Page 10 - 2004 DT 9 Issues

Shhhhh! bioacoustician who studies animal Radio producer Jim Metzner believes
sounds. He theorizes that when all the that there are sounds that really enrich our
s population increases, so do animals are speaking together, they’re lives, almost like a kind of food. Taking
concerns about the loss of open safe. It’s harder for a predator to identify the time to listen, Metzner says, can teach
A spaces and the quiet solitude who is where. us to make sense of the constant bom-
that they engender. Battles between en- Animals quickly get used to noise bardment of noises around us. And,
vironmentalists and developers consume they’re familiar with—thunder, wind, every time we listen we learn something
the headlines. Concerned citizens lobby city street sounds, even airport noise. new, else, why would we listen?
to preserve wild lands and wildlife, hop- While commercial airplane noise is im-
ing to stave off—at least for a while— possible to exclude in most locations, it In Memoriam
the ultimate loss of our natural heritage. is the impact of tour flights that most con-
National Parks have become cerns Shaver and her
a symbol of the refuge we colleagues. They fly hen Don Welch began his
“third career” as facilities
seek, an escape from asphalt, back and forth over the
W maintenance superintendent
TV commercials, politicians, National Parks many
at Red Rock Canyon in 1990, he had
headlines, and other ele- times a day, ferrying
already spent much of his life as a busi-
ments that daily assault the thousands of paying
psyche. But even these ha- tourists for overhead ness executive. After serving in the US
Army during the Korean War, he attended
vens are under an invisible views.
Sacramento State University, graduating
assault. To understand the
with a degree in mechanical engineering.
If you’re lucky enough to impact of these distur-
He started his own company manufactur-
find a quiet spot somewhere bances on the park
to just sit and listen, you begin to hear ecosystems, the Park Service is racing to ing aerospace and aircraft components,
but later joined Holiday Inn as vice-presi-
small sounds; the snap of a twig in the record sounds from natural lands in a
dent for International Food Service
brush, the call of a bird, the chirp of an number of states, including Utah, Alaska,
Operations.
insect. The longer you sit, the more natu- and Hawaii. The object is to establish
For employees and volunteers alike,
ral sounds you’ll hear. As soon as a car, baseline data as quickly as possible be-
plane, or snowmobile zooms by though, fore air tours arrive. Don was the man to see if you needed
something done. He and fellow mainte-
the chirps and squawks suddenly disap- Sounds are recorded and fed into a
nance engineer John Lennon not only
pear. You’re left with an unnatural computer to develop a library of natural
kept the aged and leaky Visitor Center to-
silence. and manmade sounds. Skipp Ambrose of
gether, they improved and expanded it.
Chris Shaver of the National Parks the National Park Service in Fort Collins,
Service in Denver, Colo., says, “Natural Colo., is working to put natural The stream of projects never stopped—
the staff office concrete slab; painting and
sounds are an important resource . . . soundscapes on the Internet. A sound-
re-carpeting; construction on the RRCIA
There ought to be somewhere in every cam is in works for the Smoky Mountains
office; building and outfitting much of the
park where people can go and know they National Park where the site would be
Friends’ Room; installing and refurbish-
are hearing natural sounds. Just like there regularly updated with new sounds from
are ‘no smoking’ zones, there should be a given setting. ing plumbing, electrical conduit, doors,
windows, and trapping an army of mice.
‘no noise’ zones.” Protecting natural soundscapes is vi-
Their battle with roof leaks was all-out
Sounds are used by animals to com- tal to animals, but also to humans. “Some
war and keeping the ill-conceived air con-
municate with one another. Many use people think National Parks are so quiet,”
ditioning system running was a weekly
sound to find mates, hunt prey, track their Ambrose says. “ . . . If you go to a park,
young, and hide from predators. When sit down, and listen, you’ll hear man- challenge. In his “spare time,” Don also
outside noise intrudes upon a habitat, it made noises way more than you think kept Oliver Ranch from completely crum-
can take more than half an hour for nor- you will. It’s happened so gradually, bling despite almost no budget.
mal sounds to return, Shaver says. people don’t realize what we’ve lost.” Don’s expertise was invaluable in
Such a delay can spell the difference Ambrose hopes that sound-cam sites will planning and implementing the new Visi-
between life and death for some animals, help people realize what they’re losing tor Center entrance area and designing the
suggests Bernie Krauss, a musician and before it’s too late. new restroom pavilion. At the request

Page 2 FORRC/February, 2004