Acadia’s Invasive Plant Management Team Holds Invasive Species to Less Than 1% of the National Park

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK—Acadia’s Invasive Plant Management Team was hard at work in 2025.

“With support from both Friends of Acadia and Schoodic Institute, the team managed 23 invasive plant species across 70 distinct field sites located on Mount Desert Island, the Schoodic Peninsula, Saint Croix International Historic Site, Isle au Haut, and Baker Island,” according to Friends of Acadia.

The goal is to have less and less invasive plants in the park.

“Thanks to this continued effort invasive plants cover less than one percent of Acadia National Park. In contrast, other eastern national parks have an average invasive plant cover of nearly 14 percent—and in some parks, it can reach up to 40 percent, according to the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program,” FOA wrote.

Image 1/Top image: NPS and Schoodic Institute staff spray for invasive plants in the Great Meadow (photo by Evie Linantud/FOA)

Image 2: An example of glossy buckthorn in the Great Meadow (photo by Julia Walker Thomas/FOA)

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