Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU)

Developing a Natural Sounds Library of the Voices of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

Project ID: P13AC00212

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Partner Institution: University of Alaska Southeast

Fiscal Year: 2013

Initial Funding: $54,451

Total Funding: $54,451

Project Type: Research

Project Disciplines: Biological

National Park: Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

Principal Investigator: Nelson, Richard

Agreement Technical Representative: Gabriele, Christine

Abstract: Sound in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (GBNPP) is a key natural resource that is deeply linked to the human experience and contains great power to deepen our understanding of natural history. The National Park Service (NPS) and the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) will work together to produce a digital sound library containing upwards of 1,000 high-quality, well-documented audio recordings. The recordings from this project will provide a contemporary record of the presence and acoustic characteristics of particular species and phenomena in GBNPP that will later become a historic record for future park visitors, managers, and researchers. Using these sounds, UAS will produce a number of short radio-ready audio programs and make public presentations about the project in Southeast Alaska to generate public awareness of this vital resource. They will also use the sounds library to inform NPS interpretive rangers, allowing them to incorporate natural sounds into their programs. GBNPP will consult on the protocols used to collect the sounds, provide continuing education to NPS staff on the scientific and interpretive use of these sounds, and provide the sound library to a well-curated natural sound archive for current and future scientific use.

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