ACADIA NATIONAL PARK – A panel of national experts has recommended dramatic changes for Acadia National Park to reduce traffic and damage to some of the most popular sites in the park, including the summit of Cadillac Mountain.

But while the experts’ study and suggestions were released in a report Wednesday, park officials said they are three to five years from potentially establishing a numerical limit for visitors at the park.

Len Bobinchock, Acadia assistant superintendent, also believes that some of the recommendations would be too controversial to implement, such as phasing out traffic on the Park Loop Road during the peak vacation season.

He said the park staff needs time to review the report and set priorities for the many recommendations. Although some of the suggestions probably won’t be attempted, Bobinchock said the park is committed to protecting both the natural resources of the park and the experience that visitors have come to expect.

“It’s really a challenging issue, and it’s going to require some very serious research” before the park takes steps to impose limits on both vehicles and visitors, Bobinchock said.

“At this point, there’s a lot more work that needs to be done,” he added. “But it’s a major step forward just to recognize the fact that there’s a capacity to everything, including national parks.”

Bobinchock said park officials weren’t surprised that the study panel declined to set a limit on visitors for the park. No one wants to stop people from using the park or be the person to suggest that the gates be closed to traffic at some point during the peak-usage season.

The recommendations of the 20-member capacity study committee included:

. Limiting vehicle traffic on the Cadillac Mountain road and using only buses to bring visitors to the summit during the peak season.

. Restricting or eliminating recreational vehicles and trailers at Jordan Pond.

. Imposing parking fees for peak hours.

. Restricting tour buses.

. Changing the fee structure to a per-person system, rather than per-vehicle, and limiting the number of park passes sold.

. Eliminating gift shops at the summit of Cadillac and at Jordan Pond to shorten the length of stays.

. Expanding the public transit system.

Park visits last year totaled 2.7 million, ranking Acadia as the second-busiest national park in the U.S. Most of the visits occur between Memorial Day and Labor Day. And while many of the significant problems at Acadia can be traced to traffic, the study reports that hiking trails are deteriorating throughout the park, much of the infrastructure at Acadia is old and decaying, and plumbing and septic systems are being stressed from the volume of use.

Some park supporters hope that if Acadia can address the problems caused by vehicular traffic, then other measures would be unnecessary.

As Clare Wood, executive director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce, put it: “The park itself has enough room for people, but not enough room for vehicles.”

Wood agreed Wednesday with the report’s finding that tour buses, including cruise line group visits, create problems at the most populated sites in the park.

Sometimes during the peak summer season, multiple tour buses stop at Jordan Pond, where there is a restaurant and other attractions, without notice to or knowledge of park officials, according to the report. They arrive on days when the restaurant, rest rooms and trails already are clogged with visitors and cars are lined up and down the roadway.

The same problem occurs when buses arrive at the summit of Cadillac and find the place overflowing with vehicles and visitors, the report pointed out.

“I know [tour buses] are one of the many problems,” Wood said, “and we’re definitely ready and willing to help any way we can.”

Bar Harbor, whose economy is heavily reliant on tourism, could be hurt if the park eventually establishes a visitor limit, Wood said.

“There are a lot of good people who are working on this problem and to find solutions that will be mutually beneficial to all the parties concerned,” she said.

Ken Olson, president of Friends of Acadia and a member of the study panel, agreed that traffic is a key problem in Acadia, causing or exacerbating other problems in the park – such as damage to property and natural resources and diminishing the pleasure people get from visiting.

Olson’s group, which works solely to protect and preserve the park, is backing myriad efforts to find solutions to the problems and ways to reduce traffic and congestion.

Among the efforts by FOA and others is planning for a possible new off-island visitor center where people could leave their cars and ride buses into the park. Olson said park visitors need incentives to take the bus and that perhaps charging them extra for their cars might be a start.

The Island Explorer bus service, created in 1999, will be expanded next year to offer more routes and a longer season. A $1 million gift this week from retailer L.L. Bean will be used to enhance public transportation in the park and on Mount Desert Island.

Other ideas include creating biking and hiking paths throughout the island to further encourage people to get out of their cars.

“I think there’s a general sense that the park has reached an automobile capacity,” Olson said.

He said that when study committee members were asked whether they think Acadia has already reached its capacity, “a bunch of them sheepishly raised their hands.”

The study panel included scientists, managers of other state and national parks, university professors, policy analysts, and ranking National Park System officials. They met for three days last August and split into four groups to discuss both the challenges facing Acadia and possible solutions.

The four groups reached similar conclusions about the problems, while offering a host of different recommendations.