WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation Tuesday that will allow Acadia National Park to acquire more land and build a mainland waiting area where visitors can board buses to Mount Desert Island.
The House approved the Acadian Improvement Act as part of a larger environmental bill. The Senate approved the measure earlier this month and President Bush is expected to sign it into law.
The bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass because it was brought to the House floor without debate, which is a normal process for noncontroversial bills. The House approved the measure, 291 to 117.
Acadia, Maine's only national park, began as Sieur de Monts National Monument with a donation of 6,000 acres in 1916. It was established in 1919 and named Acadia National Park in 1929.
Acadia now includes 35,332 acres owned by the National Park Service and 12,416 acres of privately owned lands under conservation easements, according to the National Park Service Web site.
The new legislation will let Acadia National Park spend $28 million to purchase land; however, specific amounts must be requested in future spending bills.
The park also will have the ability to swap land with local communities.
The bill also gives the National Park Service and Federal Transit Administration permission to spend money to build a transportation facility in Trenton that would help ease traffic congestion during summer months.
Day visitors and commuters have no place on the mainland to park their cars and catch one of 29 propane-fueled Island Explorer buses that serve Mount Desert Island, said Len Bobinchock, the deputy superintendent at Acadia National Park. The project to ease traffic and curb pollution by encouraging visitors to take buses began in 1999.
The new facility will include a parking lot for day visitors and commuters, a maintenance center and a center to purchase park and regional maps.
Maine's congressional delegation supported the measure.
Washington D.C. Correspondent Jonathan E. Kaplan can be contacted at (202) 488-1119 or at:
jkaplan@pressherald.com
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