Project Goals

 The number of people that visit Acadia National Park in the fall has more than doubled over the past 20 years.  Why? The goal of this research is to understand how change in temperature and precipitation have affected the timing and duration of fall foliage in Acadia  and how these changes in fall foliage have affected park visitorship. Changes in the timing and duration of peak fall foliage have important implications for park management, the local economies of towns on/around Mount Desert Island, and those of us who love visiting Acadia in the fall! 
We're going to ask four questions:

1. How have temperature and precipitation changed in Acadia between 1950-present?
2. How has the onset and duration of fall foliage changed in Acadia ?
3. How have changes in precipitation and temperature affected fall foliage and park visitorship in Acadia ?
4. What do Acadia visitors consider when planning their fall visits?

Read below how you can help us with answer the second question! And you can find even more info on the project here. 

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Help Us with our Fall Foliage Research!

Be a Citizen Scientist

Send your old pictures of Acadia National Park in the fall with to anpfallfoliage@richmond.edu.​ In your email, please be sure to include: 

• The date the photo was taken
• Where in ANP the photo was taken

And, optionally: 

• If we can post your photo on our Instagram and Twitter 
• Any story you'd like to share about your picture. We love hearing about how people love Acadia!

And be sure to check us out on Instagram and Twitter at @anpfallfoliage. ​

We need your help!
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​We plan to use satellite data to help us map fall foliage over time, but like all technology, the farther back in time you go, the lower the quality of the data. We won't have any reliable data before the year 2000. And, clouds. Clouds really get in the way of a nice satellite image. They're like the finger in front of the satellite lens that ruins the amazing picture.

So we're looking for your photos to help us fill in the gaps! The more photos we get, the better!

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 This work is funded by the Second Century Stewardship, a collaboration between the Schoodic Institute,  National Park Service and the National Park Foundation.