Because the variety of guests to Acadia Nationwide Park has shot up in the course of the pandemic, so has the variety of unlawful campers.
Unlawful tenting at Acadia, together with individuals who arrange secret campsites within the woods or attempt to sleep of their automobiles in parking tons, has lengthy been a problem on the park, based on Acadia spokesperson Sean Bonnage.
In 2017 and 2018, lengthy earlier than anybody had heard of COVID-19, the park documented 128 and 102 circumstances respectively of individuals making an attempt to sleep in a single day within the park at an unsanctioned website.
Rangers counted 146 unlawful tenting incidents within the park in 2019, however then in 2020, when the pandemic drastically diminished visitation to Acadia, the variety of unlawful tenting circumstances jumped to 198, a one-year improve of 35 %. The park’s campgrounds didn’t open in 2020 due to COVID, which doubtless contributed to the variety of unlawful campers, Bonnage stated.
Final summer time, the park’s three campgrounds at Black Woods, Seawall, and Schoodic Woods all reopened, aside from the group campsites, however nonetheless rangers recorded 182 circumstances of unlawful tenting, a 25 % improve from 2019. Total, the park had greater than 4 million visits in 2021, essentially the most ever within the park’s 106-year historical past.
Bonnage stated it’s not clear that the worldwide unfold of COVID is the primary driver for the rise in unlawful tenting.
“Total, we noticed extra individuals on the park in 2021, and that alone may account for the rise in camping-related points at Acadia,” Bonnage stated. “Visitation has steadily been growing in the course of the summer time months at Acadia over the past decade, and we predict that is the larger purpose for elevated unlawful tenting contacts fairly than the pandemic.”
Acadia will not be the one place in Maine the place undesirable campers have appeared in the course of the pandemic.
Final summer time, state officers banned tenting on Tumbledown Mountain in Franklin County after some campers there broken the panorama and left behind trash. Comparable issues, to a lesser diploma, additionally occurred at different Maine parks, state officers stated on the time.
Final week, unlawful campers had been reported on Marlboro Seaside in Lamoine, on the north aspect of Frenchman Bay from MDI. The group moved alongside after a deputy went to the seaside and instructed them tenting was not allowed there, based on the Hancock County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Bonnage stated that some incidents of unlawful tenting in Acadia lately have gone past individuals sleeping in a van or tying up a hammock in a scenic spot for an in a single day keep. Some contain what he known as “long-term, residential, full tenting setups with tents and unlawful hearth rings.”
He additionally stated that some unlawful campers are individuals who intend to spend the summer time on Mount Desert Island however haven’t any place to remain. The shortage of reasonably priced housing on MDI and housing for seasonal employees has develop into a major drawback for employers — together with Acadia Nationwide Park — and residents alike.
“The park additionally sees at the very least a number of contacts annually which might be repeatedly contacted, and the people are oftentimes homeless,” Bonnage stated.
Bonnage stated he didn’t have quite a few unlawful tenting incidents rangers have handled thus far in 2022. However the park appears to be on observe to have between 150 and 180 circumstances once more this 12 months, he stated.
