The Complicated Story of Quiet In Anza-Borrego

By Matthew Mikkelsen and Samantha Young

Have you ever had a moment where you went from a noisy room into a quiet one and heaved a sigh of relief? Or perhaps you just began a road trip and found yourself outside in nature with the sounds of the city suddenly gone and a chorus of wind, birds, or silence surrounding you? And in that moment, where your mind finds peace and breathes a sigh of relief at the settling of noise, you discover the power of quiet. In the wilderness, soundscapes are generated by a naturally functioning landscape, which is not the equivalent of complete silence (the absence of sound altogether). Nature is noisy, but these ecosystem sounds soothe the soul and connect us to our source of life.

Additionally, noise pollution is critically damaging to wildlife and is an ongoing area of study. By understanding the noise in a region, we gain an understanding of the health of the ecosystems. In March of 2022, Matt Mikkelsen and his team set out on a quest to understand quiet and the soundscapes of Anza-Borrego. They began to listen to and record the sounds in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and ultimately determine whether it qualified under the Quiet Parks International (QPI) Assessment Criteria for being a Wilderness Quiet Park. Matt is the Executive Director of Wilderness Quiet Parks, a subdivision of QPI, which is on a mission to save quiet for the benefit of all life. Some seriously stringent criteria define only a handful of parks across the globe as Wilderness Quiet Parks.

To accomplish this task, Matt and his team traveled to four locations within the Park on four days. They were ready with their equipment set up to listen and record sounds before the sunrise and dawn chorus, as early as 4:00 a.m. After recording several hours of soundscape for each location, the team returned to their studio with the data to assess what they'd captured. They repeated this the following year and compared the data across both years.

While Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (ABDSP) has many incredible opportunities for visitors to revel in the beauty and solitude of the desert, there are several sources of human generated noise, depending on where you are in the Park. While Matt had hoped to name the Park as a Wilderness Quiet Park, but ABDSP unfortunately does not qualify for this status given the current assessment criteria. But there is hope to continue working with the Park and Anza-Borrego Foundation to find other ways of recognizing, protecting and uplifting the beautiful soundscapes in the Park. One such way is through the naming of ABDSP as a Quiet Conservation Area. Deep quiet CAN be found in the Park, and most consistently in the State Wilderness Areas.

The Park will be the first public land to be classified as a Quiet Conservation Area making it clear that the natural soundscapes are a priority to its caretakers. In line with ABDSP’s designation as a Dark Sky International Park, we are committed to preserving the land, its flora, fauna and the sounds that come with a natural landscape. To do this, communicating the importance of quiet with those who love and visit the Park is a priority. Hosting education programs, such as quiet hikes and a Quiet Research Retreat, and encouraging Park users to respectfully visit the quietest (and most remote) areas of the Park will help them to experience profound quiet for themselves.

If you'd like to reach Matt, please email him at Matt@quietparks.org .