Rangers at Acadia National Park have had their hands full.
They received a larger number of calls this past June than they did in the same month last year, even though park visitation is down this year compared to the early part of 2023. They’re also benefiting from higher numbers of emergency response staff in the park this year.
Some of their most dramatic rescues stacked up in the later part of the month, including the rescue of a climber on South Bubble Mountain, hikers who separately suffered injuries three days later on South Bubble and Gorham mountains, and a truck that drove over a cliff on the Park Loop Road. The park also sent staff when a New Hampshire man drowned off Bar Harbor.
June is typically when the number of visitors to Acadia levels up for the summer, though July and August are the park’s busiest months and September consistently comes in third. Acadia seeks to be fully staffed by June, so that it can handle the influx of people who come to Mount Desert Island each summer for vacation.
Acadia rangers had 43 general calls for assistance last month, up from 26 in June 2023. Those calls are usually for minor issues such as being locked out of a car, or lost or separated from others in your group, according to Amanda Pollock, spokesperson for the park.
However, while there have been a handful of headline-grabbing rescues so far this summer, the most urgent types of cases have actually been down.
Rangers had only nine emergency calls last month, versus 15 in June the prior year, Pollock said, and only seven search-and-rescue operations, which is half the number they had for the same month in 2023. An emergency call could be for a simple injury for a hiker who nonetheless is able to walk out on their own, while a search and rescue is a broader effort to help someone who has to be located and possibly carried out by response personnel, Pollock said.
“This time of year we’re always busy in that department,” Pollock said of the park’s emergency services staff.
While Acadia’s visitation is down overall so far this year compared to 2023, those numbers do not include this June, so it’s not clear whether there has been an increase in activity this summer. From January through May, the park had 471,000 visitors, down 6.5 percent from the 504,000 who came during the same period last year.
Acadia has averaged roughly 3.9 million visitors each year over the past three years.
Acadia has been able to fill more of its emergency services positions so far this year than it did in 2023, Pollock said, though specific staffing numbers were unavailable Friday.
Pollock stressed that even though some emergency services positions remain unfilled, it does not mean rangers or other response staff won’t be available when called. If someone calls to report an injury or a child that has wandered off, “they’re going to get the help they need,” she said.
Filling all of the park’s positions, for either year-round or seasonal roles, has been a challenge for the past several years for a few different reasons, according to Pollock.
A scarcity of workforce housing on and near MDI is a big reason, she said, but there are other economic factors. Employers across the country have had difficulty since the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020 with attracting qualified applicants for open positions, she noted.
“The labor market is funky, and inflation is pretty high,” she said.
