Agencies charged with protecting natural and cultural resources can no longer simply work to maintain historical conditions. Rather, these agencies must manage resources in a rapidly changing environment. They must adopt a mix of practices designed to resist, accept, and direct change. This poster will discuss how the National Park Service is navigating this challenge in Acadia National Park and through some national initiatives. Techniques include developing new frameworks for assessing ecosystem health and setting management goals, employing experiments and management strategies with change in mind, managing whole watersheds and larger landscapes, and engaging the public in science and understanding and planning for the changes that are happening.
Results/Conclusions
In Acadia National Park, we have developed climate and disturbance scenarios that inform planning and have implemented projects that have provided concrete insights into new management options, such as managed relocation, and that have begun to measurably improve the health of one of the park’s most visited and iconic sites. Additionally, most of the park's 3.5 million annual visitors are exposed to stories of how the park is changing, how management is changing, and how they can help. Many are also participating in the science and discussions about science and management going forward. The work in Acadia National Park and the surrounding landscape provide one model for how scientists, managers, and partners are working together to address the changing paradigm of conservation in rapidly changing conditions.