Protect Nature

 

Thunder hole on a stormy day

NPS/ Kent Miller

Planning for Change

Acadia is a complex set of natural features, ecosystems, and natural processes, standing strong in the face of environmental threats such as climate change.

Traditionally, park managers worked to preserve parks based on historic conditions; to preserve what is there at all costs. Preserving nature often meant managing for a perceived static state. This static state often didn't include people and especially excluded the eternal connection between indigenous communities and their land.

But nature is anything but static. The truth is that people and nature have been a part of Acadia since time immemorial. Change is the state of things. So then what does it mean to protect nature in Acadia in the face of constant change?

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Leading the Way

Together with our partners in science at the Friends of Acadia and Schoodic Institute, Acadia National Park staff are leading the way in managing for environmental change by using science-based management approaches and integrating indigenous science and ways of knowing into management approaches.

A New (RAD) Approach

Park managers traditionally sought to preserve parks based on historic conditions. To restore things to the way they were. Now, managers must consider both the changes that have already occurred and future changes expected in the coming years and decades. The focus has shifted from “restoration” to a previous state to actively managing for future health.

This new management approach— called RAD for short—requires choosing when and where to

• Resist environmental change—meaning to preserve habitats and cultural resources as they currently exist at all costs;
• Accept change, by allowing plant and animal populations to expand, contract, or shift and by accommodating the impacts of changing weather and storms on infrastructure and cultural sites; or
• Direct change by adapting habitats and species and infrastructure through anticipated radical change.

This new flexible framework allows us to be forward thinking and fiscally responsible, proactive instead of reactive, and provides us with the best chance to save what we love and value about Acadia. Three key pilot projects exemplify the RAD approach:

1. Great Meadow Wetland near Sieur de Monts Spring and visible from the Park Loop Road is a familiar spot to many visitors. We’re replacing an undersized culvert with a bridge to improve water flow and reduce flooding. Adding the bridge accepts and adapts to the heavier rain events driven by climate change.

2. Cadillac Summit, one of the most popular and iconic spots in the park, lost plants and soil to trampling and erosion. Park managers are evaluating how to restore plants and soil given the rapidly changing climate on the summit and increases in visitation. Scientist are experimenting with planting new native species and restoring soils that are more resilient to future conditions. This is an example of how to direct change toward desired future conditions.

3. In Bass Harbor Marsh, we’re focused on removal of invasive plants that have crowded out native plants and wildlife—an example of resisting an undesired change

 

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Leading the Way

Together with our partners in science at the Friends of Acadia and Schoodic Institute, Acadia National Park is leading the way by studying and applying this framework in three key pilot projects:

1. Great Meadow Wetland near Sieur de Monts Spring and visible from the Park Loop Road is a familiar spot to many visitors. We’re replacing an undersized culvert with a bridge to improve water flow and reduce flooding. Adding the bridge accepts and adapts to the heavier rain events driven by climate change.

2. Cadillac Summit, one of the most popular and iconic spots in the park, lost plants and soil to trampling and erosion. Park managers are evaluating how to restore plants and soil given the rapidly changing climate on the summit and increases in visitation. Scientist are experimenting with planting new native species and restoring soils that are more resilient to future conditions. This is an example of how to direct change toward desired future conditions.

3. In Bass Harbor Marsh, we’re focused on removal of invasive plants that have crowded out native plants and wildlife—an example of resisting an undesired change

Through these and other scientific studies we're discovering the ways that Acadia's summit can provide refuge to threatened species during climate change and Acadia science can help other land managers manage for changes and impacts in the future.

 

• We develop and maintain a foundation of knowledge about the features and values - i.e., park ecosystems, cultural heritage, and visitor experiences - that the National Park Service is charged with protecting at Acadia National Park.
• We facilitate research to detect and clarify threats to natural and cultural resources and test alternative management actions to help resolve problems or issues.
• We support research and conduct monitoring about visitor use to inform park managers and the public about the quality of visitor experiences at Acadia National Park.
• We monitor the condition of park natural and cultural resources to learn about their status and health. We acquire, curate, and interpret historic objects/documents and natural history specimens to preserve the history of the natural and cultural resources and administration of Acadia National Park and Saint Croix Island International Historic Site.
• We manage information (tabular data, digital maps, etc.) so that it is safeguarded, accessible, and available for park managers, scientists, and interested members of the public.
• We assure that all park activities are in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. We protect the scenic, ecological, and cultural values of lands adjacent to the park by collaborating with landowners, local communities, and land trusts to establish, monitor, and enforce the terms of conservation easements on private properties.

For more information about research in the park, visit Research Guidelines.

 

Vegetation Program

Acadia National Park is situated near the boundary of two major biogeographic regions and contains a unique mixture of northern and southern plant species. The park's vegetation management program focuses on documenting and understanding the park's flora, protecting rare species, monitoring and controlling invasive non-native plants, and restoring disturbed habitats and landscapes. Some examples of ongoing vegetation activities at Acadia National Park include:

A new vegetation map of the park was created in 2003 through a joint effort of the National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey-Biological Resources Division, Maine Natural Areas Program, and The Nature Conservancy. The mapping project identified 53 vegetation communities within the park, based on 1997 color infrared aerial photography.

Numerous plant species of international, national, and state significance occur in Acadia National Park. A long-term monitoring program has been developed to track the status and health of these species.

Nearly a third of the park’s flora is non-native, and some of these species are extremely invasive and threaten the integrity of natural communities. Purple loosestrife is one species that has been actively managed at the park since 1988 using an integrated pest management (IPM) strategy. Staff monitor wetlands annually for the presence of this species and treat observed individuals with a glyphosate herbicide application. Based on 15 years of intensive management, purple loosestrife populations at Acadia National Park are at very low levels.

Park staff are working to restore natural areas in the park that have been degraded by visitor impacts or construction activities. Sites are first stabilized, then planted with native plants. Acadia National Park maintains a nursery of plant materials propagated from native park vegetation. Staff monitor restored sites annually to assess additional maintenance needs, identify continued visitor impacts, and evaluate the overall success of the work.

The park is actively restoring selected vistas along the carriage roads and Park Loop Road that have become obscured by vegetation. Many of these vistas are considered important cultural landscapes and are integral to the historic character of these roads.

More Information
NPS Biological Resources
Gardening to Conserve Maine's Native Landscape (pdf - 283KB)

 

Water Resources

Water resources are among the most dominant features of the landscape at Acadia National Park. They are integral to ecosystem health and function and are fundamental to a variety of recreational pursuits including fishing, sightseeing, canoeing, sailing, and swimming. Protection of the scientific and scenic attributes associated with park lakes, streams, and wetlands, and their use as a source of public drinking water, were significant factors in the park's establishment and form the core of the park's water resources program.

Water resources within or adjacent to the park include 14 Great Ponds (lakes greater than 4 hectares/10 acres), 10 smaller ponds, more than two dozen named streams, and 10 named wetland areas. Lakes and ponds cover about 1,052 ha, and wetlands cover about 1,670 ha (equivalent to approximately 7.4% and 10.1%, respectively, of the park's area).

Objectives of the water resource program are to:

1. provide baseline information on park water quality;
2. serve as an early warning system for human induced changes and threats such as non-point source pollution (cultural eutrophication), impacts to visitor health (bacterial contamination), acidic deposition, and climate change;
3. identify potential pollution sources; and
4. track water quality trends.

In recent years the park has started to develop a core long-term monitoring program for freshwater resources. Two sets of selected lakes have been identified for monitoring the effects of atmospheric deposition/acidification and cultural eutrophication, the two greatest threats to freshwater ecosystems identified in a workshop of water resource professionals. The park also conducts monitoring of benthic macroinvertebrates and periodic bacterial monitoring at park swim beaches.

Recently completed water related research at Acadia includes:

• a hydrological characterization of the Northeast Creek estuary;
• an inventory and assessment of fisheries resources;
• and PrimeNet studies related to spatial patterns of atmospheric deposition, assessment of the ecological effects of atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and mercury, and possible impacts to amphibians and other biota.

Acadia's water program is conducted in collaboration with the NPS Water Resources Division, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Water Research Institute at the University of Maine, and the United States Geological Survey.

More Information
NPS Water Resources
Maine Bureau of Land & Water
Mitchell Center of Environmental and Watershed Research
USGS Water Resources
EPA Office of Water

 

Air Resources

The air resources management program at Acadia is a comprehensive program designed to assess air pollution impacts and protect air quality-related resources. The park is downwind from large urban and industrial areas to the south and west and periodically experiences high concentrations of air pollutants, primarily as a result of long-range transport. As a Class I area under the Clean Air Act, Acadia is afforded the highest level of protection under the act.

The air program at Acadia began in the early 1980s and includes monitoring, research, and regulatory interaction with state and federal agencies. The core program includes long-term monitoring for ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), fine particulates, visibility, mercury deposition and acid precipitation. Research has been conducted to determine the biological effects of selected air pollutants on park resources.

The air resources program is a collaborative effort involving the National Park Services' Air Resources Division and Northeast Regional Office, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and Acadia natural resource staff.

More Information
NPS Air Resources
Maine DEP Air Bureau
CAMNET Visibillity Camera

 

Land And Boundary Management

Acadia National Park is one of the few national parks created virtually entirely of land donated to the federal government. In addition, Congress gave the National Park Service the responsibility to hold conservation easements on private property within the Acadian archipelago. The park's lands program is charged with keeping records of these properties, marking and monitoring park boundaries, and working together with interested landowners to protect the ecological, cultural, and scenic values of their holdings. Specific components of the lands program include:

Conservation Easements

The National Park Service at Acadia National Park currently holds conservation easements on 184 properties in 18 towns. All easements but one are on islands. These conservation easements protect more than 12,000 acres of land. Ongoing activities include:

• evaluating properties offered to the National Park Service as potential conservation easements;
• working with landowners interested in establishing conservation easements to devise appropriate strategies to protect their properties;
• monitoring properties held by the National Park Service to ensure compliance with the terms of their conservation easement; and
• resolving conflicts on conservation easement properties that are held by the National Park Service.

Boundary Management

Acadia National Park has approximately 120 miles of boundary, not all of which are marked or surveyed. Ongoing activities include:

• monitoring development on lands adjacent to the park to ensure that activities on private property do not encroach on or damage park resources and

• clearing, marking, and surveying park boundaries.

 

Environmental Compliance

The Environmental Compliance Program at Acadia National Park strives to ensure that all park construction, rehabilitation, and other projects or actions comply with all applicable federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations.

Applicable laws protect wetlands, air quality, water quality, endangered species, and the cultural/human environment. For all major park activities, the public will have an opportunity to provide comments to the National Park Service in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. Plans and projects that are open for public review are listed on the Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website.