Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, USA

In March of 2023, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) on the traditional homelands of the Anishinaabe people was awarded Wilderness Quiet Park status by Quiet Parks International (QPI). The award recognizes the BWCAW's pristine soundscape and lack of man-made noise intrusions, a rare feat even in the United States' most remote Wilderness Areas.

Quiet Parks International - BWCAW

That's a worthy award and honorable recognition. I appreciated the sound recordings included in the article as well as some excellent photography. I'm sure there are many who visit the bwca for the quietness. The mantra at the end of the article is a good reminder: listen, learn, love. Can hardly wait to get back...

Nice to see Gordon Hempton is a part of this organization.

Love it. Electronic frequency free zone should be next. No sonar, no cell phones, no radios, only emergency sat phones should be allowed.

Sparkeh: "Love it. Electronic frequency free zone should be next. No sonar, no cell phones, no radios, only emergency sat phones should be allowed. "

I don't know how you'd enforce that, but I would absolutely support it. Especially after hearing the yahoos at the nearest campsite blasting rock music on their boom box last year.

Sparkeh: "Love it. Electronic frequency free zone should be next. No sonar, no cell phones, no radios, only emergency sat phones should be allowed. "

If everyone got what they wanted in the BWCA, nobody would be able to use it.
Why only emergency Sat phones? The guys that bring their fish locators will surely not be happy as well as the pace maker crowd. I’ll have to leave my Zoleo at home. Apple phones with emergency GPS, nope.

The only problem I have with the quiet zone is I can really hear my tinnitus. Drives me nuts.

Tom

Plenty of un-enforceable things that would be great, but won't happen. As nice as this honor is, there just isn't true quiet spaces in the lower 48 that are completely absent from human noise. I think of that family trying to hit all the most-remote spots for each state. Sound is part of their study where they wait for x amount of time and record any unnatural sounds they hear and an incredibly high percentage of the remote spots had some human intrusion, whether visual or audible, during their recording interval.

For the BWCA, there's still plenty of commercial jet traffic. Not much one can do about that, but it's a visual and audible disturbance. Since we can't ban air traffic within a 200 mile wide circle, the next best we can hope for is continually quieter jets. But with satellite traffic jumping up, we'll never have a natural sky again. I also know that in the winter it's incredibly challenging to escape the snowmobile racket. Even two or three or four miles into the wilderness I still hear it. And then there's the unexpected things like a helicopter coming in for a moose survey or fireworks on the fourth of July that intrude the perceived quiet.

On another note, I have a friend with really good hearing. He has commented that his hearing picks up the low vibration noise of power lines and so life is always noisy for him. He has mentioned that deep in the BWCA is one of the few places he can escape it! And I don't want to be ungrateful because I too seek out the BWCA for the quiet. But I also am painfully aware of how much impact we still have even on a wilderness area.

tumblehome: "

Sparkeh: "Love it. Electronic frequency free zone should be next. No sonar, no cell phones, no radios, only emergency sat phones should be allowed. "

If everyone got what they wanted in the BWCA, nobody would be able to use it.
Why only emergency Sat phones? The guys that bring their fish locators will surely not be happy as well as the pace maker crowd. I’ll have to leave my Zoleo at home. Apple phones with emergency GPS, nope.


The only problem I have with the quiet zone is I can really hear my tinnitus. Drives me nuts.


Tom
"

Less people out there the better it is. Sorry.

Sparkeh: "

tumblehome: "

Sparkeh: "Love it. Electronic frequency free zone should be next. No sonar, no cell phones, no radios, only emergency sat phones should be allowed. "

If everyone got what they wanted in the BWCA, nobody would be able to use it.
Why only emergency Sat phones? The guys that bring their fish locators will surely not be happy as well as the pace maker crowd. I’ll have to leave my Zoleo at home. Apple phones with emergency GPS, nope.



The only problem I have with the quiet zone is I can really hear my tinnitus. Drives me nuts.



Tom
"

Wow nice take.

Less people out there the better it is. Sorry. "