Soundscape Ecology on NPR Science Friday

We've long been working to bring soundscape ecology to public awareness. Today, on NPRs Science Friday with Ira Flatow, Wild Sanctuary's Dr. Bernie Krause and colleague, Purdue University professor Brian Pijanowski, spoke of new academic potential of Soundscape Ecology. Catch the interesting interview on the April 22nd, 2011 segment,  'Listening to Wild Soundscapes.' 

First in the field of Soundscape Ecology

We are proud to announce the first academic publication to validate and express the term 'Soundscape Ecology' for a newly recognized field of scientific study. While others have tried to appropriate the term for more casual purposes, the scientific paper as articulated in the publication from the American Institute of Biological Sciences, 'BioScience' (March 2011, Vol. 61, No.3) clearly defines the meaning, scope, and origin of the term, in 'Soundscape Ecology: The Science of Sound in the Landscape', the article co-authored by soundscape pioneer, Bernie Krause.

Wild Sanctuary Honors The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

In 2006, Wild Sanctuary's team of bio-acoustic colleagues completed Phase I of The Arctic Soundscape Project, the first-ever, bioacoustic baseline study of soundscape conditions within select sites at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. All of us were wildly impressed by the raw beauty, special values, and astonishing tranquility of the acoustic environment. Sounds of life abound in Spring and Summer, as Polar bear, Arctic fox, caribou, and a million or so migrating birds find refuge in the irreplaceable '1002' area.

In 2010, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we celebrated this magical and vital ecological treasure with a companion outreach project designed to invite everyone to participate, launching Arctic Live, a festive, positive approach to wilderness advocacy with a variety of on-line and live events. The socially-based 'party' is still in progress - as are more serious plans to begin a secondary, comparative location study of the Refuge with Phase II of The Arctic Soundscape Project.

As our field-research work also enlivens and informs our outreach and community efforts, we'll share advocacy information with teachers and students about Arctic Live through these and other special projects in support of wilderness and wildlife of the increasingly fragile North.