Climbing Management Plan (Draft)

National Park Service, Acadia National Park

The National Park Service proposes to manage climbing at Acadia National Park to protect park resources and visitor experiences. This draft Climbing Management Plan and Environmental Assessment describes five alternatives and their environmental consequences. The alternatives range from continuing existing management through a continuum of increasing restrictions related to these major issues: new route development (defined by route cleaning or installing fixed protection), commercial use, group use, individual use, and area or route closures for natural or cultural resource protection. New route development alternatives include the formation of a committee of climbers, park staff, and others to review and make recommendations on proposed routes. Under one option, proposals would be considered for any climbing area. Under a second, new route development (as defined above) would be permitted only for nine specified climbing areas and prohibited in all other locations. Under a third, all route cleaning would be prohibited and only replacement of existing fixed protection allowed. Options two and three would still allow new routes not cleaned and not requiring fixed protection to be established freely without a permit or approval. A fourth option is attrition and removal of fixed protection; no committee would be needed. Permission to establish new routes without cleaning or fixed protection would be granted by the superintendent. Commercial use alternatives include an incidental business permit program as currently managed or with stricter administration and enforcement, or a concession operation. Group use and individual use alternatives include a permit system without restrictions and a permit system with restrictions, reservations, and carrying capacities as needed. Natural resource closure alternatives include closing areas to protect endangered species, closures for any resource based on quantitative information (if available) related to problems, and temporary or permanent research and preservation closures. Cultural resources closure alternatives include prohibiting climbing on carriage road bridges and prohibiting climbing on carriage road and Park Loop Road bridges. A complete prohibition on climbing, not managing climbing, and education only alternatives were not considered reasonable. /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /MOUNT DESERT ISLAND/

Climbing Management Plan (Draft)

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