Wildland IssuesIncluding motorized/quiet use issues, effects of noise on wildlife, managing soundscapes as a resource. See also AEI Special Reports on Wildland Issues, including Yellowstone Winter Use Planning, Forest Service Travel Management, and Coalbed Methane: [GO THERE] This page includes the most recent Wildland Issues archives. To peruse older items: Helicopter Hunting Challenged in Name of Natural Quiet - A proposal to search for game by helicopter, then drop off hunters in the area of wildlife, is under intense scrutiny in New Zealand. The plan, now before the Conservation Department (DOC), would have helicopters flying at between 30 and 150 meters altitude for about 20 minutes per flight, looking for tahr, goats, chamois, and deer. "This proposal isn't just the transient irritation of a passing helicopter," said Federated Mountain Club executive member David Barnes. "It's in-your-face buzzing at low levels." The group has been pushing for "natural quiet" to be valued as a reason people seek out remote places. "We recognise that there are places that aircraft use is established and recognised as a legitimate form of recreation and/or access, but don't accept that this should be everywhere," Barnes said. The West Coast Conservation Board, asked by the DOC for input, recently recommended that the application be denied. WCCB Chairman Hamish Macbeth wrote in the official response, "In the board's view, the intrusive impact of this type of activity on the values of natural quiet and remoteness is unable to be minimised and for this reason the application should be declined," he wrote. The noise generated by this new style of hunting would be far greater than traditional recreational hunting, where hunters were flown to a base camp or hut. A suggestion that helicopters would fly away if they spotted other recreational users was a poor attempt at mitigating the noise impact, said the board. By the time the operator saw other users on the ground, the damage would have been done. Source: The Press, 11/27/07 [READ ARTICLE] The Press, 11/19/07 [READ ARTICLE] Forest Service Continues Off-Road Vehicle Planning - On national forests and BLM lands across America, local land managers are continuing work on new Travel Management Plans, which aim to set clear map-based standards to manage off-road vehicle use. On many forests and most BLM land, ORV's have been permitted to travel off-trail; in the future, ORVs will be allowed only on designated roads and trails. A recently released report from the Isaac Walton League surveys land managers, and finds that most consider ORV use to have a serious impact on hunters and fishermen. Meanwhile, on forests nationwide, ORV users and quiet recreation advocates are working with land managers, and in some cases sparring with each other; we encourage you to get involved in your local forests' planning process. Source: USA Today, 10/1/07 [READ ARTICLE] [DOWNLOAD ISAAC WALTON LEAGUE REPORT] National Parks "Littered" with Noise - "Noise is to the soundscape as litter is to the landscape," says Les Bloomberg, executive director of the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse. "For 100 years, we have been filling the landscape with waste, primarily from combustion engines, and now there is no place to escape it. The parks should be our last refuge, the places we can go to avoid noise." The Acoustical Society of America recently met in Salt Lake City, where they talked about noise in national parks. And what they heard is not good. Grand Canyon visitors can expect to hear aircraft every two minutes, from 8 a.m to 6 p.m. from spring to fall, about 132,000 overflights a year. In about 90 percent of the park, tour planes and helicopters can be heard 100 percent of the time, said Dick Hingson, who has been monitoring the sound there for years. The only place you can't hear them, he said, is deep in the canyon on the Colorado River, in the rapids. Noise researcher Skip Ambrose said the clamor doesn't stop at the Grand Canyon. It continues throughout Utah's five national parks - Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef. "There's times when you can't hear the natural sounds," said Ambrose, a biologist who measured noise for the Park Service from Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon and everywhere in between before retiring in the past year. He can't name a single spot in Utah's national parks free of sound litter. He hasn't measured one. And, given the East-to-West overflights of commercial jets, he doubts there are any, even with the many remote places within Utah's boundaries. Mia Monroe, manager of Muir Woods National Park near San Francisco, has noticed that even as people go to the wilds to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life, they bring their noises with them. ‘‘Most digital cameras are not quiet,’’ she notes. ‘‘Strollers can be quite noisy. Big vehicles have ‘backup beepers,’ and you hear lots of planes overhead. Back when I started here, cars didn’t make those funny little beeps when the doors lock. It all adds up.’’ Bloomberg has put together ten suggestions to foster visitors' ability to have quiet experiences in National Parks, including establishing quiet campgrounds (no generators or boomboxes), using he quietest possible equipment, such as lawnmowers, air buffers around parks, and more enforcement of existing noise standards. Salt Lake Tribune, 6/24/07 [READ ARTICLE] LiveScience.com, 5/29/07 [READ ARTICLE] Sacramento Bee/Altoona Mirror, 5/27/07 [READ ARTICLE] EPA Criticizes Park Service Plan for Yellowstone Snowmobiles - A new proposal for snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park doesn't do enough to safeguard air quality, human health, wildlife and quiet spaces, the Environmental Protection Agency said. Agency officials said the National Park Service should either change its “preferred alternative” or pick another option. The EPA letter said earlier moves to reduce snowmobile numbers and require “cleaner and quieter” machines have led to significant improvements, but the latest plan raises concerns – especially when compared with the option of allowing only snowcoaches. The Park Service has said the snowcoach-only option is the best way to protect Yellowstone's natural resources. But park officials have continued to look for ways to allow a limited number of snowmobiles while minimizing their impact. Compared with the snowcoach-only option, the park's latest “preferred alternative” would lead to a fivefold increase in carbon monoxide emissions, a 17-fold increase in hydrocarbons, and double the amount of acres in Yellowstone where snow machines would be heard, the EPA said. The Park Service's “desired conditions” for winter recreation may not be strict enough to protect Yellowstone's natural resources, including its pristine air quality and natural quiet, the EPA said. Source: AP, 6/19/07 [READ ARTICLE] BC Village Nixes Cell Phones in Woods, Streams - The village of New Denver, British Columbia has turned down Telus's offer to erect a cell phone tower near their remote valley in the West Kootenays, “an economic driver to bring them into the 21st century.” Bill Roberts, of the Slocan Valley Economic Development Commission told a Vancouver Sun reporter, “When you’re portaging between two lakes and all you’re hearing is the call of the loons and the rustles of the forest, the last thing you want to hear is a BEEP BEEP or the opening bars of Colonel Bogey’s March.” Roberts and friends think not being electronically joined at the ear to the rest of the modern world will be New Denver’s touristic ace in the hole. Their community will be one of the few places left in North America – on the planet, in fact – where the cell phone will be useless. “It’ll be a big competitive advantage,” says Roberts. “We won’t have people answering the darned thing everywhere and yelling on it.” Source: Parksville Qualicum News, 8/21/07 [READ ARTICLE] Yellowstone Snowmobile Plan, Take Three, Released - The long-awaited Draft Environmental Impact Statement for managing winter use has been released, and contains few surprises, thanks to a series of preliminary releases by the Park Service over the past year. While the final preferred alternative won't be announced until after a round of public comments, it appears that the current status quo will largely be maintained. Snowmobiles will be allowed in numbers a close to historic averages, but greater than have actually been entering in recent years, but all will be required to be part of guided tours, much to the chagrin of the snowmobile community. A key pass from the East gate outside Cody, Wyoming, will be closed to snowmobiles due to the amount of work needed to keep it safe from avalanches. Environmental advocates, along with every former Park Service Director save the most recent, continue to call for snowmobiles to be banned, as decided in the initial winter use plan during the Clinton administration, due to air quality and noise concerns. Current snowmobile and snowcoach use creates audible noise for park visitors during the majority of the day. A proposed regulation will be released in late spring, with the final EIS and Record of Decision planned for fall. Sources: Jackson Hole News and Guide, 3/28/07 [READ ARTICLE] NewWest.net, 3/27/07 (snowmobile advocates) [READ ARTICLE] North County Times, 3/27/07 (Former Directors' Letter) [READ ARTICLE] Colorado Softens New Noise Limits on Oil and Gas Installations, But It's Still an Improvement for Ranchers - The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission bowed to industry concerns about cost and modified a rule set to go into effect on January 1st governing noise from rural oil and gas installations. In December 2005 the Commission voted to limit noise to 45dB at night, and 50dB during the day; the industry challenged these limits, and will now be required to quiet their installations to 50dB at night and 55dB during the day, measured at 350 feet from the installation. A recent survey by Commission staff found that only 13% of compressors now meet the standard; enforcement will be contingent on complaints filed by citizens. The new rules contain several provisions that represent a step forward for quieting the wide-open ranchlands being inundated by natural gas and coalbed methane development. All engines within 400 feet of a residential building will be required to have mufflers installed; low frequency noise, below human hearing, will be regulated; and the new dB limits are themselves an improvement over the previous industrial standards of 65dB at night and 70 dB during the day. Sources: Durango Herald, 9/20/06 [READ ARTICLE] Earthworks website [READ RULE SUMMARY] [SEE NOISE NEWS LINKS] USFS Begins Forest-by-Forest Off-road Vehicle Planning- Last year's National Forest Service decision to designate routes for off-road vehicle use on all forests is moving into the implementation phase. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth has released a Travel Management schedule that details when each forest and ranger district will be expected to complete its inventory and final designation of routes. This process will be very open to public involvement from locals in each ranger district who are interested in either quiet recreation or motorized recreation; contact your local forests to learn when they will be holding meetings and forming collaborative planning groups. The schedule released by the forest service also gives preliminary numbers of acres of land and miles of trails currently open to motorized use. Source: National Foreset Service OHV Website, 7/8/06 [WEBSITE] Schedule [DOWNLOAD SCHEDULE(pdf)]
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