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Intrusive sounds in natural areas become sources of concern for visitors
(Gramman
1999
). For instance, in the US the Natural Sounds Program Office
operates inside the NPS system “to protect, maintain or restore natural, cultural,
and other soundscape resources.” This office “provides advice, guidance and
technical support in characterizing and preserving park soundscapes.”
The goal of this office is to heighten public and agency awareness of the value
and character of park soundscapes. In this way the soundscape resources are
preserved for the benefit of park visitors (Jensen and Thompson
2004
).
10.9 Perceived Crowding in Natural Parks
A fundamental question that feeds major discussion about noise and protected areas
is the following: “How much human-produced sound is appropriate in a National
Park setting?” as advanced by Miller (
2008
) in a review on management of park
soundscapes.
In the parks there are several sources of noise such as aircraft, snow machines,
watercraft, road vehicles, and resource extraction (coal, oil, gas, minerals, and
timber) that vary according to a seasonal dynamic. The measurement of source
audibility and level requires standard procedures that are not easy to produce.
Considering that different sounds are present in every park it becomes quite difficult
to decide what sound is allowed in a specific park.
Crowding in national parks and reserves is the result of the recent boom of
visitors in these areas. The increase of visitors poses management problems to parks
in terms of impact on nature but also on the satisfaction of the visitors who may stay
away as a result of low satisfaction (Fig.
10.4
). So the problem is complex and
9
8
7
Truck
Airplane
6
Kids playing
5
Control
Water
Birds
4
3
2
1
0
5
10
20
40
Number of Hikers
70
110
160
220
290
370
460
Fig. 10.4
Relationship between the number of hikers and perceived crowding (Reproduced with
permission from Kim and Shelby
2011
)
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