Maybe someone mentioned this already, this is supposedly a series, but
I haven't heard part two yet:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3D4810692
All Things Considered, August 23, 2005 =B7 For four years, the National
Park Service has been gathering natural sound in dozens of parks
across the country. The idea is to protect visitors -- and wildlife --
from unwelcome noise.
So far, sound has been recorded in about 20 of the country's 388
national parks. The goal is not to preserve natural sound in
recordings, but to have a baseline from which to preserve it in the wild.
The park service is essentially monitoring for noise pollution. It
sees the natural soundscape as a resource -- for visitors, who
repeatedly say in park surveys that they value it, and for wildlife.
"There are a lot of species of wildlife that are dependent upon the
ability to hear sound, either to find food or avoid being someone
else's food," says Karen Trevino, who heads the park service's Natural
Sounds Program. She notes that some species use noise to find a mate,
or to find shelter and safe nesting grounds.
Airplanes are a disruption in many parks, as are boats and
snowmobiles. But Trevino says most sounds come from park service
operations -- whether it's the rumble of laundry trucks or the
jackhammer sounds from construction of roads and buildings. She says
the park service is just starting to realize it needs to manage its
own sound -- and that awareness is the first goal of the Natural
Sounds Program.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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