Acadia National Park Workers Lose Jobs and Job Offers
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Shops.
BAR HARBOR—An already understaffed Acadia National Park lost eight workers on Valentine’s Day, a result of decisions made by the White House. The loss of the probationary workers comes on top of a federal hiring freeze. Approximately 30 job offers had already been rescinded. Now, employees who have worked at the park for less than a year (probationary employees who are not military veterans) have also lost their jobs.
“There’s a lot of anxiety among locals who work in the park,” Bar Harbor Town Councilor Matthew Hochman said Tuesday night. “I would just urge everybody to reach out to your federal legislators and make your opinions be known.”
One local park employee moved across the country for their position. Another lost housing because it was within the park’s boundaries and once the job is gone, so too is their home.
Those lost jobs include fee collectors and fire management as well as maintenance workers who keep the roads, trails, and carriage roads safe and running.
The only bright spot for those concerned about the park’s staffing is that some seasonal workers may be hired: the question is how many will be allowed to work and when and for which positions.
Between February 13 and February 18, the federal government has laid off at least 3,000 U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service employees. The land the agencies oversee is more than 278 million acres.
“Acadia’s staff are the backbone of the park. They protect its natural beauty, keep the trails in top shape, and make sure visitors have an unforgettable experience. Seeing these members of our community laid off is both heartbreaking and baffling—especially when the cuts affect fee collectors who bring in critical revenue and trail crews supported by private funding from Friends of Acadia’s trail maintenance endowment,” said Friends of Acadia President and CEO Eric Stiles.
The staffing changes have worried many about the impact to those who have lost their jobs, but also about the long-range future of the park as well as the local economy.
“Acadia National Park is a major economic engine for Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island. The 2023 National Park Visitor Spending Effects study reveals that the park's 3,879,890 recreational visits generated an estimated $475.175 million in visitor spending, supporting 6,603 local jobs and contributing $685.376 million in economic output,” said Everal Eaton, director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce.
Eaton’s numbers came from the 2023 National Park Visitor Spending Effects: Economic Contributions to Local Communities, States, and the Nation.
“Given Acadia's significant economic role, any changes affecting park operations are a concern for the Bar Harbor business community. The park has historically struggled to fill approximately 150 peak-season positions, primarily due to housing shortages, a challenge that Friends of Acadia is actively addressing. The current hiring freeze raises concerns about further exacerbating these staffing difficulties and potentially impacting visitor experience,” Eaton said.
Acadia National Park has had historically high visitation numbers, with approximately 4 million visits in the last four years. A lack of housing had already created issues hiring employees (both yearly and seasonal) for the park. Friends of Acadia, the philanthropic partner of the park has been helping with housing for both the Island Explorer bus system and park workers.
“While it's too early to definitively assess the consequences of the freeze, the Chamber is "cautiously concerned." We are closely monitoring the situation and hope that once the freeze is lifted, Acadia can quickly rebuild its workforce and maintain normal operations. Until we have more information about the specific impacts on hiring and visitor services, we feel that it is too early to speculate on the full extent of the changes in the local economy,” Eaton said.
Each year Acadia fills approximately 115 seasonal jobs, though it typically has more than 150 open positions. For some jobs—such as those handling money or dispatch and law enforcement positions—extensive and lengthy background checks are required. For example, even if the seasonal toll operating positions are refilled, it could take well past the typical season’s start before there are enough employees in place. It often takes 6-12 months to fill vacant positions.
The park has approximately 100 year-round positions and about 75% of those were filled.
And all of that has bigger implications for both the local and state economy. Park fees tend to generate approximately $12 million. Approximately 80% of Acadia National Park’s fees come back to supporting the park. Without employees to take the fees, there isn’t as much money to support a park that relies more on user fees than Congressional appropriations.
“We are actively working with Maine’s congressional leaders to address Acadia’s staffing needs and to unfreeze federal funding before the peak season this summer,” Stiles said.
“As visitation increases at our parks, Senator King is insistent that our parks must have the necessary funding to operate which includes, but is not limited to, both staffing and maintenance,” King’s office previously told the Bangor Daily News. “Without this funding, the visitor experience is likely to be negatively impacted.”
The tourism economy in Mount Desert Island and beyond is also dependent on the park. Sales tax gathered from tourists’ purchases support the state’s activities.
Without the people to care for the park, the park will likely become less safe and less usable, many worry. Much like a house with a broken roof that if not fixed begins to degrade and cause other exponential costs and problems, if the park’s carriage roads and trails aren’t maintained with drainage, resurfacing, grading, tree removal, it can lead to monumental costs in a small park that has a high level of density and therefore requires a high level of consistent care.
For instance, if there was a series of storms like the ones in January 2024 where hundreds of trees fell, parts of the popular Ocean Path was compromised, the bones of the Tay—a shipwrecked schooner from 1911—resurfaced, and the Seawall Road washed out, there could potentially not be workers to make those repairs. Then, when visitors came, they wouldn’t have an Ocean Path to safely walk on. Instead, they could potentially walk on the Park Loop Road by the Sand Beach and Thunder Hole area potentially without law enforcement rangers to monitor the intersection of pedestrians and tourists in vehicles.
Advocates for the park stress that there are ways that the parks can be made more efficient: local hiring processes instead of routing through federal employment sites, more streamlined procedures to enable the action and implementation of policies to occur more quickly as exemplified in the state’s insistence that future repairs of the state’s Seawall Road in Southwest Harbor be a three-way cost split between the state, Southwest Harbor, and the park. The park’s elongated budgeting cycle makes agreements like that difficult to enter and the processes around them inefficient.
Worries also focus around what happens to grants and funding that is already approved (such as the Great Meadow Restoration Project) or reimbursements for services that were already approved.
“Although the executive order freezing federal grants was rescinded recently, much federal funding is still not available. Both Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funded grants already awarded are still not accessible,” said Nicholas Fisichelli, PhD, president and director of the Schoodic Institute.
The institute, a nonprofit is, Acadia National Park’s primary partner in science and education.
“Schoodic Institute has three projects with such funding for benefitting Acadia National Park and its visitors and partners,” Dr. Fisichelli said. “This includes restoring degraded wetland habitat, improving fish passage, and engaging with Wabanaki Tribes on coastal archeology. The uncertainty is already having negative impacts, including pausing multiple years of research and stewardship progress and putting multiple local employment positions working for Acadia National Park in jeopardy.”
Paul Murphy Executive Director Downeast Transportation, which is in charge of the Island Explorer, a free bus service throughout the island and beyond, said Tuesday evening that his agency has had no news of change in status to any funding sources, including the RAISE grant, which funds the purchase of 23 new electric buses.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” he said.
The Bangor Daily News’ Billy Kobin reported Tuesday, “Maine’s congressional delegation said they have struggled to obtain more information on the full scope of the changes and firings. Maine has more than 12,000 federal employees, with the vast majority working for the Navy under the U.S. Department of Defense.”
Officials at Acadia National Park have not returned our requests for comment.
Photos: Carrie Jones/Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story
LINKS TO LEARN MORE”
A National Park Guide Was Flying Home From a Work Trip. She Was Fired Midair.
Forest Service Layoffs and Frozen Funds Increase the Risk From Wildfires.
Maine Public story about Pingree calls for lifting NPS hiring freeze
Raise the Roof campaign and Stiles March statement about the campaign
WAYS TO CONTACT YOUR SENATORS, REPRESENTATIVE, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, AND THE PRESIDENT ABOUT THIS OR ANY ISSUE:
Senator Angus King
Email - website form at https://www.king.senate.gov/contact
Phone (Bangor Office) - (207) 945-8000
Phone (Washington DC Office) - (202) 224-5344
Senator Susan Collins
Email - website form at https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact/email-senator-collins/form
Phone (Bangor Office) - (207) 945-0417
Phone (Washington DC Office) - (202) 224-2523
Representative Jared Golden
Email - website form at https://golden.house.gov/contact
Phone (Bangor Office) - (207) 249-7400
Phone (Washington DC Office) - (202) 225-6306
Doug Burgum, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary
Email - website form at https://www.doi.gov/contact-us#no-back
Phone - (202) 208-3100
President Donald Trump
Email - website form at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
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Another brilliant move by the orange goon squad.