BAR HARBOR – Tourists and horse trailers are a frightening combination in Acadia National Park, a group of equestrians told park officials this weekend.

Tourists visit the facility for carriage rides provided by a concessionaire under contract to the park. In addition, equestrians can bring their horses and carriages for a day of riding, and horse owners from throughout New England camp on site for extended vacations with their animals.

In a meeting with National Park Service officials Saturday, the horse owners and others wrestled with the direction the park service plans to take with its Wildwood Stable and its famous Carriage Roads, which accommodate a host of users, including equestrians.

“I get my horse off the trailer and there are all these kids with no shoes on their feet, riding around on their little bikes,” said Karen Greenberg of Bar Harbor during Saturday’s meeting at a Bar Harbor motel.

“I don’t want to cohabitate with them,” added Jane Bailey, a carriage owner from Belmont. “Grandpa is looking for a place to park and doesn’t realize that your carriage wheel is 4 inches from his bumper.”

When equestrians trying to coax their animals from unwieldy trailers are forced to share a parking lot with vacationers, space is limited, horses are frightened and people are in danger of being kicked unless the two uses are separated, many said.

“One of the most dangerous times around the horse is when they’re loading or unloading,” said Martha Ortmann, who traveled from Rochester, N.H., to be at Saturday’s meeting.

“Space is really a safety factor,” said Bonnie Moretto, who owns Apple Blossom Acres, a stable in Lamoine. Wildwood Stable has historically served a diverse group of people, according to John Kelly, a resource planner coordinating the Wildwood project.

Though frustrated with current conditions, the horse owners at Saturday’s meeting were pleased to hear park Superintendent Paul Haertel dispel rumors that the Carriage Roads would close to equestrian use. Haertel assured users that the carriage roads and Wildwood Stable will remain open to the public for the foreseeable future.

“This is a long-term tradition. The park experience with horses is … unique,” said Joanna Crell, who runs a therapeutic riding center in Bar Harbor. She often brings her clients to Acadia. Crell called the Carriage Road system “elegant beyond compare.”

A contract to provide carriage rides for tourists will be offered to current concessionaire Ed Winterberg for the 2001 summer season. A contract for the ensuing five years will awarded in August, Haertel said.

And the needs of the successful bidder will be balanced with those of private riders in an equestrian-use plan the park service is developing. Today, Wildwood Stable is less than ideal for private users, according to the dozen or so riders who attended Saturday’s meeting.

“The day-use people have always gotten the short end of the shrift,” Crell said. “If this happens in my lifetime, I’ll be thrilled. If it doesn’t happen, I won’t be surprised.”

In fact, a Wildwood Stable development plan was drafted in 1996 to address the facility’s limitations, but has been gathering dust at park headquarters in recent years.

Park staff waited for Acadia’s broad Commercial Services Plan, released earlier this year, to be completed before taking action on an equestrian plan.

Wildwood was among the commercial uses of Acadia that risked being dropped from the park’s mission in the new plan, Haertel said.

But when the National Park Service included Wildwood in its plan as “a logical focal point for equestrian use of the park,” Acadia staff again looked to the 1996 development plan.

“What do we want to see at the Wildwood Stable area next year? Five years from now? 10 years from now?” Haertel asked. “Unless we have a plan that we can work toward, we’ll just be piecemealing.”

The draft plan will preserve a 1913 barn at Wildwood, rehabilitating it for use as a visitor center. Employee housing, paddocks for the commercial carriage operations horses, campsites, stables for campers’ animals and a large parking lot will be constructed.

Rows of trees and fences hide the behind-the-scenes operation of the carriage rides from visitors.

The group of local residents and park staff who created the 1996 plan believed that by separating the commercial stables from private users, Wildwood’s conflicts would be resolved, Kelly explained.

Riders who attended Saturday’s workshop disagreed. Tourists and equestrians should be separated by providing separate entrances and parking areas for visitors with and without horses, they said.

And the new design’s shared asphalt parking areas are more practical for RVs than for horses, which are more stable on grass or gravel, said Greenberg.

“To unload on asphalt is very hard because the horses wear steel shoes and they slip – it’s like ice skating,” she said.

Rough terrain surrounding the stable limits the size of the facility to about 10 acres, Kelley said, so placing two separate entrances and parking areas while retaining camping spaces, the carriage loading area and sufficient space for the carriage concessionaire’s horses will be challenging.

Permitting private users – particularly those who travel from outside the state – to reserve space in Wildwood’s stables and campgrounds could ease some of the tension, said John Fortin, a carriage owner from North Vassalboro.

Peak seasons like holiday weekends or early autumn’s brief foliage show overwhelm the current facility, which comprises just 10 campsites, said Heidi Flewelling, who has worked at Wildwood for the past seven years. Visitors are often turned away during busy seasons, she said.

“If I was going to drive 100 miles or more, I’d want to be pretty sure I could park and get unloaded,” Fortin said.

Other local riders said that the cost of using the facility causes them to shun Wildwood.

“It gets prohibitive,” said Greenburg. “If we go to the park several times a week, it gets too expensive.”

A visitor on horseback or with a carriage must pay $6 to use the facility for a single day. To board a horse at Wildwood costs $20 per night, and camping at the facility costs an additional $7 per night, according to Flewelling. The roads are open from spring to fall.

But the dozen or so equestrians present at Saturday’s workshop agreed that user fees and limited camping were acceptable if Wildwood preserves the core experience of riding in Acadia National Park.

Robin Kroc, a carriage owner from Brunswick, supports limiting the use of Wildwood Stables in exchange for preserving its rustic atmosphere.

“I’d like to look back and think it was a quiet, peaceful experience, that it wasn’t New York City,” she said. “You come to Acadia for the vistas.”

The park will continue to accept comments through Jan. 16. Send them to John Kelly, Acadia National Park, P.O. Box 177, Bar Harbor 04609 or by e-mail at acad_planning@nps.gov.