Great Sand Dunes National Park, the quietest national park (confirmed by the NPS’s Natural Sounds Program Office), is fighting to keep it that way. Just 2 miles from the park’s western border, an energy company has proposed to drill exploratory wells for oil and gas. Given the fact that park Superintendent Art Hutchinson has heard the bells from a monastery 8 miles away from the park, hydraulics and machinery from the exploratory well drilling would surely be heard within the park.
Two environmental groups are not taking this issue lightly, and are suing the Fish and Wildlife Service to deny permits to Lexam Explorations Inc., the energy company. They claim that the necessary environmental evaluations were not conducted. So far, the environmental groups have been successful; last month a judge in Denver issued an injunction against the drilling while the issue is in dispute.
In recent years, the issue of noise in national parks has become a hot issue. In 2008, managers in Yellowstone NP were forced to account for snowmobile noise in the park’s winter plan, Zion NP and Minute Man National Historical Monument are writing plans for noise management, and Colorado State University will soon be releasing a noise pollution analysis on how unnatural noises affect wildlife.
You can read more about the issue in the NY Times article.
via The Goat
