Measurement of the natural soundscapes in south Florida National Parks

Abstract

The National Park Service is in the process of developing noise management plans for one or more of its parks in south Florida—Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, and Big Cypress National Preserve. A central concept is the definition of the natural (ambient) soundscapes as a resource to be managed as authorized by the NPS Organic Act of 1916 and other relevant mandates. The key to this concept is the development of a credible and defensible description of that resource. Previous studies have involved sound level monitoring with manned observations over relatively short time periods of 1–3 h in which all natural and intruding sounds were identified. This study evaluated the use of unmanned monitors to extend the measurement of the natural soundscapes to time periods of several days duration. Results from unmanned measurements will be compared to previous manned studies and methods for quantifying the natural soundscape and the effect of intrusions will be discussed. [Work supported by The National Park Service.]