 |
Superintendent's View: Is Acadia Ennndangered?
A
cadia's designation as a national park,
established and protected by law,
assures us that the park will always
be here, but long-term protection of the qualities
we love is not necessarily assured. Acadia
was established to preserve the natural, cultural,
and scenic resources of this rugged
coastal area, including the mountains, historic
hiking trails and carriage roads, and all that
makes up the spectacular natural scenery that
people come from all over the world to enjoy.
Over the course of time, park management
and our advocates must routinely
resolve threats or potential threats to the
park or we risk losing some of Acadia's
special character. The most insidious
threats are the smaller impacts that add up
over time to be major losses. It is similar to
watching children grow; the changes seem
much more dramatic to a relative who sees
the child once a year than to a parent who
sees the child every day. For example,
development pressures on Mount Desert
Island are steady and increasing, yet we as
residents don't really see the impact of one
or two new houses. For vacationers coming
back after a few years, the changes are
more dramatic. Loss of the dark night sky
is another example. A few new lights don't
seem like a problem, but over time views
of the island's night sky will be impaired by
the cumulative effects unless we use proper
light fixtures to minimize the escape of
light upward.
Today more people are advocating for
"smart growth" to reduce or eliminate the
negative impacts of growth that can occur
without foresight. Smart growth policies
might include protecting ridgelines and
steep slopes, using non-reflective and
earth-tone surfaces and natural building
materials, installing cut-off light fixtures to
direct light down and not up, or adopting
sensitive signing policies.
The recent Acadia Mountain controversy
over inappropriate development on steep
slopes, visual impacts, cutting of trees for
roads and home sites, and fear of serious
erosion demanded citizen action to protect
this valuable scenic resource adjacent to
the national park boundary. Thanks to bold
action by Friends of Acadia, more serious
permanent impacts have been prevented.
Had smart growth policies been in place,
maybe this threat could have been avoided.
Development also threatens the
Northeast Creek watershed, which is
under tremendous pressure as subdivisions
and new houses spring up in this
part of the island. At present, the Northeast
Creek estuary is healthy. However, land-use
projections based on the draft of Bar
Harbor's comprehensive plan suggest that
increased residential development and
associated nitrogen loading may place the
estuary at risk. Too much nitrogen in estuaries
can result in the death of native sea
grasses and growth of extensive mats of
floating algae that degrade fish and wildlife
habitat. The immediate area around
Northeast Creek, enjoyed by many people
each year, is included within the national
park. The National Park Service, Maine
Coast Heritage Trust, Friends of Acadia,
and Audubon are working to protect these
extraordinary resources inside the park
boundary. Here again, smart growth policies
could help.
Other threats include significant land
use changes on private lands near the park,
proposals for antennas and cell phone towers,
and undeveloped private land within
the park boundary. Large-scale, incompatible
development on a 3,500-acre piece of
land on the Schoodic Peninsula could dramatically
alter the character of the entire
area and degrade the high-quality visitor
experience. We are working with the U.S.
Coast Guard regarding its proposal for a
100-foot antenna on Cadillac Mountain as
part of the Coast Guard's Rescue 21 radio
system. While radio communications are
important, we are hopeful that another
location outside the park will suffice. More
than 100 privately-owned tracts within
Acadia National Park still need to be
acquired, and progress is slow. Friends of
Acadia's Land Bank project and the partnership
with Maine Coast Heritage Trust will
help us purchase many of these tracts from
willing sellers before they become threatened
with incompatible development.
Land protection is the very essence of
any national park, for it is the land that
incorporates the natural, cultural, and scenic
resources that make up the special qualities
of a national park. As George B. Dorr,
Acadia's first superintendent, said, "...make
the park what it should be...and naturalists
will seek it from the whole world over, and
from it other men will learn to cherish similarly
wild life in other places."
- Sheridan Steele, Superintendent
|
|
 |
|
|
