PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 30, 2025
About 12,000 federal workers across Maine braced for a likely federal government shutdown at midnight Tuesday — a move that could lead to furloughs and firings, and potentially shuttering Acadia National Park and the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument at the height of foliage season. The federal government was last shut down in 2018 over Trump’s demands for funds to build a wall along the southern border. “The damage that occurred took many parks months, some years, to recover from,” the National Parks Conservation Association said of the 2018-19 shutdown. “And in some cases, it was irreparable.” The Trump administration has said it will fire many nonessential workers. Among those who could permanently lose their jobs are many of the 75 workers at Acadia National Park.