Vista Assessment Report : Carriage Roads Rehabilition Project; Acadia National Park; Bar Harbor, Maine

Pressley Associates, Inc.

'Acadia National Park is one of the country's most accessible and intensively used national parks, offering 4 million visitors a year a range of recreational and scenic opportunities due to its great diversity of landforms and ecological habitats. A significant feature of the park is the carriage road system, which was conceived, designed, and executed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. between 1913 and 1940, and then donated to the National Park Service. The layout of the roads was specifically designed to enhance visitors' appreciation of Acadia's spectacular scenery and the experience of nature by taking maximum advantage of vista opportunities while remaining unobtrusively hidden from view from other portions of the island. From 1940, when the last segment of carriage road was completed, until his death in 1960, Mr. rockefeller continued to provide for and to oversee the maintenance of the road system. Unfortunately, since 1960, budget restraints have resulted in the deferment of maintenance along the carriage road system. Along with deterioration of the roads and bridges themselves, overgrowth of much of the roadside vegetation has resulted in loss of the open vistas carefully created by Mr. Rockefeller and his staff.' 'In an effort to rehabilitate this significant historic resource, and to keep the experience of the carriage roads available for the park's visitors now and in the future, the National Park Service, in conjunction with The Friends of Acadia, has initiated The Carriage Road Rehabilitation Project, with the goal of restoring the roads, the various historical bridges, and up to 100 of the vistas.' 'To accomplish this aim, the firm of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. of Watertown, MA has been charged with heading up the design team to undertake the project. It has been the purpose of this study to identify and assess approximately 200 potentially significant vista locations throughout the park, based on historical, ecological, and aesthetic criteria, as well as with the aim of providing an even distribution of vistas throughout the carriage road system, to recommend and prioritize 100 of these sites for reopening over the next several years, and to develop prototype forest management strategies for the initial improvement and the longer term maintenance of the selected vistas. This goal has been accomplished through the cooperative efforts of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., Pressley Associates, Inc., Cambridge, MA, Woodlot Alternatives, Inc., Topsham, ME, and the staff at the NPS at Acadia National Park. The results are contained in this report and in the companion report Forest Management Strategies for Selected Scenic Vistas, prepared by Woodlot Alternatives. This report summarizes the assessment process, and identifies the recommended vistas as both prioritized lists of 100 sites, and as a 1'=1000' scale map. The companion report details the silvicultural ramifications of opening the recommended vistas, and includes prototype management prescriptions for the typical conditions encountered.' Appendix B entitled 'Historical references : excerpts from correspondence' is attached to the report. /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /MOUNT DESERT ISLAND/