Acadia National Park has identified three hikers who violated a trail closure last month but is still weighing its options as the case remains under investigation.
The names of the hikers are not being released at this time, Amanda Pollock, spokesperson for the park, said Monday.
The trio hiked up Precipice Trail in Acadia — and were photographed while doing so — despite the trail being closed to hikers for months in order to protect nesting peregrine falcons. The birds, which are protected under state and federal law, return each spring to nesting sites in the park on the steep sides of Champlain, Penobscot and St. Sauveur mountains.
Trails that pass near those nesting sites, including Precipice Trail on Champlain Mountain, are closed from spring through late summer whenever adult falcons are raising young there. Jordan Cliffs Trail on Penobscot Mountain and Valley Cove Trail on St. Sauveur Mountain are also closed because of nesting falcons.
Human disturbance can result in adult birds abandoning their nests, increasing the risk of death to the chicks, according to park officials.
But on July 24, two men and a woman slipped past highly visible signs alerting hikers about the closure of Precipice Trail. Pollock said that the hikers could face monetary fines or criminal charges for violating an order by Superintendent Kevin Schneider to close the trail as long as falcons were nesting nearby. Pollock did not say what the possible fines or sentence could be if park rangers decide to pursue either option.
Pollock said that not only has Precipice Trail been closed for months, but rangers closed the trailhead parking lot in June, barring park visitors from using the lot in any way.
This was done because the adult falcons on the cliff were showing consistent signs of agitation, which led rangers to conclude that others were skirting past the signs and barriers to hike the trail, she said.
“The birds’ behavior went back to normal” after the trailhead parking lot was closed, Pollock said.
Peregrine falcons are considered the fastest animal on the planet, reaching diving speeds of more than 200 mph in pursuit of prey.
The birds, which had long been hunted and harassed by humans, saw their numbers steeply decline after pesticides came into widespread use after World War II. They were added to the federal Endangered Species list in 1970 and, after protections helped the species rebound, were removed from the list in 1999.
They remain protected, however, under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Maine’s Endangered Species Act.
