Navy Jets Jeopardizing "Quietest One Inch" At Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park, once hailed for harboring the "quietest one inch" in America, is seeing its soundscape shredded by more than 2,300 Navy training flights a year that not only disturb terrestrial life but also marine life at the park on the peninsula of Washington State, according to new research.

The findings are somewhat ironic, as the National Park Service long has worked to protect soundscapes in the park system, and in the early years of the 21st century a spot in the Hoh Rain Forest in the park was deemed to very likely be the quietest in the country.

One Square Inch of Silence is possibly the quietest place in the United States. Located in the Hoh Rain Forest at Olympic National Park, it is 3.2 miles from the Visitor’s Center above Mt. Tom Creek Meadows on the Hoh River Trail. Hiking time from the parking lot at the Visitor’s Center to the site is approximately two hours along a gentle path lined by ancient trees and ferns. The exact location is marked by a small red-colored stone placed on top of a moss-covered log at N 48.12885°, W 123.68234°, 303 feet above sea level. -- One Square Inch

But the Navy's desire to train its pilots from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island is ruining the silence. Studies into the noise created by overflights of Navy Growlers find it is responsible for 88 percent of the overflight noise in the national park, and that it also affects orcas swimming in the Pacific Ocean. And the bulk of the overflights are conducted between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

"... 95% of Olympic National Park is designated as Wilderness by Congress; this means that, among other criteria, the Park Service is required to manage this area so 'the imprint of man’s work [is] substantially unnoticeable' and 'for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation',” wrote Lauren M. Kuehne and Julian D. Olden in Military Flights Threaten the Wilderness Soundscapes of the Olympic Peninsula. "The noise levels that we document in this study–and the proposed increases–arguably create an unresolvable burden that undermines the fundamental mission and purpose of the Park."

According to the authors, a person on a six-hour hike in the national park "will likely hear jet noise for close to an hour, interspersed throughout their visit."

National Parks Conservation Association staff say the Navy wants to increase the training flights in the area.

"Olympic National Park is  world famous for its peacefulness and tranquility.  The sound of fighter jets  buzzing the park at sound levels  as loud as garbage disposal machines  simply  does not belong," said  Rob Smith, NPCA's northwest regional director.  "A park's natural  quiet is every bit as important as its trees, rivers and wildlife and should be protected as such. The Navy must now find a more suitable location for these fighter jet flights, where the noise will not disturb millions of park visitors and the area's wildlife."

Kuehne and Olden wrote in their study that managing soundscapes across protected places such as wilderness continues to be challenging. Their work in Olympic National Park was designed to capture baseline overflight noise levels for the park.

"I think there is a huge gap between what the Navy is telling people that its aircraft are not substantially louder and operations haven't changed and what people are noticing on the ground," said Kuehne, who completed the work as a research scientist at the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and is now an independent consultant. "Our project was designed to try and measure noise in the ways that reflect what people are actually experiencing." 

The research, built in part from data collected by underwater microphones, found that noise from the Growlers could be heard nearly 100 feet underwater "with sound levels known to impact whales. Furthermore, these sound levels are comparable to those documented by studies of noise that is experienced by (killer whales, an endangered species) from small and large vessels."