Page 28 - aruba-today-20170505

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 5 May 2017

Shhh. Hear the rustle of grass? Not so much now in U.S. parks

SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
call of the wild is getting
harder to hear.
Peaceful, natural sounds—
bird songs, rushing rivers
and rustling grass — are
sometimes being drowned
out by noise from people
in many of America’s pro-
tected parks and wilder-
ness areas, a new study
finds. Scientists measured
sound levels at 492 places
— from city parks to re-
mote federal wilderness.
They calculated that in
nearly two-thirds of the
Lower 48’s parks, the noise
can at times be twice the
natural background level
because of airplanes, cars,
logging, mining and oil
and gas drilling.
That increase can harm
wildlife, making it harder
for them to find food or
mates, and make it harder In this photo provided by the National Park Service a National Park Service staffer sets up an acoustic recording station on Going-
for people to hear those to-the-Sun Road to capture the impact of traffic on acoustic conditions in Glacier National Park, Mont. Associated Press
natural sounds, the re-
searchers said. Colorado Except for city parks, And it does make a differ- personal. She points to a not only measured sounds
State University biologist though, the research- ence for peace of mind Thanksgiving weekend hike across the U.S., but they
George Wittemyer said ers are not talking about for people, he said. “Being last year with her husband also used elaborate com-
people hear only half the sound levels that people able to hear the birds, the in the La Garita Wilderness puter programs and artifi-
sounds that they would in would consider unusually waterfalls, the animals run- in southern Colorado. cial learning systems to de-
natural silence. loud. Even the tenfold in- ning through the grasslands “We went to escape the termine what sounds were
“They’re being drowned creases they write about ... the wind going through crowds. We went to be natural and which were
out,” said Wittemyer, a co- are often the equivalent the grass,” Wittemyer said. totally isolated and have made by people.
author of the research. of changing from the qui- “Those are really valuable a real wilderness experi- “The study makes perfect
In about 1 in five public et of a rural area to a still and important sounds for ence,” Buxton recalled. “As sense to me,” George Ma-
lands, there’s a tenfold in- pretty silent library. But that humans to hear and help in we’re hiking, aircraft goes son University biology pro-
crease in noise pollution, difference masks a lot of their rejuvenation and their overhead. You’re walking fessor David Luther, who
according to the study sounds that are crucial, self-reflection.” along and you can hear wasn’t part of the research.
in Thursday’s journal Sci- especially to birds seek- For study lead author Ra- the jet coming for ages.” He said in an email that
ence . “It’s something ing mates and animals try- chel Buxton, a Colorado The research team, which he’s noticed more noise at
that’s sort of happening ing to hunt or avoid being State conservation biol- includes a special unit of many sites throughout the
slowly,” Wittemyer said. hunted, Wittemyer said. ogy researcher, it can be the National Park Service, U.S.q