SHARE:  
Green Hotels Association
    June 2017  


NOISE POLLUTION
INVADES PARK LANDS

Noise from aircraft, traffic and commercial development is drowning out the natural quiet of many wilderness areas and parks, according to a new analysis of noise pollution in US protected lands made public in Science.

The sounds of people on the move or at work are “pervasive” in public lands set aside for recreation, resource conservation and respite from the din of daily life, said scientists at Colorado State University and the US National Park Service who analyzed noise levels at 492 federal, state and local parks. They calculated that the sounds people make—from the racket of ringing phones and the rumble of road traffic, to the clatter of mining, drilling and logging—have raised the levels above natural background noise in two-thirds of US protected areas, with adverse consequences for wildlife and for the 300 million or so people who seek the tranquil hush of park lands every year.

“The din of modern life extends into protected areas,” said acoustic biologist Megan McKenna at the Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division of the US National Park Service in Fort Collins, CO, who joined in the project. The study arises from a growing appreciation of the effects of excess noise on human health and wildlife behavior. To quantify the human contribution to park noise, the researchers led by Colorado State University conservation biologist Rachel Buxton created a computerized national soundscape that approximated the level of noise during an average summer day. They collated and analyzed millions of hours of park-land sound recordings. They fed the acoustic data into a computer algorithm that combined it with dozens of landscape variables to calculate how much extra noise people added.

Overall, they found that, depending on the locale, human activity boosted noise levels up to 10 decibels above natural levels. For comparison, sounds in cities often exceed 65 decibels—about the level of a running air conditioner. In natural settings, sounds rarely exceed 40 decibels—about the noise level of a babbling brook. The quietest parks have a background noise level of less than 20 decibels. Road traffic and aircraft were the biggest source of park noise, Dr. Buxton said.

In an independent study of air traffic in national parks in 2010, researchers at Colorado State found that overflights of Grand Canyon National Park had grown to about 55,000 a year, with more than 100 helicopters in the air over the canyon on the busiest days. Sound levels in spots reached as high as 76 decibels, they said.

The impact of noise on wildlife worries conservation biologists. Noise pollution can deafen fish, scare off animals, and muffle the sound of mating calls among wild birds, hindering their ability to hunt for food or to warn each other about predators. “They can no longer hear these calls,” said avian behavioral ecologist Christopher Templeton at Pacific University in Oregon, who studies the effects of noise on birds in the US and Europe. Other birds sing louder to be heard or flee the noisy area entirely.

Hotz, Robert Lee, Noise Pollution invades Park
Lands, The Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2017


To learn more about GHA and how your property can be greener, jump to Green Hotels Association® !

or CALL 713/789-8889 TODAY!



Park-land
People Noise

In 2010 researchers found that overflights of Grand Canyon National Park had grown to about 55,000 a year, with more than 100 helicopters in the air over the canyon on the busiest days.


JOIN

PRINTED CARDS

CONTACT US

EMAIL US

FB  Twitter

24 years
 
 
Green Hotels Association®
P. O. Box 420212, Houston, TX 77242-0212
713/789-8889 | Fax 713/789-9786

greenhotels.com
Member Hotels | Approved Vendors | Membership | Catalog | More Information | What are "Green" Hotels
E-Mail | E-Mail to Friend