US National Parks and management of park soundscapes: A review

For more than 17 years the US National Park Service has been developing the methods, processes and skills required to effectively manage the soundscapes of the National Parks. The author and his company have had the honor of providing technical acoustics related assistance throughout much of this period. This article presents his reflections on the process, its technical and political complexities, and provides what are hoped to be useful syntheses derived both from his experiences and from past and recent discussions with many of the participants. Specifically, the article describes the fundamental questions that need to be answered for management of natural soundscapes, the types of noise issues that arise in parks, the need for quantitative data, approaches to identifying, measuring and collecting those data, and a suggested approach for developing criteria designed to effectively manage sounds in natural areas.