| Lisa: |
For many people in the state Mount Desert Island and Acadia are really probably one of their favorite places. The individual that I’m speaking with today has a great job I think. This is David MacDonald who currently serves as the president and CEO of Friends of Acadia, a not-for-profit organization with more than 4500 members and a 30-year history as a philanthropic and community partner of Acadia National Park in Mount Desert Island.
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David joined Friends of Acadia in 2012 after a 20-year career in land conservation at the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. A long time resident of Somesville and a 1982 graduate of Mount Desert Island High School David has been exploring the trails woods and waters of Acadia for most of his life. David loves enjoying the outdoors in the great state of Maine with his wife Caroline, daughter Elisa, and son Jessie. Thanks for coming in.
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| David: |
Thanks for having me. It’s a treat to be here.
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| Lisa: |
Well it’s really interesting to me that you have so loved the place that you came from, that you are back there again, intensely. Because I grew up in Yarmouth and I have kind of gone out into the world and gotten educated and done very various things, but I still, I’m back in Yarmouth.
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| David: |
You feel that pull.
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| Lisa: |
Yeah, there’s something that really, and I think that this has specifically been an interesting thing for Mainers.
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| David: |
Definitely. Yeah, my parents moved our family up there when I was about 10, so I wasn’t born there but I grew up there, I went to grade school and high school there and wanted to get out for college and lived here in southern Maine for a couple of years, but it really sort of snuck up on me that it’s not the same. The Maine coast is beautiful. I was in Portland and Brunswick and that area, but I really kept feeling myself pulled back to Mount Desert. So to be able to go back there and get a job in the land conservation field I’ve been very lucky.
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| Lisa: |
I think that’s … It’s always kind of interesting to read about the brain drain and about people leaving the state and people who are in our generation that have gone elsewhere and then returned, because there is actually more opportunity in Maine than perhaps we realize. There are jobs in things like land conservation, there are jobs in ecological fields and all sorts of areas.
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| David: |
Yeah, Maine I think has a growing reputation as a place for those kinds of fields, and I think there’s more opportunity in a way that there was even when I was younger. I mean I was lucky to make it back and get into this field, but I think there’s a lot of promise now, for sure.
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| Lisa: |
The Friends of Acadia has been around for 30 years but Acadia itself has been around … It’s celebrating its 100-year anniversary this year.
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| David: |
Yeah, the centennial is pretty exciting. The park was founded in 1916. Friends of Acadia has been around about a third of the history of the park. We have been planning a yearlong community based celebration of the park where lots of individuals and businesses and non-profits really can celebrate what’s important about the park to them and also how they relate to the park. One of the things that makes Acadia unique is the relationship with the surrounding community. Importantly, we’re not just celebrating the park. We’re thinking about the next 100 years as well. Our slogan for the centennial is celebrate our past and inspire our future. That’s really been the ethos of what we’ve been doing, planning the centennial, and now jumping in this year sounds really fun.
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| Lisa: |
What do you think it is about Acadia and Mount Desert Island that brings people really from all over the world to visit?
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| David: |
I think you have to chuck some of it up to the power of a national park, that brand. I mean Maine has a lot of gorgeous places, but Acadia is its one national park. I think that resonates for people. Differently from other land trust preserves or state parks, which are wonderful, but I think a national park is sort of the gold standard in terms of conserved land and recreational opportunities and multiple public value. I think that has a lot to do with it. But I also just think it’s very, very unique island. There’s no place like it really in terms of the concentration of mountains and lakes and oceans and trails and carriage roads. It’s got a lot in a very small package. By national parks standards Acadia is very small compared to the western parks which are millions and millions of acres. Acadia is only about 45,000 acres. It’s a nice compact package.
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| Lisa: |
Having spent time up in Acadia I’ve enjoyed learning bits and pieces of its history and the history of the island. It’s really quite fascinating. It’s been drawing intellectuals and summer visitors for generations.
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| David: |
Yeah, you’re right. That’s the other part of what makes it my favorite place in the world, it’s not just the natural beauty, but the richness of the community as well. It still has an incredible mix of people. Over 100 years ago people were being drawn for the hiking, they were being drawn as artists to the landscapes, they were being drawn for the science really. A lot of the genesis of Acadian National Park came from some students from Harvard who came up and did botanical studies and camped up there and just trumped around. So you had this convergence of all these different values that really did put the place on the map. Thank goodness a lot of people had the foresight to conserve the place because it could’ve been easily developed and had a very different future.
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| Lisa: |
Acadia also was impacted by a fire that took place in Bar Harbor and we had the College of the Atlantic, we had people from the College of the Atlantic come and we talked about the impact on the college. How was the impact on the state park, I mean, on the national park?
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| David: |
The fire of 1947, it was a year when there were quite a few forest fires around Maine. In October a fire started on Mount Desert. It burned about half the park at the time as you said mostly in Bar Harbor on the eastern side of the island. It really, it did a couple of things. At the time it was part of what started to forge a closer relationship actually between the park and the community because you go through a trauma like that together and you had park rangers and local firemen fighting side by side, so there was a bonding to it, but it was also devastating to the economy and also to the forest of the park.
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Of course that regenerated, it’s come back. If you look at it aerial, if you’re hiking in Acadia you can see the line where the fire burned, which is now all hard wood that has regenerated, and then on the western side of the island it’s more soft wood and spruce and fir. The soils in the park, the biology really of the park has changed irreparably by the fire. Nature does bounce back, but it is a eye opener and it makes us think today about what other natural changes will the park go through in the future.
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We’ve grown up there. I who have grown up there have this picture of Acadia which is what it is right now, but it’s going to change, it’s going to keep changing. The fire of 47 is an example of how it already changed dramatically in our past.
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| Lisa: |
It also changed dramatically because at one point it was a summer ground of Native Americans. That isn’t something that is much recognized anymore, although there’s a museum in Bar Harbor.
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| David: |
Yes, the Abbe Museum is an excellent museum dedicated to Native American culture and the history not just of Mount Desert Island but in that part of Maine. The park is very committed to celebrating certainly that chapter of the history as well. Yeah, I mean the Native Americans took care of the place without having to call it a national park. It was a very sacred place, still is. They were fantastic stewards before the threats and the pressures of colonization and the 19th century came along.
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| Lisa: |
You spent 20 years with the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, so you have done land conservation for, well, that amount of time. What have you found are similarities and differences between the job that you left and the job that you have had since 2012?
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| David: |
That’s a great question. At Maine Coast Heritage Trust I was mostly working with land owners and families coming up with conservation strategies for their properties and whether it’s a farm or an island or a woodlot. Being a partner with the land owner or a family around the future of their land was very, very satisfying. It was fun, it was fascinating, and it was a real partnership. I miss that in my job now.
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But what I really love is that very democratic feel of a national park. You’ve got people from all over who know this place and love it and use it, and it’s theirs. It belongs to the American people. That’s very powerful. I didn’t just realize how much I enjoyed that until I got into this job. It feels like an honor really to be working on behalf of a national park, because it really does inspire people from all walks of life. Whereas the land trust work is fantastic for a long time it’s sort of been a very well-kept secret. That’s changing now. Land trusts are doing great work getting out in the community more, but the jump to working for a national park has been great.
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| Lisa: |
You brought up the community that coexists with Acadia. I think that that’s an important thing to discuss because it’s not just, although the down town Bar Harbor area has great shops and has great restaurants, but it’s not just that. I mean there’s a whole community of that continues around the island that working the water fronts, people who are making a living on fishing and lobstering. Tell me what intersections the Friends of Acadia has with these groups?
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| David: |
Our mission actually a number of years ago before I came to the organization they changed the mission not just to serve the park, but also to serve the surrounding communities, which is really important and powerful I think, because Acadia is unique in the way its boundary weaves in and out of these communities, and so there’s no hardline where an issue stops here and picks up here. You’re really in it together.
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There have been stresses over the years. There’s sort of an inherent distrust of the federal government or suspicion perhaps among a lot of us Mainers, and, well, I think the park has done an outstanding job. They’ve had to tend with some not ill-will but unease at times. There was a concern for many years that the park would just expand and take over the entire island and force people off their land. Well they worked very hard to pass a permanent boundary. Senator Mitchell in the mid-80s worked on that. That put a lot of that to rest. There’s tremendous economic synergy between you mentioned the town of Bar Harbor. There’s 4 other towns on the island as well, 3 other towns and then some off shore island towns, but the park is just the economic generator for many, many people in the community. I think there’s a growing appreciation for that and there’s more of a resolve to work together.
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Right after I started on the job at Friends of Acadia we endured one of those horrible government shut downs when Congress couldn’t figure out the budget and so the park, the gates were closed for I think it was 16 or 17 days, the most beautiful October days that you could imagine. That was, I don’t want to say it was a wakeup call, but it really underscored for many in the community how important the park was, and to the park, how important the community was.
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The centennial that we’re working on in 2016 really is trying to key off of that and really celebrate this connection between the community and the park. So many families are still there who are founding families of the park. A lot of great non-profits, you mentioned COA, the Jackson Lab, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, the Abbe Museum. There’s so many institutions that have sprouted up not because of the park but in part because of the energy and interest that the park brought to our communities. It’s made for a terrific community. I think people get grumpy now and then with the park and maybe their management decision or a bureaucracy here or there, but for the most part the centennial I think has really helped celebrate the park and let everybody realize how important it is to all of us.
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| Lisa: |
It’s always amazing to me when I go up to visit how large Mount Desert Island is. People think, “Oh, it’s an island. How can big can it be?” But it’s big. I mean if you’re driving to northeast harbor or southwest harbor or you go off the island, you go to Trenton, I mean, it’s just, it’s really, it’s vast and it’s quite varied.
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| David: |
It’s diverse. Yeah, that’s what’s wonderful about it. We talked about the fire, how that changed the diversity of the island and the mountains and the geology, the coast line. There are so many different options for you as a visitor in terms of what your interest might be. Sometimes you forget that you’re on island, but if you’ve grown up there and spent a lot of time there it still does have that feel of an island, which is great. But, yeah, it’s the biggest island on the Maine coast.
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| Lisa: |
Tell me some of your favorite places there.
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| David: |
I love the park in the winter. I mean this weekend was outcross country skiing and snowshoeing. I think Sargent Mountain is my favorite mountain. It’s not as tall as Cadillac but it doesn’t have a road to it, which makes a big difference and it’s got some fabulous trails going up. I love Ilaho which is sort of the remote unit of the park up in Penobscot Bay, go out there with my family, camp in the [inaudible 16:58] out there. That’s just a completely different experience. The carriage roads are just an incredible resource. They’re very unique again in the national park service and even in Maine I think in terms of having this network of crushed gravel roads to ski on, to bike on, to jog on. That’s a part of the park that we use all the time. It’s just a great recreational resource and cultural, cultural treasure really.
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| Lisa: |
I’m sure that people ask you when they come to visit what they should go to, what places they should hit before they leave. What do you usually say?
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| David: |
I encourage them to get out in the carriage roads, I encourage them to get out on the trails, get out on the water. I mean, taking the mail boat out to the Cranberry Isles or taking a little sail out at Bar Harbor or whale watch, getting off shore and looking back at the island and experiencing the wild life and the beauty from a boat is fabulous. Do a kayak trip. Again, get out on the water and get a little closer to the wildlife. The island can get pretty busy in the summer, but once you get off shore it really that kind of melts away, so if it’s at all possible to get out in the water I highly recommend that.
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| Lisa: |
I think one of my favorite visits to Mount Desert was included a trip out to French borough. We went on this boat that was owned by a private lobsterman. It was a fund raiser so they had a little lobster bay and we walked around the island. It really somehow spoke to me in a way that I hadn’t experienced before at Mount Desert because it was this little community. I think that those little communities do exist on Mount Desert all over the place.
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| David: |
They do, they do. French borough is unique. There’s nothing like French borough. Being that far out at sea and having that close knit fishing community right around the harbor and then having the incredible natural beauty of the rest of the island. Again, that’s a project that we worked on at Maine Coast Heritage Trust to conserve all that rugged shore line and the trails. But, yeah, Mount Desert has those quiet places too. Being able to get off the beaten path and being able to explore the park, a lot of times our family goes out at supper time. We get a picnic and we go out. That’s when there’s nobody out there. We’ll go to Sand Beach and we’ve got it all to our self and that’s really fun.
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| Lisa: |
As you were taking about how special this place is to many people really all over the world the word sacred really rose to the top for me, that this is a place that it’s sacred because people go there with their families, they go there by themselves when they’re trying to sort things out in their lives, they go there to get engaged, they go there to get married. Some people like you did are raised there and other people like the Lunt family on French borough generations have been there. That’s a very big… Well, I guess you recognized it. It’s an honor to really be associated with this sacredness.
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| David: |
It is. I mean it’s a big responsibility. The park service takes it very seriously. Their resources unfortunately are limited. That’s why Friends of Acadia exists, to be able to supplement what Congress can’t do through the budget. We provide thousands of volunteers. We raise millions of dollars. People do want to give back. That’s why Friends of Acadia was formed. People wanted a venue to be able to give back to this place that they loved. That continues stronger than ever 30 years in.
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What’s interesting is that we do want Congress to continue to fund our national parks. I don’t want to get on a soap box, but the park can’t manage this incredible resource that gets almost 3 million visits a year without adequate staff and funds. People get that. They really do. That’s why we’ve been able to be successful, is that people want to help protect this place that is sacred to them.
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I also think that as beautiful it is and you feel the connection, I think you also feel a connection to what people did to protect it. Again, whether you’re in central park or Acadia national park you sort of think about the foresight of those people 100 years ago, and it’s powerful. I think that’s part of what resonates for people. Not just the beauty of the place, but the fact that people acted on that. That strikes a chord.
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| Lisa: |
I think that’s absolutely right. When I was a resident at Maine Medical Center one of the doctors that we worked with was Richard Rockefeller. His family of course was involved with the creation of this park and they still have their own island which they maintain a farm on.
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| David: |
Bartlett yes.
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| Lisa: |
We went camping there when I was a resident. Unfortunately, Richard passed away in a plane crush tragically not too long ago. I think about what a gift that his family gave, because I knew him as a person and I knew some of his family members as people.
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| David: |
I did too. Yeah, Richard was a good friend of mine too at Maine Coast Heritage Trust and very much a inspiration to me and a lot of people. Again, what’s amazing is his grandfather did great things 100 years ago. Well, so did Richard in his time. I mean they very much continue that legacy. Richard’s work up and down the Maine coast is so so important. It’s a wonderful tradition, but yet, he came back to that place, on Bartlett Island. That was his soul place for sure. All of us have that spot, a lot of us on the Maine coast, that really resonates, and Bartlett definitely was that for Richard.
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| Lisa: |
That being the case knowing that this is a place of history and natural beauty and sacredness and that you are the president and CEO of Friends of Acadia, how can other people become friends of Acadia or how can other people help with your effort or celebrate the centennial?
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| David: |
We’re very inclusive. We have lots of opportunities for people to volunteer, get their hands dirty out on the trails. We have people from all over the country and all over the world who are members, who follow our Facebook page and our social media, just to feel that connection while they’re away from this place they love. In terms of the centennial I’ve just been blown away by the number of businesses and individuals who have come on board as we call them Acadia Centennial partners. We have over 300 now who are either organizing an event, designing a product, doing a painting, writing a book, writing a poem, making a film. I mean, there’s just people who want to be part of this.
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People should definitely check out the centennial website which is acadiacentennial2016.org. There’s a list of all the partners. There’s a calendar that’s in the process of being filled out. There’s so many options for how to be part of this yearlong celebration. Then linked to that is our website if you want to learn more about our projects or volunteer, drop in work days throughout the summer, or how to sign your kid up for the trail crew for the summer. I mean it’s just countless opportunities.
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| Lisa: |
And the website for the Friends of Acadia is?
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| David: |
Friendsofacadia.org. Yeah, thanks.
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| Lisa: |
Well, this has inspired me to celebrate the 100 years of Acadia. Really it does cause me to think about all the times that I have spent in our national park and feel very grateful for it. I appreciate all the work that you and the Friends of Acadia are doing, and I appreciate you coming in and talking with us today. We’ve been speaking with David MacDonald who is the president and CEO of Friends of Acadia.
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| David: |
Thank you.
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| Lisa: |
Thanks so much for coming in.
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| David: |
Yeah, it’s been a treat. Thank you.
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