Acadia National Park and the Future of Wildwood Stables

["Linda B. Merims" <lbm@ici.net>]

To briefly recap:  Acadia National Park on a coastal island in
Maine has beautiful horse trails based on an extensive network
of carriage driving roads originally developed by the Rockefellers
on their private estate and subsequently donated to the nation as
a national park.

For the past ten years or so, horsemen have been able to camp
with their horses overnight at Acadia using the Wildwood Stables
facility run by a concessionaire.  There is a small permanent
barn, and the concessionaire had put up additional temporary stalls
in tents to accommodate the extra demand for space at Acadia.  The
concessionaire also operates carriage rides for the non-horsey visitor.

Last year, the Park service abruptly terminated the concessionaire's
right to run both the campground and the carriage rides based on
an irregularity in the legal entity the concessionaire was using
to "own" the concession.  The concessionaire organized a
campaign to convince the Park Service to allow him to continue
to run the concession.  The Park Service still refused to renew the
concession (despite the concessionaire's loud trumpting of "Victory!"),
but it did agreed to this compromise: the concessionaire
could run the campground and rides for the 2000 season.  However,
at the end of the season the concessionaire must remove all of his
equipment including the temporary stalls.  The Park Service would
put the entire issue of "What's to be done with horse facilities
and carriage rides in the future at Acadia?" up for comment and
offer the concession up for public bidding.

That comment period is now upon us.  The following announcement
appeared in the January, 2001 issue of _The Horseman's
Yankee Pedlar_:

---------------------------

Wildwood Stables
Public Meeting Held

On December 16, the National Park Service (NPS) invited the public to
attend a meeting to provide input on the proposed visitor and
concessionaire facility improvements at Acadia National Park's
Wildwood Stables.

The NPS would still like to get the public's feedback on whether the
proposed improvements would be appropriate and sufficient in
serving a balace of equestrian uses.

To learn about the proposed improvements and to review the "Preferred
Development Concept" for Wildwood Stables visit the park's Web
site at:  http://www.nps.gov/acad/stables.htm, or request this
information by mail from the contact listed below.

The public may also send written comments on the proposed improvements
to:  John Kelly, Resource Planner, Acadia National Park, PO Box 177,
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609, or email comments to:  acad_planning@nps.gov
(please reference "Wildwood Stables" as the subject).

The NPS will accept public comments until January 16, 2001.  For
Additional information, please call John Kelly at (207) 288-5472.

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I've looked at the web site and the draft site plan and personally,
I can't make heads or tails of what is actually being proposed.
There are encouraging statements (they propose to keep horse
camping) but the site plan itself is so vague that it is
impossible to tell whether what is proposed is a workable--never
mind optimal--facility.  It is also unclear who is supposed to pay
for this renovation--the park or the concessionaire--and it is
unclear whether horse camping and day use will be allowed between
now and when the improvements are actually made.  Without funding,
that could be years!

Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Massachusetts, USA