Navy Growler jet noise loud enough to reach orca pods even 100 feet underwater and intrude on hikers in Olympic National Park up to 100 times a day, new research shows
This important Seattle Times story by Lynda V. Mapes, cites research sponsored in part by Olympic Park Associates. It traces the connections between orca, salmon and the national park wilderness experience across the Northwest. The science was deemed “impeccably crafted” by the NPS sound expert. Don’t miss this eye-opening report.
Click here to read the story.
Navy to Increase Training Flights Over the Olympics
by Rob Smith
Nov. 16, 2020
The U.S. Navy is planning to increase training flights for their EA-18G “Growler” jets, some of the loudest aircraft in the world, over one of the quietest spots in America, Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest.
The Navy’s recent environmental study for its Northwest Training and Testing Range revealed that the maximum noise levels heard on the ground are projected between 81.5 and 100.6 decibels (dB). The Department of Defense assesses noise impacts at more than 75dB as incompatible for most land use.
Ironically, Olympic’s popular Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center is at the edge of the military airspace, just a short hike away from the “One Square Inch of Silence” spot informally identified as the most naturally quiet place in America.
A new study partially funded by OPA and soon to be published in the journal Northwest Science has found that 88% of all aircraft noise over the west side of the Olympics comes from military flights, with their noise two to four times louder than the natural background.
More than 4,400 Growler flights take place each year over the Olympics—an average of more than 16 every weekday. With the arrival of 36 more Growlers to enhance the existing fleet of 82 already based on Whidbey Island, expect even more noise soon.
Navy to Increase Training Flights Over the Olympics
The Sound of Garbage Disposals Overhead at the Hoh?
by Rob Smith
The U.S. Navy is planning to increase training flights for their EA-18G “Growler” jets, some of the loudest aircraft in the world, over one of the quietest spots in America, Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest.
The Navy’s own analysis, just released in the final environmental study for their Northwest Training and Testing Range, revealed that the maximum noise levels heard on the ground are projected between 81.5 and 100.6 decibels (dB). According to the Navy, these noise levels are roughly equivalent to a garbage disposal (80dB) and a handheld drill (100dB). The Department of Defense assesses noise impacts at more than 75dB as incompatible for most land use, says the Navy’s document.
Ironically, Olympic’s popular Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center is at the edge of the military airspace, just a short hike away from the “One Square Inch of Silence” spot informally identified as the most naturally quiet place in America due to its moss-covered landscape and dense forest. Natural sound levels here can be less than a whisper.
Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Rick Larsen have recently required the Navy to study its jet noise impact across the region with actual measurements rather than modeled projections. And in a new study partially funded by OPA and soon to be published in the journal Northwest Science, researcher Lauren Kuehne has found that 88% of all aircraft noise over the west side of the Olympics comes from military flights, with their noise two-to-four-times louder than the natural background.
More than 4,400 Growler flights take place each year over the Olympics—an average of more than 16 every weekday—and each one may be heard multiple times as they circle around their training area over the Park. They typically fly out to the Pacific coast from the Navy’s airbase on Whidbey Island over the north side of the Park and return from multiple locations as far south as Lake Quinault, so few places even in the Park’s wilderness interior are a respite from military jet roar.
With the arrival of 36 more Growlers to enhance the existing fleet of 82 already based on Whidbey Island, expect even more noise soon.
The Navy prefers this airspace because it is close to their Whidbey base and it’s more lightly populated than urban areas. But what may appear as a convenient blank spot on the map to the Navy is home to the most visited national park in the Northwest. Olympic now sees more than 3 million visitors annually and they come year round. Also, Olympic National Park is recognized internationally as a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.
The Navy could fly elsewhere and, in fact, has done so. They have conducted Growler jet training from Mountain Home Air Force Base in southern Idaho, and there are many military airbases and airspaces around the country which could be used instead.
It’s time to have the Navy join us in protecting Olympic National Park and its surroundings by moving their Growler jet training to less noise-sensitive areas.
The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Is in Danger
Updated Sept. 25, 2020
Olympic Park Associates (OPA) asked for your help to protect one of the richest and most diverse marine reserves on the planet.
The ocean we see when we go to the Park’s ocean strip or climb an Olympic mountain needs our help. It’s the ocean where Marbled Murrelets and countless other seabirds feed. It’s 3,000 square miles where salmon, halibut, cod and other fish feed in its rich upwellings. It’s where endangered sea turtles and 29 species of marine mammals, some endangered or threatened, spend part of their lives. Its waves wash the coastal wildlife refuges created by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907.
But the sanctuary is being used by the Navy for destructive warfare training with the blessing of the federal government.
OPA worked to establish the sanctuary in 1992 to prohibit offshore oil drilling and “to protect the Olympic coast’s natural and cultural resources through responsible stewardship.”
However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency charged with protecting the Sanctuary, is determined to sacrifice it to destructive military uses. In 2015, NOAA issued a permit to the Navy allowing the “incidental taking,” or killing, of protected marine mammals during training activities. Now NOAA proposes to broaden and extend that permit for another seven years.
The training activities listed in the Navy’s permit application are for much more than using sonobuoys to detect submarines, as the Navy did during the Cold War. The training activities listed in the Navy’s permit application include explosive detonations, sonar activity, small- and medium-caliber gunnery exercises, firing at targets from aircraft and ships, large-caliber gunnery exercises, missile exercises, and explosive torpedo tests.
This activity alone is enough to be dangerous to the sea creatures of the sanctuary. But it does not end there. These activities leave debris that is difficult to remove. Debris in the ocean is often mistaken as food by a variety of creatures. Ropes, cables, etc., lost during these types of operations end up entangling turtles and a range of marine mammals, causing injury at the least, death at the worst.
The period for public comment ended in July 2020.
Click here to see the NOAA Federal Register Document
Thank you for coming to the defense of this splendid National Marine Sanctuary and irreplaceable planetary resource. Read more …
Now Hear This: Navy Jet Noise Challenged
by Rob Smith
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit in July 2019 against the U.S. Navy for bringing more jet noise to Whidbey Island without adequate study of impacts to communities, historic sites and wildlife. The Navy is planning to increase its fleet of 82 EA-18G “Growler” jets, among the loudest in the world, by at least 36. All of the Growlers engage in electronic warfare training over the west side of the Olympic Peninsula throughout the year.
The Growlers use transit routes out and back between their Whidbey base and the Olympic training area, passing over Lake Crescent or the North Fork of the Quinault River, and can be heard throughout most of the park.
Meanwhile, Sen. Maria Cantwell and Reps. Adam Smith and Rick Larsen have included a requirement in legislation for measuring Navy jet noise over Puget Sound and the Olympics, which the Navy has never done. This will verify what park visitors have experienced and reported—that Growler jet noise seriously degrades the natural experience of Olympic National Park and many other places throughout the Puget Sound region.
OPA is urging the Navy to move Growler jet training to less noise-sensitive areas. Encourage Sen. Cantwell and Reps. Larsen and Smith to keep working to protect Olympic National Park’s natural sounds for future generations.
Current News Regarding Navy Growler Training
Aug. 14, 2019
In the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) issued by the Navy regarding the noise of their training operations, the Navy has used a formula that averages decibels over time rather the actual decibels heard as the jet flies over. This method reduces, on paper, the decibels stated in the EIS.
A congressional Conference Committee (made up of Senators and Representatives) is working out the language of a bill (after the congressional recess) to ask the Navy to monitor the noise made by the Growler jets, monitoring to mean measuring the “real-time noise” generated by the jets. The Senate bill was introduced by Senator Cantwell, the House bill by Representative Larson. The resolution will become part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Senate bill is more specific than the House bill as to where the monitoring will be done. OPA’s desire is that it will include monitoring the jet flights over Olympic National Park.
It would be appropriate for you now to write Washington state’s senators and your representative to express your opinion on the need for a study to include the noise created by the Navy’s Growler training flights out of Whidbey Island and over the Olympic Peninsula. Contact addresses are below.
News Regarding the Navy’s Plans for Training Flights Out of Whidbey Island
On July 9, 2019, Washington state’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced he was filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Navy over the expansion of its Growler airfield operations at Whidbey Island. In his press release, he expressed concerns regarding the effect of increased noise on human health and the Navy failed to analyze the impact on wildlife. Click here to read his press release describing his actions.
Olympic Park Associates Position On Navy’s EIS Plans
Regarding the Olympic Peninsula
by Donna Osseward, President
Updated Aug. 14, 2019
Navy EIS/OEIS Mar 2019 Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas
Environmental Impact Statement for Northwest Training and Testing
Map of area involved
While the comment period on the Navy’s EIS is over, emailing your opinion on the plan to your elected representatives is still useful while the Navy contemplates its next moves on training.
Olympic Park Associates argues the No Action Alternative to be the only acceptable Alternative for this EIS by the Navy. It is the only alternative acceptable to the Peninsula’s environment. Should the plan under this EIS become fully operational, the Olympic Peninsula will be radically changed NOT for the better. It will damage the national park, national forest, beaches, and the waters off the coast. That does not match our mission, “to protect the wilderness and ecological integrity of Olympic National Park.”
Here are links to talking points, facts, template, and a sample email to help in making comments. See addresses below.
While the Navy may not think of us as their boss, they do respect our elected officials because that is where their budget comes from. SO, we ask you to email our elected officials to give your opinion.
We need to convince our elected officials that our environment is important to us and that this is an issue that affects our lives and we care. Email our elected officials to show how much we care.
To read the two-volume EIS, click here.
This map shows that each search for the emitters sitting on three of the 15 sites would require a number of flights over Olympic National Park and many other parts of the Olympic Peninsula to make a successful search. This map has been used by permission of the Peninsula Daily News.
Your opinion counts. The number of comments counts toward success. Ask friends and family to participate.
Forest Service Approves Navy Jet War Games Over Olympic Peninsula
December 2016; updated April 2018
In a tragic and short-sighted decision, Olympic National Forest has decided to rubber-stamp a deeply flawed Navy proposal to conduct electromagnetic warfare training over the western Olympic Peninsula. The agency will permit electronic emitter trucks on Forest Service roads as contact points for fighter jet overflights. This can occur for up to 16 hours a day, on as many as 260 days a year.
The Forest Service ignored more than 3,500 public comments, most of which were overwhelmingly opposed to the project, and gave unquestioned blanket approval to a Navy environmental study that failed even to consider the noise impacts from jet overflights.
The thunderous noise of Navy EA-18G Growler jets will affect the quiet and natural soundscapes for visitors to Olympic National Park, Olympic National Forest, the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and state and private forest lands, as well as coastal Indian reservations and the communities of Forks and Amanda Park. Olympic National Park alone attracts more than three million visitors annually and is considered one of the quietest natural landscapes in the U.S. Impacts to wildlife were dismissed as not significant.
The final Forest Service environmental review is available here.
This shortsighted decision cannot stand. Please contact your U.S. senators and members of Congress. Tell them the quiet and natural sounds of Olympic National Park must be preserved. Jet training can continue in areas outside one of our national treasures.
In September 2017, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE) filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tacoma challenging Olympic National Forest’s approval of a special use permit allowing the Navy to conduct electronic warfare training over the Forest. (See “FSEEE Challenges Navy War Games” in the Fall 2017 issue of Voice of the Wild Olympics.)
To read OPA’s comment letter on the Navy’s flawed plan, click here.
Don’t Let the “Sound of Freedom” Swamp the Sound of Wilderness
by Donna Osseward, Chair, OPA
Fall 2015
Will you be hearing babbling brooks and birdsong or the “sound of freedom” in our Olympic Peninsula wilderness areas? The “sound of freedom” is what the Navy calls the roar from its jet planes. In a few weeks, we will know the decision the Forest Service will make on this question, and whether Olympic Park Associates (OPA) and other conservation organizations will be forced to go to court to fight this issue.
The Navy has requested a permit from the Forest Service to use Olympic National Forest land on the western portion of the Olympic Peninsula for an electromagnetic warfare training range. This plan would require jet planes flying over private and public lands, including Olympic National Park, Olympic National Forest wilderness areas, and the Washington Islands Wilderness. They would also use the airspace over Quinault, Quileute, and Hoh Reservations; Washington State Department of Natural Resources land; Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary; the Washington Islands National Wildlife Refuges; and thousands of acres of private land, including the towns of Forks and Amanda Park.
Nearly 3.6 million people visit Olympic National Park yearly to enjoy this World Heritage Park. That does not count the people who come to use the Olympic National Forest and other Peninsula tourist attractions. OPA argues that the savings the Navy claims they will enjoy will be negated by the damage to the Olympic Peninsula economy and the quality of life of those living and visiting there.
This training has been happening for many years elsewhere, in Idaho and Nevada. OPA supports the brave people who fight to preserve our freedom but argues that this training is done much better in the other areas already being used for that purpose.
The Army out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) has also started a NEPA process to expand their helicopter training into the Cascades and in areas just south of Olympic National Park. The Army “proposes to establish three off-base helicopter training areas (HTAs) [on the Olympic Peninsula] and one mountain training area (MTA)” (in the Cascades). [SCOPING DOCUMENT, Northwest Aviation Operations, Off-base Helicopter Training Areas, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, June 2015].
If the Navy and Army get permission to conduct warfare training activities on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Cascades, it will set a precedent that will endanger wilderness everywhere. Solitude is one of the most valuable qualities of wilderness. OPA argues that the shock and awe of modern warfare should not be a part of the wilderness experience.
Mapped boundary lines do not prevent sound from traveling through our national parks and wilderness areas. The noise of all of these military flights will not be confined to the areas on their maps but will also expose everyone along the flight path from Whidbey Island or JBLM to the training sites.
The good people in the American military don’t seem to understand that the “sound of freedom” should not be heard everywhere. It’s great to watch and hear for a few days, for a few hours, at Seafair. But the military proposes exposing the people living and visiting the Olympic Peninsula to Navy fighter jet noise 260 days a year, 12–16 hours a day, or to Army helicopters for “24/7, 365 days except for federal holidays.”
Studies have shown direct links between noise and health: high blood pressure, hearing loss, sleep disruption, stress-related illnesses, and reduced productivity. Other studies have demonstrated similar effects on wildlife. Wilderness areas provide relief from the noise of civilization. The militarization of the Olympics is a recipe for excessive stress for the people living and visiting the Olympic Peninsula. The 95% of Olympic National Park that the U.S. Congress designated as Wilderness is meant to provide these benefits to all who visit the park. Olympic Park Associates is vigorously opposing the military’s proposed intrusions into our wilderness.
U.S. Navy Proceeds with Plans for a Permanent Electromagnetic Warfare Range on the West Side of Olympic National Park
Updated October 2015
The Navy is in the late stage of planning a permanent electromagnetic warfare training range on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula. If approved, Navy Growler jets could ply the airspace over Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest as well as tribal, public, and private forest lands and coastal areas for 12 to 16 hours per day, 260 days of the year.
Olympic National Forest is poised to issue a special use permit allowing the Navy to field ground-based electromagnetic emitter trucks on Forest Service roads. OPA and other conservation groups have demanded a complete environmental impact statement (EIS) from the Navy fully disclosing impacts on residents, visitors to the park, and forests and wildlife. The Navy’s existing environmental analysis (EA) was done without public review and is wholly inadequate.
In a further move to militarize the Northwest, the Army announced a proposal to allow combat helicopter training exercises, including landings, 365 days a year in the Cascade Range and southwest Washington’s coast. The scoping comment period on this proposal closes on November 3.
Opposition to the Navy’s plan is overwhelming. In September a petition signed by more than 110,000 individuals opposing the Navy’s plans was delivered to Olympic National Forest.
To learn more about ill-conceived plans to militarize the Peninsula’s airspace—and to find out what you can do to help stop it—click here. To read OPA’s comment letter to Olympic National Forest, click here.