Aircraft overflights and associated
noise in national parks is an environmental
management issue which has attracted the attention of
researchers in the United States of America and
Australia for at least the last 10 years (e.g. Beal
1994; United States National Parks Service 1994).
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Authority recognises that sound from aircraft
operations in the Marine Park is a management issue
(Adami and Jennings 1995). Accordingly the Authority
has developed guidelines for the management of
aircraft operations in particular areas of the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park, such as Whitehaven Beach in
the Whitsunday Islands. What is critical for
assessing whether these policies are effective,
however, is the provision of accurate information on
the impacts of aircraft activity upon the natural and
cultural values ascribed to locations such as
Whitehaven Beach (figure 1).
Figure 1.
Whitsunday island and adjoining mainland,
North Queensland, Australia (insert showing Whithaven
Beach)
To provide such information the
Authority's Research and Monitoring Coordination
Unit, in September 1998, commissioned a study of
Whitehaven Beach/Bay to assess the impact of aircraft
sound and other human activities upon visitor use,
amenity and values held for the site.
The Authority will use this
information to develop policy for the management of
aircraft operations and other uses of Whitehaven
Beach to maintain the integrity of the settings
applied to the area as per the Whitsundays Plan of
Management (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
1998).
The research project comprises two
studies. One research program was a pilot trial study
undertaken by Mary Hamilton, a post-graduate student
from James Cook University, that recorded aircraft
sound and activity levels at Whitehaven Bay.
Jayne Ormsby and Scott Shafer are
conducting the other research program. This study
involves the admin-istration of a survey to local
residents of the Whitsundays and visitors to
Whitehaven. The survey asks about the values those
groups hold for the site and their perception of the
impact of aircraft and other activities on their use
and amenity of the area.
The aircraft sound monitoring
project has concluded and a published report will be
available from the Authority by October 1999. The
local resident and visitor values and perceptions
study is in the data analysis stage. It is also
planned that a report on that study be published in
October 1999.
This paper will briefly report on
the outcome of the aircraft sound monitoring project
and a future issue of Reef Research will
report on the results of the Ormsby/Shafer study.
For management purposes Whitehaven
Beach is divided into a range of recreation
opportunity spectrum (ROS) settings designed to
provide for a variety of user tastes and
environmental needs. The ROS is a park management
tool that aims to provide Park visitors with a range
of different experiences. The basic premise of the
ROS is that quality recreational experiences can best
be assured by providing a diversity of recreation
opportunities. A recreation opportunity is defined as
'a chance for a person to participate in a specific
recreational activity in a specific setting in order
to realise a predictable recreational experience'
(Stankey and Wood 1982:5).
The ROS, as applied to Whitehaven,
seeks to provide for a range of experiences that
correspond with the intent of the settings as defined
in the Whitsundays Plan of Management. The settings
along Whitehaven Beach are high use (setting 2) at
the southern most end of the beach, moderate use
(setting 3), natural (setting 4) and protected at the
northern most end of the Beach at Hill Inlet (setting
5) (refer figure 2). In the high use setting it would
be expected that visitors would experience the
highest intensity of a variety of human impacts. The
degree of impact decreases in a gradient from the
south end to the north end of the beach in a line
with the definitions of the setting. The protected
setting has the least intensity of human induced
impacts. For management to achieve this it should
seek to ensure that the attributes (such as degree of
crowding and natural quite) required to ensure the
provision of each setting are appropriate. Various
human-induced variables act upon these settings
subsequently influencing their attributes. Aircraft
overflight frequencies and their associated sound
levels are two such variables. Mary Hamilton’s
research sought to investigate these two variables
relative to the four settings along Whitehaven Beach,
Whitsunday Island. The study also sought to compare
the results between the settings.
The data for the research was
collected during two four-day field trips in October
1998, a relatively low use season for aircraft tour
operators. Each site was situated approximately in
the middle of the setting it represented (refer
figure 2). Data was collected on the frequency of
aircraft overflights and attributes of their
associated sound levels as well as background sound
levels.
As a comparison with aircraft
impacts, data was also recorded on watercraft and
human activity sound levels. Sound level data was
primarily collected with Techcessories analogue sound
level meters.
In terms of the frequency of
overflights and their sound level duration above
background sound levels, sites (settings) 3 and 4
were found to experience the greatest impact from
aircraft. This was followed by sites (settings) 5 and
2.
Thus the high use setting, which
would be expected to experience the highest impact,
actually experienced the lowest impact. In terms of
the absolute and average maximum aircraft induced
sound levels experienced, no significant difference
was found between the settings although raw results
suggested that sites 3 and 4 experienced the greatest
impact from these variables followed by sites 2 and
5.
Most aircraft events (88%)
registered above back-ground sound levels and most
(71%) affected three or all study sites. Overall, the
busiest time of day was from 1130 to 1330. The most
common type of aircraft observed were seaplanes,
followed by helicopters, other light aircraft and
high-altitude jets. Seaplane take-offs and helicopter
landings and take-offs had the greatest sound impact.
Setting 2 was found to have the greatest impact from
watercraft and people. Settings 3, 4 and 5 received
similar levels of impact from both these variables.
Figure 2.
The recreation opportunity spectrum settings
along Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Islands.
Although a significant difference
was found between the frequencies of aircraft and the
duration of aircraft induced sound levels between
settings, the trend exhibited did not follow that
expected by the definition of the ROS settings. No
significant difference in aircraft induced sound
impact was found between settings. Therefore no
gradient of impact was exhibited for this variable.
Consequently this study concludes that aircraft sound
and activity are influencing the attributes of the
ROS settings along Whitehaven Beach beyond the levels
and gradient of impact expected for the types of
settings. Thus, in relation to aircraft, the ROS
spectrum along Whitehaven Beach does not appear to be
functioning as it should. It is speculated that a
more detailed study may confirm this.
The results of this trial aircraft
study will be compared with the results of the
values, use and amenity study being conducted by
Ormsby and Shafer. The results from both studies will
provide the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
with information to allow a more detailed evaluation
of aircraft and other activities at Whitehaven Bay.
The methods developed and trialled by Mary Hamilton
at Whitehaven could also have application for other
locations in the Marine Park.
References
Adami, T. and Jennings, G. 1995,
Draft discussion paper: management of aircraft
operations in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park,
Unpublished paper, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Authority, Townsville.
Beal, P.A. 1994, Campers' attitudes
to noise and regulation in Queensland National Parks,
Australian Parks and Recreation, 30(4):
38–40.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority
1998, Whitsundays Plan of Management, Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville.
Stankey, G.H. and Wood, J. 1982,
The recreation opportunity spectrum: an introduction,
Australian Parks and Recreation, February:
6–15.
United Sates National Parks Service
1994, Report to Congress: Report on the Effects of
Aircraft Overflights on the National Parks System,
United States National Parks, Washington.
