MOUNT DESERT ISLANDER • June 9, 2022
Paul Haertel, superintendent of Acadia National Park from 1994 to 2002 and a resident of Southwest Harbor for the past 28 years, died June 5. He was 81. “While superintendent of Acadia, Paul led the establishment of the Island Explorer bus system, the conversion of the U.S. Navy base on the Schoodic Peninsula into a park research and learning center and the acquisition of numerous other parcels of land and conservation easements,” said Acadia Superintendent Kevin Schneider. “Paul helped lead the first endowment of a hiking trail system in a national park through Friends of Acadia’s Acadia Trails Forever Campaign.” Haertel had a 41-year career in the National Park Service, working in a dozen park service units before coming to Acadia.