With so many hikers scaling the peaks at Acadia National Park, mountain top erosion has become a concern. But accessing remote parts of the mountains to replenish thousands of pounds of lost soil is a major challenge. The park has come up with a simple solution — that relies on the kindness of strangers — in hiking boots.
"Today we're gonna be hiking up Penobscot Mountain, probably, if the trails are pretty slick, we'll probably just hang a left, go north straight to Sargent Mountain," said Claire Burnet, as she leads the weekly hike for the "Save Our Summit" program at Acadia National Park.
What's different about this trek is that in addition to the water and snacks in their backpacks, each hiker will carry several pounds of fresh soil.
It's part of a new restoration program to combat erosion and preserve local plant life on these two mountain peaks. Penobscot and Sargent mountains have no roads to the summit, so park staff had to find a creative and affordable way to get the dirt to the top.
"We thought about like, is there any way we could use a helicopter and drop it on the top of the mountain, which was obviously too expensive- we wondered if we might be able to use a high line system, which is a series of ropes and pulleys that we use when we maintain trails," said Amanda Pollock of the National Park Service.
In the end, Pollock said, a plan emerged to have visitors carry the soil to the top.
"And one of the reasons that we ultimately decided to do it this way was because we thought that it was really important that the community could be involved in this type of active restoration and this active experimentation, really, of how we are preparing Acadia for climate change," she said.
On the first leg of the trip along the gravel carriage roads, hikers remove a tarp covering a large pile of dirt on the side of the road.
"I need two folks that are going to help me fill up buckets with soil," Burnet said as she directs the hikers. "And then I or somebody else is going to be weighing those buckets and reporting those measurements to the note taker if you're the note taker only listen to the person with the scale."
Each hiker carries anywhere from five to 25 pounds of dirt, which has been sterilized to ensure it's not carrying any invasive species into the park.
Then comes the real challenge: navigating the steps and tree roots and rocks embedded in the steep path to the mountain top.
Park ecologists have been concerned about erosion for many years. Chris Nadeau, a scientist with the nonprofit Schoodic Institute that works with the national park said it’s all about maintaining a base for plant life.
"The summits are really characterized by this low-lying vegetation," he said. "And there's lots of people up there on the summits. And so, as they're trying to see a beautiful view, they just happen to step on this low-lying vegetation, and then the vegetation dies. And then without the vegetation, if we get a heavy rainstorm or a windy event, then that soil just blows or washes off the mountain. And then once the soil's gone, you know, there's a lot of unique plant life up there on our summits. And if there's no soil, then there's no place for those plants to grow."
At first, there was concern about getting enough hikers every week to take part. But Burnet said the treks have consistently been full.
"A couple of weeks ago, we had 11 people on the waitlist just to get on because we have to cap at 20 people per hike just for sort of leave no trace purposes," she said. "So it's been awesome. We've had a really great outpouring of volunteers, people that have been coming as many weeks as they possibly can."
And there's plenty of repeat hikers, like Randy Andrews, unbothered by the extra weight if it means contributing to restoration efforts.
"It's a great workout," Andrews said. "And it's like the most beautiful Stairmaster in the world. And helping hopefully, keep the summit from washing away."
These weekly hikes are a change from last year, when the park held a few larger events in which volunteers carried nearly 4,000 pounds of soil to 29 restoration sites. This year’s soil will be used for new sites, and researchers are testing to see if adding seeds to the soil helps plant life return faster.
"There's a lot of noise in ecology, and so we need a lot of kind of the same thing to get a good, solid answer," Nadeau said. "And so, this year will be replicates of what we did last year, and that's a good thing for us."
The hikes are scheduled through September, and volunteers have already carried nearly 2,000 pounds of soil to these two summits. And Nadeau said the program has the potential to expand to other areas of Acadia and could be a blueprint for other national parks around the country.
