Winter 2007 Volume 12 No
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27_2141COV 12/12/07 2:55 PM Page c1 Winter 2007 Volume 12 No. 3 A Magazine about Acadia National Park and Surrounding Communities 27_2141COV 12/12/07 2:55 PM Page c2 Purchase Your Park Pass! Whether walking, bicycling, driving, or riding the fare-free Island Explorer through the park, all must pay the entrance fee. The Acadia National Park $20 weekly pass ($10 in the shoulder seasons) and $40 annual pass are available at the following locations in Maine: Open Year-Round • ACADIA NATIONAL PARK HEADQUARTERS (on the Eagle Lake Road/Rte. 233 in Bar Harbor) Open May – November • HULLS COVE VISITOR CENTER • THOMPSON ISLAND INFORMATION STATION • SAND BEACH ENTRANCE STATION • BLACKWOODS CAMPGROUND • SEAWALL CAMPGROUND • JORDAN POND AND CADILLAC MTN. GIFT SHOPS • MOUNT DESERT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE • VILLAGE GREEN BUS CENTER Your park pass purchase makes possible vital maintenance projects in Acadia. Blagden Tom 27_2141INS 12/18/07 1:48 PM Page 1 President’s Column COMPLETING THE VISION ver Thanksgiving week, my family have been able to discover more environ- and I traveled to California to visit mentally-friendly travel options in the Los Ocolleges and a national park or two. Angeles area, we wouldn’t have seen We poked around Fort Point in San Joshua Tree. Francisco, walked small among giant Which brings me to our choices here at Redwoods, watched elephant seals on a pro- home. During Acadia’s busiest season, resi- tected beach along the Pacific Coast Highway, dents, visitors, and commuters have the and explored the desert at Joshua Tree ability to travel to, through, and around the National Park. The latter receives my personal park and our communities on a propane- thumbs up as the highlight of the trip. I powered bus. Designed for lower emis- approached Joshua Tree with a minute trace sions, the buses further reduce impacts on of disappointment that we weren’t visiting air quality and traffic congestion by reduc- during March when the desert is in bloom, ing the number of vehicles on the road. something I have long wanted to witness. Any (See page 19 for the millions of cars undriv- hint of disappointment vanished when a park en and tons of pollutants eliminated.) ranger—who also had worked at Acadia— Ten years ago, partners—the National told us that the park was experiencing a rare Park Service, Maine Department of spring bloom. Twenty-six species were Transportation, Downeast Transportation, blooming as if heralding the end, rather MDI League of Towns, and Friends of than the beginning, of winter. My wish had Acadia—envisioned the Acadia Gateway been granted. Center to complete the Island Explorer Hogan shuttle system. The Acadia Gateway Center will give commuters and visitors an oppor- Noreen “The Island Explorer, and tunity to leave their cars off-island to ride The Island Explorer provides a bright soon the Acadia Gateway onto and around the island on this low- future for our region, reducing greenhouse Center, provide a bright emission, fare-free shuttle. It will be a first gas emissions, providing a convenient way stop for many visitors coming to Acadia, to to visit Acadia and the area, and reducing future for our region, reduc- learn about the park and the area, and to traffic and parking congestion in the park ing greenhouse gas emissions, buy a park pass. Passes sold at the center and our communities. The Acadia Gateway will generate additional funds to support Center will make it possible for the Island providing a convenient way to important park projects. And finally, Explorer to continue to grow and improve. visit Acadia and the area, and Maine’s largest bus system, the Island The end of the year is a time to look reducing traffic and parking Explorer, will have a permanent base of back, to assess our accomplishments over operations. the year. Throughout the Journal you will congestion in the park and This fall, Friends of Acadia exercised its find updates on the many accomplishments our communities.” four-year option to purchase the 369-acre you, our members, have made possible. Crippens Creek property in Trenton to Acquiring the Crippens Creek property in serve as the site of the future Acadia Trenton, the future site of the Acadia But what did it mean? I am not a scien- Gateway Center. With the generous sup- Gateway Center, is one of several accom- tist, but I am sufficiently cautious not to port of Tom Cox, the Maren Foundation, plishments in 2007 providing a bright take it as an irrefutable sign of climate Butler Conservation Fund, Shelby Cullom future for Acadia and our communities. change. Yet, someday a spring bloom may Davis Foundation, and individuals who Thank you for a tremendously success- herald the dramatic impacts of our choic- donated to the Tranquility Fund, Friends ful year, and best wishes for the year es today. I thought about how we chose purchased the property in December and to come. to visit our destinations. In San Francisco sold 150 acres to the Maine Department of we walked, rode cable cars, and took a Transportation (MDOT) for the facility. train. The journey was as satisfying as the Ultimately, all of the land will be sold destination. Everywhere else we drove, or donated to partners for long-term not necessarily by choice. While we might protection. —Marla S. O’Byrne Friends of Acadia Journal Winter 2007 1 27_2141INS 12/12/07 3:48 PM Page 2 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Lili Pew, Chair Joseph Murphy, Vice Chair Edward L. Samek, Treasurer Michael Siklosi, Secretary Emily Beck Gail Cook Andrew Davis Dianna Emory John Fassak Winter 2007 Debby Lash Volume 12 No. 3 Linda Lewis Ed Lipkin Stan MacDonald Liz Martinez A Magazine about Acadia National Park and Surrounding Communities Barbara McLeod Julia Merck Joe Minutolo Marla S. O’Byrne Jeannine Ross Howard Solomon Sherry Streeter Nonie Sullivan Bill Whitman Dick Wolf Bill Zoellick HONORARY TRUSTEES Eleanor Ames Robert and Anne Bass Edward McCormick Blair Curtis and Patricia Blake Robert and Sylvia Blake Frederic A. Bourke Jr. Tristram and Ruth Colket Shelby and Gale Davis Nathaniel R. Fenton FEATURE ARTICLES Frances Fitzgerald Erin K. Hitchcock Sheldon Goldthwait 5 Saving Acadia Mountain Neva Goodwin How Friends of Acadia saved 25 acres on Acadia Mountain from development. Paul and Eileen Growald John and Polly Guth 8 The Many Ways of Volunteering Erin K. Hitchcock Paul Haertel Lee Judd Friends of Acadia’s volunteer program offers something for everyone. Gerrish and Phoebe Milliken George J. and Heather Mitchell 11 Sea-Run Brook Trout: The Next Step Ginny Reams Janneke Neilson Nancy Nimick Two studies in Acadia shed light on the next steps for park streams and sea-run brook trout. Jack Perkins Nancy Pyne 12 The Preservation Legacy of Charles William Eliot The Reverend Peter J. Gomes Louis Rabineau A Harvard history expert comments on the legacy of Charles W. Eliot. Nathaniel P. Reed Ann R. Roberts David Rockefeller Patricia Scull Erwin Soule ACTIVITIES/HIGHLIGHTS Diana Davis Spencer Beth Straus 6 Memorial 18 Updates EMERITUS TRUSTEES W. Kent Olson 19 Advocacy Corner Charles Tyson Jr. 23 Book Reviews FRIENDS OF ACADIA STAFF Mike Alley, Senior Field Crew Leader Theresa Begley, Projects & Events Coordinator DEPARTMENTS Sharon Broom, Development Officer Sheree Castonguay, Accounting & Administrative Associate 1 President’s Column Completing the Vision Marla S. O’Byrne Stephanie Clement, Conservation Director Erin K. Hitchcock, Communications Coordinator 3 Superintendent’s View Is Acadia Endangered? Sheridan Steele Lisa Horsch, Director of Development 7 Special Person Maureen & Bucky Brooks Terry Begley Diana R. McDowell, Director of Finance & Administration Marla S. O’Byrne, President 10 Poem Marsh Road Ralph Stevens Cliff Olson, Field Crew Leader Mike Staggs, Projects & Systems Coordinator 2 Winter 2007 Friends of Acadia Journal 27_2141INS 12/12/07 3:48 PM Page 3 Superintendent’s View IS ACADIA ENDANGERED? cadia’s designation as a national park, grasses and growth of extensive mats of established and protected by law, floating algae that degrade fish and wildlife A assures us that the park will always habitat. The immediate area around be here, but long-term protection of the qual- Northeast Creek, enjoyed by many people ities we love is not necessarily assured. Acadia each year, is included within the national was established to preserve the natural, cul- park. The National Park Service, Maine tural, and scenic resources of this rugged Coast Heritage Trust, Friends of Acadia, coastal area, including the mountains, historic and Audubon are working to protect these hiking trails and carriage roads, and all that extraordinary resources inside the park makes up the spectacular natural scenery that boundary. Here again, smart growth poli- people come from all over the world to enjoy. cies could help. Over the course of time, park manage- Other threats include significant land ment and our advocates must routinely use changes on private lands near the park, resolve threats or potential threats to the proposals for antennas and cell phone tow- park or we risk losing some of Acadia’s ers, and undeveloped private land within special character. The most insidious the park boundary. Large-scale, incompati- threats are the smaller impacts that add up ble development on a 3,500-acre piece of over time to be major losses. It is similar to land on the Schoodic Peninsula could dra- Travers watching children grow; the changes seem Peter matically alter the character of the entire much more dramatic to a relative who sees area and degrade the high-quality visitor the child once a year than to a parent who “Land protection is the very experience. We are working with the U.S.