Hi All,
I'm new to the group and this is my first post. I'm also new to soundscape=
recording and reading posts from the experts in this group has really been=
helpful. That's a pretty cool article, and I thought I would relate my own=
experiences. I live in Las Vegas and finally got a chance to visit Nevada=
's only national park last summer, Great Basin National Park. The park lie=
s about 300 miles north of `Vegas and about the same distance southwest of =
Salt Lake City. It really is in the middle of nowhere and claims the disti=
nction of being the least visited, most remote national park in the lower 4=
8 states. Although, The Dry Tortugas National Park south of Key West could=
probably make the same claim. I did a 4 day backpacking trip and found th=
e soundscape experience to be mostly disappointing. You probably already k=
now the cause of the irritation, jet traffic. At times during the day it w=
as constant. As soon as one plane disappeared over the horizon, another on=
e was coming to take its place. The typical elevation in the park is aroun=
d 10,000', so the jets also felt especially close. I admire the efforts of=
Gordon Hempton to establish One Square Inch of Silence. (Although, after =
visiting OSI at Olympic National Park last summer, as well, I observed some=
unintended consequences. But that's another topic for another day.) Now =
that the FAA is revamping airline traffic routes utilizing GPS, maybe there=
'll be some real opportunities to establish quiet zones. The process seems=
daunting. And to help with the "cause", I was wondering if this group co=
uld establish some guidelines to help citizens petition government official=
s? Perhaps make it a "sticky" on the main page.
Thanks All,
FredBell
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