Unusual success, future uncertainty, and science needs for adaptive management of invasive plants in a <scp>US</scp> national park

Abstract Invasive plants threaten natural areas, yet Acadia National Park, Maine, USA has been successful in managing invasive plant populations for over three decades. However, rapid environmental change and increasing pressure from encroaching invasive plants may adversely affect the success of ongoing management. This article presents an overview of invasive plant management in Acadia National Park, highlighting lessons learned in over 30 years of active management. Acadia provides a valuable case study for other protected areas, sharing many features with protected areas globally. We offer recommendations for protected area managers in the face of rapid environmental change. Deliberate and continuous management actions by park resource staff starting in the late 1980s and expanding in the mid‐2000s have resulted in extremely low incidence of invasion within Acadia. This success has resulted from effort centred around a science‐based and adaptive approach to management, early detection, and rapid response. Strong partnerships have ensured the continuation of this work. Park staff continue to reduce invasive species populations to &lt;1% cover, monitor managed areas to track treatment success, and re‐treat upon reinvasion. However, total eradication is rare and continued management of new and re‐invasions is expensive and challenging. Maintaining effective invasive plant management is likely to become more difficult as climate change interacts with other stressors in protected areas. Synthesis and applications : Responding to these changes requires articulating desired and realistic future conditions for resources in protected areas, then using actions such as invasive plant removal and native plant revegetation to achieve goals. Long‐term management through a flexible experimental approach is critical to successful invasive plant management. Both Western and Indigenous science are needed to inform responses to the multiple and interacting global change stressors, and management is needed to advance scientific understanding of ecosystem and species responses to change.