July 9, 2009, 3:52 pm
Bill Weidner, a ranger at Acadia National Park, can spot them immediately: lumbering up from the shoreline, backpacks weighed down by cobblestones; popping out of the woods with bulging pockets or, in egregious cases, tossing slabs of granite into minivans ready to peel away at a second’s notice.They are the dozens of people in recent years who have been caught stealing rocks and sea-polished stones from Acadia’s shoreline and trails. And on Mr. Weidner’s watch, they are not going to get away with it.
“Anyone who takes a rock from Acadia, they’re going to pay the price,” he warned.
That price can range from a warning to a federal misdemeanor, which carries a maximum fine of $5,000 and six months in jail. A dozen people have been cited so far this year, with fines typically $75 to $100, officials said.
Theft of natural resources, including tree branches and deer antlers, has long been illegal and a problem at national parks. But Acadia, with its craggy coastline that is constantly being shaped by the sea, has become a hotbed for pilferers looking to pocket a handful of the smooth, speckled rocks that line its beaches or the misshapen stones along its hiking trails. Many other visitors make cairns, or hiking markers, out of the rocks, disturbing their natural place.
“It’s a resource issue, it’s an aesthetic issue and, to some degree, it’s a safety issue if they make you go the wrong way on a trail,” said Charlie Jacobi, a natural resources specialist at Acadia. He spent part of this week dismantling cairns and scattering the stones back on the ground.
