The way some of our visitors drive and park, it is a good opportunity to administer a driving test to all that want to visit. It would have simple questions, such as ; Are you the only car on the road? Is it acceptable to do a 3 point turn in the middle of town? Etcetera. If they do not pass, they will be instructed to park and take the bus.
The answer to the question, "If They Build It Will They Park?" has been asked by a thousand communities across the nation and across the world and the answer has always been the same. Yes, they will come and come and come and come and so we will have to build and build and build and build so they can park and park and park and park. And before ya know it there's nothing left worth coming to because all you've got is endless traffic jams and overcrowded parking lots!
The answer to controlling the run away congestion that is destroying Acadia National Park is Not to build more parking lots. As a famous conservationist one remarked, "The job is not one of building highways into lovely areas, the job is one of building receptivity into the still unlovely human mind." Years ago while driving from San Francisco to Boston on the Trans Canada Highway I heard a radio interview discussing what I thought would be the correct solution to the overcrowding of national parks in both the USA and Canada. The speaker suggested that since many, if not most, visitors to national parks were simply trying to escape the hideous cities where they lived and needed little more than a spot to park their RV or pitch their tent, cities should construct large parking lots and camp grounds just beyond the city limits and close the national parks to all but those with an authentic interest in nature and wildlife.
Sounds like a good idea to me, now if only we can convince the major cities we'll be all set!
In the meantime building parking lots locally will not only not solve the overcrowding problem it will make it worse. And I can't help but wonder how much enthusiasm FOA would have for building parking lots if the proposal was to build them in Northeast Harbor or Seal Harbor?
The way some of our visitors drive and park, it is a good opportunity to administer a driving test to all that want to visit. It would have simple questions, such as ; Are you the only car on the road? Is it acceptable to do a 3 point turn in the middle of town? Etcetera. If they do not pass, they will be instructed to park and take the bus.
The answer to the question, "If They Build It Will They Park?" has been asked by a thousand communities across the nation and across the world and the answer has always been the same. Yes, they will come and come and come and come and so we will have to build and build and build and build so they can park and park and park and park. And before ya know it there's nothing left worth coming to because all you've got is endless traffic jams and overcrowded parking lots!
The answer to controlling the run away congestion that is destroying Acadia National Park is Not to build more parking lots. As a famous conservationist one remarked, "The job is not one of building highways into lovely areas, the job is one of building receptivity into the still unlovely human mind." Years ago while driving from San Francisco to Boston on the Trans Canada Highway I heard a radio interview discussing what I thought would be the correct solution to the overcrowding of national parks in both the USA and Canada. The speaker suggested that since many, if not most, visitors to national parks were simply trying to escape the hideous cities where they lived and needed little more than a spot to park their RV or pitch their tent, cities should construct large parking lots and camp grounds just beyond the city limits and close the national parks to all but those with an authentic interest in nature and wildlife.
Sounds like a good idea to me, now if only we can convince the major cities we'll be all set!
In the meantime building parking lots locally will not only not solve the overcrowding problem it will make it worse. And I can't help but wonder how much enthusiasm FOA would have for building parking lots if the proposal was to build them in Northeast Harbor or Seal Harbor?