Asking for peace and quiet

Waldron hopes Park assesses human noise

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

Susan Waldron has been a longtime wilderness advocate in the Flathead Valley. Now she wishes she could get some peace and quiet in another place she loves — Glacier National Park.

Waldron is an avid sea kayaker and spends a lot of time in Glacier's motor campgrounds. But lately, she says she's been disheartened by the noise in Glacier, from motorcycles to helicopters to recreational vehicles that run their generators six hours a day.

"Look around," she said. "Look at the number of people driving mega-homes to go camping," she said in a recent interview. "They never come outside. You never see them."

Waldron, a former member of the Montana Wilderness Association and more recently, Headwaters Montana, recently fired off a letter to many of the local newspapers with her noise complaints. She is particularly riled by the noisy RVs.

"They make a mockery of the camping experience as people sit in their air-conditioned palaces on wheels, satellite dishes pointing skyward, watching TV instead of enjoying the view they are monopolizing," she wrote.

Waldron uses a pop-up camper, and even says she feels guilty about that.

She claimed the problem is particularly bad in Two Medicine. She said she would like to camp near Two Medicine Creek, which runs by the campground, but RVs grab the choice spots and then are allowed to run their generators six hours a day — from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. from noon to 2 p.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m.

Glacier notes it does have several sites at Two Medicine that are specifically generator-free, said Park spokesman Wade Muehlhof. He also noted that Glacier also has generator-free sites at Rising Sun and Fish Creek.

Sprague Creek is a tent-only site and is also generator free, he said.

In addition, he said, Glacier is looking at putting generator-free areas in the Many Glacier campground.

But Waldron complained that in Two Medicine, the generator-free sites are far away from the views and are in the back of the campground.

Muehlhof said there's a flip side to the generator argument. He said that some campers have complained that they won't come to Glacier because they have medical problems that require a generator all the time.

For a quieter experience, Muehlhof said there is always the backcountry option.

"There are other recreational opportunities," he noted.

But Waldron said it's impossible to lug a sea kayak into the backcountry. She suggests the Park Service offer electricity to some sites, so campers don't have to run generators at all, or set aside generator areas in campgrounds that don't take prime spots and spoil the soundscape for others.

Tim Stevens is the Northern Rockies Regional Director of the National Parks Conservation Association. The NPCA, a parks' advocacy group, gets plenty of feedback from its members about noise in national parks.

"There's an expectation that national parks are one of the few places where visitors … can listen to natural sounds," he said.

And that isn't always the case.

In Glacier, for example, the Park's general management plan calls for phasing out scenic helicopter overflights. But it has been more than 10 years since the ink has dried on the document and nothing has been done. A few years ago, Congress passed a law directing the Park Service and Federal Aviation Administration to work on the problem and identify parks that have noise problems.

"NPCA has been advocating Glacier be put at the top of the list," Stevens said.

"We can no longer afford to do nothing."

Glacier is not alone with its noise issues. Zion National Park last month completed a soundscape management plan that looks to curb sounds in that Park. The plan, which has just been opened to public comment, places restrictions on noise from a variety of sources, including motorcycles, aircraft, generators and even public address systems used by Park staff.

Waldron, too, hopes Glacier takes a closer look at its noise problems.

"I think we need to take back our Park," she said.