Guest Speaker: Lauren Kuehne
Noise is expected in urban settings, but what happens when noise infiltrates rural and wilderness areas, even one of the country's most beloved National Parks? In this talk, environmental scientist Lauren Kuehne shares results of several years' work to measure the extent of noise pollution on the Olympic Peninsula from military training flights by some of the most powerful aircraft in the world. Transition to these aircraft (called Growlers) was completed in 2015 and flights have increased over time, along with complaints from residents and visitors. The US Navy is set to increase the number of flights again in 2021. Ms. Kuehne will discuss results from the monitoring work as well as the broader picture of policy and regulatory processes related to aircraft noise pollution in wilderness (and urban) areas. This work has been covered in the last year by local and regional media outlets, including the Seattle Times, the Tacoma News Tribune, and the Olympian, so this talk is an opportunity to hear about the science directly. Ms. Kuehne will also present on a citizen-science based research project that she is currently part of on the Olympic Peninsula to evaluate the response of indicator birds to different forest management practices.
To learn more about Ms. Kuehne and her work, you can visit her website here: https://laurenkuehne.wordpress.com/