BAR HARBOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Park Loop Road has provided a memorable experience for millions of visitors to Acadia National Park. The mostly one way road, enables people to see some of America's most sensational scenery without leaving their cars.
John D. Rockefeller partially funded the road. Landscape architects designed vistas into the project. Foresters were hired to open these vistas in such a way that a traveler would look out over sensational overlooks as they drove along.
The Great Fire of 1947 ended all that. The island was made barren and views were more than plentiful. Now that the trees are growing up again, the original plan is being reborn.
Acadia National Park is working with the Forestry Department of the University of Maine to get the job done. The University is bringing student foresters here on a spring project. They focus on "Skyline Logging."
This is a technique developed in the west. It involves stringing a long cable down into a wooded section. Each tree that is cut and sawed up, is attached to the cable and essentially "flown" up the hillside doing minimum damage to the forest floor.
The "viewscapes" are carefully designed so that they are feathered in. Stumps are cut low and at an angle down the mountain so that they cannot be viewed from the road.
The result are some of the most beautiful views in the world, befitting one of America's most visited national parks.
