Sound Advice
Volume 11, Issue 1, 2008
National Park Noise Solutions
 If you’re heading off to one of our nation’s beautiful National Parks this summer, perhaps taking your family to a special place that holds sentimental memories from your childhood, you may be in for a nasty shock. Things ain’t what they used to be! That idyllic sparkling lake you remember, with its wonderful birdsong and shady places—well let’s just say it may be quieter to enjoy your picnic on the I-405 hard shoulder.
The influx of people into our most popular breathtaking wide open spaces has rapidly deprived those locations of the very qualities for which we once sought them out: peace and serenity. The peace is consistently destroyed by a wide variety of different noise sources: vehicle traffic, jetliners overhead, boat engines, jet-skis, sightseeing helicopters and, in the winter-time, snowmobiles. It’s all getting to be a bit much.
Les Blomberg, spokesperson for the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, has suggested ten ways to help control the noise in National Parks:
- Most people don’t deliberately throw their trash around outside. Think of noise as “audible trash.” Be conscious of when you or your family members are throwing noise around, and put a stop to it.
- Motorcycles admitted to the parks should be limited to those with standard mufflers and not the custom-made muscle exhausts on the market for bike enthusiasts.
- Noise-trained park officials provided with sound level meters can enforce noise standards to eject and deter noise makers.
- Promote quiet campgrounds. Camping venues that cut down on the number of deafening generators, boom boxes and portable TVs at competing locations will have a big competitive advantage. They may inspire other camp-ground operators to out-quiet each other. Rowdy campers can still have their fun at the partytown locations.
- Limit the number of snowmobiles and/or watercraft in the parks. Most of us don’t mind the occasional disturbance and acknowledge each other’s right to enjoy the outdoors. But a lot of times it’s the sheer numbers that spoil the atmosphere.
- Pave park road surfaces with rubberized asphalt to cut down the high levels of tire noise that occur on standard concrete paving. This asphalt is becoming increasingly common as a way to reduce traffic noise, and our national parks are places where we definitely want to reduce it.
- Re-evaluate watercraft noise standards. The current standard is 80dB(A) at 50 ft. Les Blomberg says this is too loud, and that the noise propagates much more easily across the surface of a lake.
- Select quieter landscaping equipment. Quiet lawnmowers that cost little more than the standard ones are available and should be the first choice.
- Limit aircraft noise by imposing larger buffer areas around the parks, not only overhead, but on the ground in the vicinity of the park. Some popular parks such as the Grand Canyon have limited sightseeing flights because of their intrusive nature.
- Enforce a “clearly audible, clearly prohibited” noise ordinance that’s simple to enforce.
Until these ten improvements are made, I suggest you do all you can to avoid adding your own noise, then simply take along earplugs and enjoy the view.
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