that. I can't do it. I've tried to go online to make a reservation. I've sat there with my finger on the computer, get kicked out, get kicked out! Get kicked out! And I just, as a senior citizen in the last quarter of my beautiful years here in Maine, I wish there was something that the Advisory Committee could do for the people that are the senior citizens. That’s all I want to say. Consider something. I've spoken to people about this, and there are senior citizens who do miss that opportunity. Remember, we used to just be able to get up and take a ride up to the top and watch them back. In the old days, we used to be able to do that all the time. And I miss that. I’ve missed that. And we live here. We're residents. I pay taxes. We all pay taxes. And we're senior citizens. And I think in our golden years there are certain advantages that we should have, and I think that would be a nice one to consider.
Howie Motenko, Advisory Commission: If Jackie wants to discuss this at a Park Use Committee, I'm happy to talk about it, you know, and see if there's any way that we could maybe make some consideration for, like Senior Day or something.
Jackie Johnston, Advisory Commission: Yes, I have no problem meeting, you know the next committee meeting to hear what you have researched so far, and what your efforts are in your perspective. And if after hearing you, if the committee wants to pursue something or has additional discussion with staff, we can do so.
Sarah White, Resident of Tremont:
my name is Sarah White. I live in Tremont, and I just want to give a shout out to the Bass Harbor Light Docent, who are there. Because I've brought lots of people there this summer and they are wonderful. So, I just wanted to say thank you.
No further public comments.
CLOSING COMMENTS
The Commission Chair made closing comments.
ADJOURNMENT
The next meeting is scheduled February 03, 2025 – 1:00 pm, ANP Headquarters, and will continue to be an in-person and virtual meeting as published in the FEDERAL REGISTER.
I move we make a motion to adjourn.
Fred Ehrlenbach made a motion to adjourn. Howie Motenko seconded. All agreed – no opposed.
Meeting adjourned at 3:40 pm
Minutes Submitted by Kathy Flanders
*These minutes will be formally considered by the Commission at its next meeting, and any corrections or notations will be incorporated in the minutes of that meeting.
“The Acadia National Park Advisory Commission meeting minutes of September 09, 2024, were certified by the Vice Chair, G. Bruce Wiersma, on 11/23/2024”.
