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LETTER TO MEMBERS & SUPPORTERS
Dear Friends:
Our 20th anniversary-2006-was another remarkable year for Friends of Acadia and Acadia National Park.
We are grateful for the support of our many dedicated members, sponsors, and volunteers. The following highlights reflect some of the accomplishments of our 21st year, made possible through member generosity and volunteer activity. In 2006, Friends of Acadia:
- Surpassed, for the first time in one fiscal year, $1 million in grants to the park and surrounding
communities, totaling more than $6.5 million in cumulative grants since 1995.
- Celebrated the two millionth rider on the fare-free, propane-powered Island Explorer buses.
Since 1999, the buses have prevented 7,610 tons of greenhouse gases and eliminated 813,803
automobile trips‹equal to a traffic jam from MDI to Miami.
- Funded five scientists doing field research in the park through L.L.Bean Acadia Research Fellowships,
and funded participation of six Maine middle schools in the Schoodic Education Adventure through
the L.L.Bean Kids in Acadia program.
- Made possible the employment of 107 workers who served Acadia by maintaining trails and carriage
roads, driving the propane buses, and doing much more to protect our treasured national park.
- Leveraged park entry fees with ACADIA TRAILS FOREVER funds to help support volunteers and park
crews building the Giant Slide Connector, re-routing the trail from the Giant Slide Road to a beautiful
wooded trail on conserved land.
- Contributed $270,000 for carriage road maintenance-totaling over $2.4 million since 1995.
- Protected, with partners, four parcels of land within the boundary of Acadia National Park.
- Recruited, organized, and equipped 2,663 volunteers who contributed more than 12,000 hours
of their time to the park and surrounding communities.
- Facilitated the completion of the Environmental Assessment of Crippens Creek, the site on Route 3
in Trenton designated as the future site of the Acadia Gateway Center.
- Successfully urged the National Park Service to reject proposed changes to management policies that
could have eroded resource protection and hampered park philanthropy.
- Co-hosted a visit to Acadia by the Honorable Dirk Kempthorne, the newly appointed Secretary of
the Interior, and testified before him to encourage cooperative conservation and maximum funding
for national parks.
You will read about more accomplishments in the pages of this report.
We applaud the invaluable contributions of Acadia National Park Superintendent Sheridan Steele and his
outstanding staff, the dedicated and talented Friends of Acadia staff, and the organization's board of directors,
who are creating a lasting legacy through leadership. And, finally, our deepest thanks to Ken Olson, much-respected
retired president of Friends of Acadia, for dedicating his extraordinary environmental experience
and talents to Friends of Acadia and Acadia National Park for the past decade.
As you read this annual report, please take satisfaction in knowing you are an important partner in
preserving one of Earth's most magnificent places.
In gratitude,
Dianna K. Emory, Chairman of the Board
Marla S. O'Byrne, President
Edward L. Samek, Treasurer
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