BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 28, 2022
Sen. Angus King is pushing for additional national parks staffing, and I couldn’t agree more. For too long national parks have been asked to do more with less. Attendance hit new records at national parks across the country in 2021. Despite their growing popularity, the Park Service’s funding and staffing levels don’t match up. From 2011 to 2019, the agency lost 16 percent of its staff capacity (more than 3,500 positions), and Maine’s national parks like Acadia are no different. Acadia’s visitation has skyrocketed – a record four million visitors in 2021 – but the park continues to struggle with understaffing. King’s vital funding request would bring more than 4,400 employees back into the Park Service, providing staffing levels that it hasn’t seen in more than a decade. This is a great start. ~ Sheridan Steele, Former superintendent, Acadia National Park, Mount Desert