Archive for the ‘News’ Category
February 17th, 2011
When I first learned of the One Square Inch of Silence I hadn’t actually considered that the number of “quiet” places in the United States can actually be counted. Certainly I had been concerned about clean air, clean water, and pollution in general. However, The more that I thought about it, the more I realized that there are extremely few people or organizations who are striving to save something as simple, yet essential, as places free from noise pollution. I had assumed that wilderness areas were protected. This is not the case. Even the most remote areas are penetrated with the sounds of air traffic, snowmobiles, far-off generators, to name but a few. As I continued thinking, I realized that we are quickly approaching a point of no return unless we act now. Just as the integrity of the water, air, and earth are vital to the survival of wildlife, so too, the audible environment plays a critical role in loving the Earth. Flora and fauna depend on the natural soundscape to find a mate, to avoid predators, to find food, and more. Humans need these places for solace and introspection. If we cannot establish just one square inch of natural silence that effectively protects more than one thousand square miles around it, then what will the future of our national parks be?
You can make a difference. Tell your friends and family about OSI. Let people know the importance of natural quiet and direct them to our website. Contact me or any of the other four board members with your ideas. And give a voice to silence by donating generously so that we can continue to carry on our valuable mission of creating the world’s first designated quiet place—a place where humans and wildlife alike can remain, undisturbed.
Sincerely,
Samara Kester, Executive Director, OSI
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August 5th, 2010
August is the driest and quietest month of the year at One Square Inch of Silence. The early afternoon nature ambience consisted of the faint whine of winged insects and the murmur of the Hoh River in the distance measured at 32 dBA. The first Sunday hike of the month was enjoyed Cordy & Tom Brady, Steven & Rick Broom and Gordon Hempton, Executive Director of OSI. Many elk prints were on the ground with only a few boot prints at this remote wilderness location. One jet intrusion was observed at 1:15 PM, a private jet cruising at high altitude caused a disturbance measured at 37dBA. This difference of 5 dBA is more than three times the acoustic energy! Donate to One Square Inch and help us have Olympic National Park become our nation’s first no-flight zone for civilian purposes.
We are proud to introduce Steven Broom, Youth Volunteer Coordinator. Steven is a student at Adna Middle/High School in Adna, Washington He has a deep love for the wilderness and is a keen observer of wildlife. You reach Steven at sbroom@onesquareinch.org Welcome aboard Steven!
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May 7th, 2010
On April 22, 2010, the spring leaves were brilliant and the sap was running full, a wonderful match to the spirit of One Square Inch as we celebrated its Fifth Anniversary on Earth Day. This milestone occurred live on NPR with Jane Clayson for On Point. Americans in 175 different cities sent a landslide of support. Additional coverage occurred on AOL , New York Times, and NPR’s To the Best of Our Knowledge.
Annual Hike
Prior to this event the Board of Directors met for a hike to One Square Inch followed by new business. Kenya DeBois received the new title of Communications Director. Sean Owen was elected to the Board and named Finance Director. We also have a dedicated and inspired young man, Steven Broom, a 15 year old high school student from Chehalis, Washington, who is now serves our Youth Volunteer Coordinator. Jean Waight now serves as Operations Manager. Welcome, Jean, Sean and Steven. We look forward to our future together!
One Square Inch continues to attract attention from visitors around the world. Celebrated globe trotter, Flat Stanley, visited the Stone that marks One Square Inch of Silence in the Hoh Valley with travel arrangements by Pattison Elementary School in Milford, Ohio.
Flat Stanley
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January 8th, 2010
The hush of fallen snow has once again returned to the glacier-capped peaks of Olympic National Park and down in the Hoh Valley, the rain beats new rhythms through its 300-foot tall forest. This is a sonic wonderland, rich with opportunities to truly be alone and empty of workaday thoughts, a rare, pristine haven for restoring your senses. Meanwhile snowmobiles continue to roar through Yellowstone. The chop of helicopters shatter the natural silence at Hawaii Volcanoes and Haleakala. And again this year, an unbelievable 90,000 air tours will fly over Grand Canyon. Without a sound level meter or even a microphone to measure noise intrusions, Olympic Park management has turned a deaf ear to the urgent need of protecting its endangered natural soundscape. Olympic National Park is the last great quiet place among the 392 units managed by the National Park Service; yet the operating budget to save the silence and the natural sonic wonders of this park remains zero dollars—yes, zero. What’s more, Karen Gustin, Superintendent of Olympic National Park, replied in a 2009 email: “Olympic NP is in queue to start an air tour management plan sometime within the next couple of years or so.”
Planning for air tours? We should be banning not planning.
Speak out for silence (email your concerns to Supt. Gustin Karen_Gustin@nps.gov)and give generously to One Square Inch of Silence.
UPDATE at Newsweek (January 28, 2010): An Unquiet Nation–America’s Vanishing Silent Spaces.
Your support is the voice of silence. Donate.
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June 30th, 2009
Summer is a wonderful season to visit One Square Inch of Silence in the Hoh Rain Forest. This is the driest time of year and the trail is easily travelled. There are plenty of places along the nearly level 3.2 mile hike to OSI for you sit and listen peacefully to the presence of everything—including the distant echoes of Roosevelt Elk and the tall winds that roll up the valley almost 300’ overhead. On the links page you will find information about current weather, nearby accommodations, and camping opportunities. Don’t forget to stop in the ranger station and let them know that you treasure this place and you want the acoustic environment of the park saved. (The current park budget for both natural quiet and natural soundscape management is zero.) Your voice for silence DOES count because visitor feedback helps determine management priorities.
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April 13th, 2009
One Square Inch of Silence recognizes that Wednesday, April 29th is International Noise Awareness Day. OSI will be at New York’s Central Park on Sunday, April 26th, 2009, noon to 4:00 pm to combine noise awareness with quiet places protection for Earth Day events led by the Central Park Conservancy. Authors of the new book, One Square Inch of Silence (Free Press, 2009), Gordon Hempton and John Grossmann, will be on hand to meet visitors and discuss the need to conserve quiet places.
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January 7th, 2009
One Square Inch of Silence has continued to expand and attract wide spread public support. What began less than four years ago on Earth Day 2005 by a single person, has now touched the lives of millions, thanks to newspaper, magazine, and television coverage. Media outlets as far away as Italy, Germany, and France have spread the news of One Square Inch and its pioneering role in preserving endangered natural silence.
It is my hope that Olympic National Park will indeed be recognized as the “Listener’s Yosemite”, a place of profound aural solitude. In 2008, Olympic Park received a new park superintendent, Karen Gustin, and a new General Management Plan that will guide the park’s development for more than a decade. However, its soundscape and the park’s extraordinary natural quiet are scarcely recognized and no natural quiet or soundscape management plans exist. There’s not even a sound level meter on hand; not one dollar in its budget slated to protect this valuable natural resource. It will be up to public outcry to protect this last great quiet place.
One Square Inch of Silence now has a Board of Directors and is in the process of filing for 501-C3 non-profit, tax-exempt status. It is the subject of an upcoming book, also called One Square Inch of Silence, due out in March 2009 from Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster. In it, you can visit One Square Inch through text, images, and audio CD and also experience the extraordinary wonder that is the Hoh Rain Forest. You’ll then travel with me across America on an historic sound safari, as I listen to the land and Americans I meet, in search of vanishing silence and the impact of ever spreading man-made noise. Finally, my co-author John Grossmann and I meet with government officials in Washington, D.C. to press for a One Square Inch of Silence-spearheaded campaign to preserve natural quiet. In 2009, we hope that Washington Senator Maria Cantwell will introduce legislation into the 111th session of Congress to designate a 20-mile radius no flight zone over One Square Inch, helping to federally sanction the world’s first quiet sanctuary.
Meanwhile, the FAA seems to be routing more and more flights directly over Olympic National Park. On December 10, 2008, jet noise broke the natural quiet and then continued for more than 30 minutes—a disappointing “record” in my years of monitoring and also a reminder that unless action is taken soon we will lose this treasure forever.
Please speak out for silence by supporting the One Square Inch Foundation.
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July 2nd, 2008
OSI has received an outpouring of public support due to the recent attention by ABC’s Nightline and Ode Magazine. We look forward to making continued progress at saving the quietest place in the lower 48. For those of you who are planning to walk the quiet path to OSI, you can find directions on the links page, or send us an email for answers to your specific questions.
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February 26th, 2008
OSI is now accessible with the re-opening of the Hoh River Road. This comes just in time with the first annual OSI board meeting on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week at Kalaloch Lodge inside Olympic National Park. We look forward to announcing the results of this meeting on our next news posting.
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February 1st, 2008
Olympic National Park has announced that the Hoh Road is closed outside the park boundary because of flood damage. There is currently two feet of snow at the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center. Weather and snow conditions permitting, the road is expected to open by the end of February.
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