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Eavesdropping on America's National Parks

For four years, the National Park Service has been gathering natural sound in dozens of parks across the country. The idea is to protect visitors -- and wildlife -- from unwelcome noise.

So far, sound has been recorded in about 20 of the country's 388 national parks. The goal is not to preserve natural sound in recordings, but to have a baseline from which to preserve it in the wild.

The park service is essentially monitoring for noise pollution. It sees the natural soundscape as a resource -- for visitors, who repeatedly say in park surveys that they value it, and for wildlife.

"There are a lot of species of wildlife that are dependent upon the ability to hear sound, either to find food or avoid being someone else's food," says Karen Trevino, who heads the park service's Natural Sounds Program. She notes that some species use noise to find a mate, or to find shelter and safe nesting grounds.

Airplanes are a disruption in many parks, as are boats and snowmobiles. But Trevino says most sounds come from park service operations -- whether it's the rumble of laundry trucks or the jackhammer sounds from construction of roads and buildings. She says the park service is just starting to realize it needs to manage its own sound -- and that awareness is the first goal of the Natural Sounds Program.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

As supervising editor for Arts and Culture at NPR based at NPR West in Culver City, Ted Robbins plans coverage across NPR shows and online, focusing on TV at a time when there's never been so much content. He thinks "arts and culture" encompasses a lot of human creativity — from traditional museum offerings to popular culture, and out-of-the-way people and events.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.