Dark Skies and Natural Sounds: The Park Service and Leave No Trace's Guidelines

The National Park Service (NPS) is a founding partner of the national Leave No Trace (LNT) outdoor ethics program, and has had a formal cooperative relationship with the non-profit LNT organization for 30 years. The NPS Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division and Wilderness Stewardship Division worked with LNT to write guidelines for visitors that help protect dark night skies and natural soundscapes.

Why skies and sounds matter

• Many visitors come to national parks for the starry sky, away from the bright lights of cities.
• Many come for natural quiet — the sounds of wildlife, and silence.
• Research shows that natural sounds and naturally dark skies are critical parts of the environment: vital to wildlife survival and ecosystem health, and important for restoring human health.

How the guidelines fit Leave No Trace

When you plan a trip to a national park, wilderness or other outdoor area, it's worth reviewing the seven principles of Leave No Trace. The sound and dark-sky guidelines complement them. One principle, for example, is Be Considerate of Others: following the soundscape guidelines, you can let nature's sounds prevail and shrink your noise footprint on the trail and in camp, so others can hear nature, find solitude and enjoy their visit.

Applied before and during your trip, the guidelines help protect the night skies and soundscapes of these places.

The guidelines

Read and download them from Leave No Trace:

• Protecting the Sounds of Nature;
• Dark Sky & Artificial Lighting.

More from the NPS: Natural Sounds, Night Skies and Wilderness.

Sources

Based on "NPS and Leave No Trace Partner to Develop Dark Sky and Soundscape Guidelines," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The source's photographs — one from a magazine, one bought from a news agency — are not reproduced.