US National Parks and management of park soundscapes: A review
Section snippets
Origins of interest in natural soundscapes
In the US, the National Parks have been the primary focus of efforts to understand, manage and preserve or restore natural sound environments.
The fundamental questions
To set the stage for the following discussions, we need to acknowledge three fundamental questions that must ultimately be answered if management of natural sounds is to be seriously addressed. The most difficult question that must be answered is: How much human produced sound is appropriate in a National Park setting?
Sources and scenarios
Many sources of human-produced sound can affect the soundscapes of the parks. Some that are used within the park may be subject to NPS control; those that are outside the parks generally are not within NPS jurisdiction. A few sources have been studied fairly extensively, while others have been reported almost anecdotally.
Soundscape quantification
Faced with the necessity of quantifying park soundscapes, NPS has explored many approaches and faced difficult decisions that can affect policy implementation. This section describes some of the decisions that need to be addressed in quantifying park soundscapes, and the following section, Section 5, explores the question of determining criteria.
Determining criteria
Though determining what, how, where and how long to measure requires a plethora of sometimes difficult decisions, identifying criteria – the point at which human-produced sounds become inappropriate – is far more challenging. On the one hand, though experienced park managers may be capable of knowing what sounds are inappropriate when they hear them, turning this experience into a logical series of documented steps that arrive at quantifiable criteria has for parks, other than the Grand Canyon
Conclusions
Legitimately different personal values mean conflicts about the importance of restoring and preserving natural soundscapes and managing park soundscapes are inevitable. Therefore, progress is likely only through compromise. But to compromise effectively without either side “giving away the farm”, both sides need to have a clear understanding of park goals. Park managers therefore need to clearly articulate their goals, have trusted methods for estimating what actions are necessary to achieve
Acknowledgements
Over the years, far too many people have contributed directly or indirectly to the author’s understanding of the issues to fairly acknowledge them all. Staff personnel from the National Park Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Interior, the Forest Service, the Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the US Congress, non-governmental organizations, trade groups and consultancies have all played a role in
References (37)
- NPS organic act, 16 USC...
- Public Law No. 100-91, 16 U.S.C. 1a-1 note,...
- NPS, Report on effects of aircraft overflights on the National Park System, Report to Congress, US Department of the...
Hearing in vertebrates: a psychophysics databook
(1998)- Public Law 106-181, 49 USC...
- See FAA website...
- Federal Aviation Administration, Special Federal Aviation Regulation...
- McDonald CD, Baumgartner RM, Iachan R. National Park Service visitors survey, HMMH Report No. 290940.12, NPOA Report...