Dare to Imagine: Katie Nuessly

I study the sounds of national parks – sounds like bird calls and elk bugling and the quiet that gives you a sense of solitude. Think of a peaceful moment you've had in an outdoor space - what did it sound like?

Just like air pollution can mask the view of a city, noise can mask the sounds of national parks.

Noise makes it harder for animals to communicate and makes it harder for visitors to relax and find solitude.

But we can’t see noise, and things we can’t see are hard to fix.

I help national parks visualize how noise spreads and then I help them use that information to make the park quieter. It’s rare today to make things quieter. But we are doing just that at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in eastern Iowa.

Check out my interactive story map about this project to see what I found!

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