Sounds of Your Park

[muir]

US National Parks Service, Nature Canada, IUCN and others are launching an initiative to create “interactive map of the world on which users can click on individual protected places (National & local parks, wildlife refuges & reserves, World Heritage sites, Biosphere Reserves, community protected areas, etc.) to listen to high quality recordings of those places’ most iconic natural and cultural sounds. To be released before January 2021.”

More info in the Call to Action (which is also available in French and Spanish):

Sounds of Your Park – Join the Chorus

(Contribute to help create a collection of the sounds of the world’s parks and protected areas)

Goal

We, the undersigned, are working together to create a global collection of the sounds of protected areas which will virtually transport listeners to protected spaces worldwide via immersive acoustic recordings. These evocative recordings will work to inspire people to engage with our natural and cultural heritage, and foster meaningful connections with our parks. · National Park Service · Parks Canada · World Commission on Protect Areas, IUCN · George Wright Society · #NatureForAll · Sound and Light Ecology Team, Colorado State University

Vision

An interactive map of the world on which users can click on individual protected places (National & local parks, wildlife refuges & reserves, World Heritage sites, Biosphere Reserves, community protected areas, etc.) to listen to high quality recordings of those places’ most iconic natural and cultural sounds. To be released before January 2021.

Potential examples include:
· Wolves howling in Yellowstone National Park, United States
· Elk rut in Rocky Mountain National Park, United States
· Songbirds at dawn in Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica
· Wildebeest migration in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
· Elephants in Amboseli National Park, Kenya
· Night sounds of the Kruger National Park, South Africa
· Lava flows in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, USA
· Underwater sounds of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Site, Australia
· Indigenous cultural expression (e.g. drum circle, jingle dress dancing, haka, or others)
· Cultural landscape sounds (e.g. foghorns along a coast, cowbells in the Alps, hand net fishing, or others)

Background

Natural spaces, species, and traditional cultural practices are disappearing around the globe as the modern human footprint expands. Coupled with this loss is the associated loss of natural and cultural soundscapes. Stated plainly, some of the planet’s most iconic sounds are disappearing and are now largely confined to the most isolated and protected places.

National parks and other protected areas are critical for maintaining human and global well-being. Natural sounds in particular are shown to benefit human health and can indicate the health of ecosystems. Having access to these places and their sounds, either directly or through remote listening opportunities, helps restore human well-being and ecosystem health and in turn, raises awareness of these critically important places.

Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many to shelter in place near their homes. Absent the usual clamor of everyday life, noise pollution has substantially faded in many places, allowing natural sounds to return to the forefront of world soundscapes. Many people have noticed this change and have used this opportunity to slow down and reconnect with nature. In recognition of this year’s World Listening Day, we are developing a more permanent way of giving people access to these sounds. We are initiating the creation of the Sounds of Your Park project, a collection of the planet’s most iconic sounds from its protected areas.

To contribute to the project: Email us at soundsofyourpark@gmail.com to ask further questions or indicate your interest in submitting your high-quality audio recordings. When submitting your work, we ask that you explicitly indicate that you grant us permission to use your recordings for the project. Afterwards, we will send you a link to a Google Drive where you can submit your file(s) with appropriate metadata.

Recording requirements:

1 File subject: Your best species, soundscape, or cultural recording(s) from protected areas (National & local parks, wildlife refuges & reserves, World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves, community protected areas, etc.)

2. File type: WAV

3. Channels: Strongly prefer stereo, but mono recordings are acceptable for species and cultural recordings

4. Sampling rate: ≥ 44.1kHz and ≤ 96kHz

5. Bit depth: ≥ 16-bit

6. File length: ≥ 2 minutes and ≤ 2 hours

7. Loudness standardization: -16 to -24 LUFS*

8. Metadata: see template file in Google Drive

*Note: We will work with you to ensure your recordings meet this standard

[taitsougstad]

Is there a home page for this project?

[muir]

Not one that I could find yet. I received it over email from the park service. I was sort of hoping that someone who browses the iNat forum would be directly involved in the project and could give more details, including whether audio observations posted to iNat could meet their recording requirements.

One of the partners #NatureForAll seems to have more info on their website, but it seems like the project in general is encouraging people who are interested to directly email them.