News Release

High Level of Interest Prompts a Wood Permit Lottery

Date: October 24, 2018
Contact: e-mail us, 207-288-8806

BAR HARBOR, MAINE – Due to the high level of interest in the opportunity to collect wood rounds in a pre-designated area within Acadia National Park, a lottery system will be used to randomly select names. By October 22, over 90 community members have responded to the National Park Service’s initial posting and it is estimated there are 80 cords of wood available. Permittees will be allowed to collect up to two cords of wood. A lottery system will be used to generate the final list of those who will have the opportunity to pay for a $25 permit and schedule a time for pick up. Only those who reside within a 50-mile drive of Otter Creek, Maine will be allowed to gather this wood. This wood is mixed soft and hard, unseasoned, in piles of un-split, limbed rounds of 16”-20” diameter. In April 2018 the park received 10 calls and distributed approximately 10 cords of wood.

If you see piles of wood rounds in Acadia National Park, these stacked piles are waiting for park rangers to pick them up. All of this wood is a park resource and used within or to the benefit of Acadia National Park. Trees that have naturally fallen in the forest are recycled back into the forest to provide soil nutrients, animal and insect shelter, and a host of other benefits.