The ecosystems in Acadia National Park are the result of thousands of years of environmental forces at work. Glacial action is responsible for the polished, rounded appearance of much of the park's mountains and hills. The soil is thin and various species of trees and shrubs have adapted to this cold, moist climate. Fires have also played a role, but most of the time the cool, moist, maritime climate tends to discourage wildland fires.

Mount Desert Island/Acadia Fire History
During the pre-settlement history of the park (2,000 Before Present) researchers have found that the period between major fires was approximately 200-500 years. The rate increased to 100-250 years after Europeans settled the area. It appears that several fires have occurred on Mount Desert Island.

During the early years of its existence, the National Park Service viewed fire as a destructive force, one to mastered or at least tempered into a tamer, more-controlled entity. The 1947 Bar Harbor Fire is the only large fire that the park has experienced since its establishment. October of 1947 was the driest month on record for the State of Maine. The Bar Harbor fire was only one of several fires that made 1947 known as the "year that Maine burned."

Since then the land and town have largely recovered. If you are standing on the Great Head Trail near Sand Beach and looking back towards the Beehive, you will notice bands of dark green trees interspersed with lighter green ones. The darker forest is mainly mature red spruce that escaped the fire of 1947, while the light green forest is mainly composed of deciduous younger trees, "pioneer species" such as aspen and white birch that have grown on land that burned.

Since 1947 there have been no major fires in the park. Almost every year since then, the park has experienced at least one fire, mostly human caused. The policy at Acadia National Park is to make every effort to suppress all wildfires, regardless of origin, though aggressive initial attack actions. The park uses all available resources to limit damage to property at risk, minimize the burned area, prevent the escape of wildfires, and prevent the spread of wildfires across park boundaries.

Fire's Role in the Ecosystem
At Acadia National Park, fire plays a very infrequent role in the ecosystem. In other areas administered by the National Park Service, particularly in the southeast and western United States, fire plays a much more important role. In fact, some of these ecosystems are fire dependent (they require periodic fires for their continued existence). Fire provides a mechanism for the removal and recycling of accumulated dead and down wood and leaf litter that accumulate on the forest floor. It also serves to limit competition between plant species and provides for regeneration of fire-dependent species. The study of this concept is known as fire ecology.

In fire-adapted and fire-dependent ecosystems, suppression of all fires allows fuel to accumulate to unnatural levels and permits the growth of understory species. Then when a fire inevitably starts, it can quickly intensify to the point at which it can consume much of the forest vegetation. In some parks, certain naturally-caused fires are allowed to burn under carefully controlled conditions and under close supervision, which allows fire to continue its appropriate role in those ecosystems. However, that is not the case at Acadia. Development along the park boundaries in the last several decades has created a significant wildland/urban interface along its boundaries.

Learn more about Wildland/Urban Interface on the FireWise website.

Hazard Fuels Management Program
In an effort to reduce the amount of fuels that build up in the forest adjacent to a developed area, the park has instituted a hazard fuels management program. It has three main objectives:

1. Reduce the risk of fire ignitions in areas of high human use.
2. Reduce the risk of damage to park structures from wildfires.
3. Reduce the risk of wildfires moving across park boundaries.

Each year the park fields a four-person hazard fuel crew to carry out manual reduction on identified fuel concentrations in high human use areas, remove fuel loadings around park structures, and create fuel breaks around selected park facilities and along the park boundary. Additional work on clearing fuel breaks are contracted out with local companies. The park also maintains an ongoing research and monitoring program to research the use of prescribed fire for fuels management and for vista and cultural landscape management.

You can also learn more about the National Park Service's fire program.