Glacier National Park
Interpretive Program Outline
Interpreter: Patrick Hair Program Locations: Fish Creek Amphitheatre
Lake McDonald Lodge Auditorium
Program Type: Illustrated Program Date of Outline: June 18, 2007
Revised: July 18, 2007
Program Title: Sounds that Shape Glacier’s Wilderness Nights
Program Goal: To expand visitors’ knowledge and perceptions of wilderness through a variety of nighttime sounds that might be experienced during an overnight stay at Glacier Park.
Primary Tangibles: Wilderness, night sounds
Intangibles : Fears, joy, curiosities, uncertainties, knowledge, understanding, peace, loss, perceptions, familiarity, the unknown, memories, experiences, wonder, renewal, revelation, reconnection, solitude, silence, bonding
Program Theme: The nighttime sounds of Glacier Park evoke a multitude of feelings, curiosities, and wonders that help shape our wilderness experiences and perceptions of wilderness.
Pre-Program Announcements
· Welcome group and introduce myself
· Jr Ranger, upcoming programs
· 50th anniversary of the Student Conservation Association
· 75th anniversary of the International Peace Park
· Bear safety message
Introduction:
Let’s close our eyes. Imagine that you are camping in the North Fork area of the park up on Kintla Lake. It’s your first time to Glacier National Park; you’ve done some car-camping but are still a little new to backpacking. You had a long day packing into the backcountry and are ready for bed. You get in your warm sleeping bag, get real cozy, and close your eyes. Moments later you hear this sound (play audio of immature barred owls begging to be fed). What might your reaction be to this sound? Who or what do you suppose is making the sound? Was your first assumption that the animal that made this noise looked something like this? (Show a slide of a velociraptor- preferably one devouring a human). Or was your first impression of the noise something more like this? (show a slide of barred owlets – the cuter, the better)
Tangible/Intangible: Kintla Lake wilderness, barred owlet/perceptions
Techniques and Methods: imagery, imagination, audio sounds, sensory experience
Intellectual Opportunities: Provide an opportunity to assess the accuracy of initial assumptions and perspicacity of one nighttime sound.
Emotional opportunities: Provide an opportunity that peaks curiosity then offers a surprising result.
Transition:
Darkness has a way of illuminating a different side of many of us. For some of us, darkness puts us at ease, for others it can be thrilling or just plain scary (how many of us at some point in our lives have been scared of the dark?). Wilderness is often viewed in the same light. Some of us find solitude and peace in wilderness. Others find wilderness to be a bit too wild. When darkness meets wilderness, the combination can bring out a variety of feelings and perceptions.
Tonight, we are boldly going to venture into the nighttime wilderness of Glacier Park. Together we will explore the nighttime sounds one might encounter at Glacier Park. What we find may surprise us; at times it may even frighten us. Either way, I hope the sounds we experience tonight will invoke a sense of wonder you can take with you on your next overnight in the wilderness.
Body:
Barred Owls
The little guy we have up on the screen is an immature barred owl. The call you heard is assumed to be the little one begging for food from the adults.
I live here in the park, and every night around 11:00pm, assuming I am awake, I hear these two calls. Let’s listen to both and think about how each of the calls makes us feel. (Play the first adult barred owl call – the less familiar monkey-sounding barred owl call. Next play the more familiar who-cooks-for-you call.)
Tangible/Intangible: Two barred owl calls/familiarity, the unknown
Techniques and Methods: sensory experience, audio sounds, compare and contrast
Intellectual opportunities: An unveiling opportunity is provoked when each of the noise-makers in question is revealed.
Emotional opportunities: Each individual has the opportunity to think about how each of the calls makes them feel, evoking a variety of potential emotions.
Transition:
(Ask the group how each of the calls made them feel). So who was making each of these sounds? If you guessed the barred owl made both, you’re right on. The second call may have been a give-away, but it just goes to show when we have a little bit of knowledge and familiarity of what we are hearing – it changes our perceptions quite a bit.
Here’s another example:
Common Snipe
(Play the sound and talk about where one might hear it in Glacier) When I was but a young lad growing up, I was scared of two things: the dark and being abducted by aliens. When I was lying in a tent at a young age and I heard this sound, the Doppler effect of the sound reminded me of a flying saucer (show slide) and I was certain of my imminent abduction. When I was told, “hey don’t worry, it’s just a SNIPE” – all I could think to say was, “LIAR! Snipes don’t even exist.”
How many of you have gone on a snipe hunt? This prank was pulled on me at the tender age of five (show slide of a young Patrick in the woods holding open a pillow case waiting for a snipe to crawl in) and after I figured out the truth about snipe hunting, I had just assumed snipes were just about as real as the hunt.
But I am here to tell you today - no joke, no prank – snipes do exist, (show slide) and this is what they sound like (show a picture and replay audio).
What you are hearing is not a vocalization of the snipe, the noise is actually produced by the snipes tail feathers (explain how the winnowing noise is made). If I had known that the funny-looking bird up there on the screen was making that noise, I would not have even considered being afraid.
Tangible/Intangible: Common Snipe/fears, memories, experiences
Techniques and Methods: humor, story-telling
Intellectual Opportunities: An opportunity for awareness of the common snipe as an actual animal and not just a prank exists. A further understanding of how snipes make the sound they make.
Emotional Opportunities: A feeling of empathy and nostalgia may be evoked for those who have been involved in snipe hunts. The sound of the snipe peaks curiosity. Seeing the peculiar looking bird is an opportunity for surprise.
Saw Whet Owl
(Retell another story about an overnight visit in the wilderness.) I had just dozed off and I had a dream. In the dream I was sleeping in a tent in the loading zone in the back alley of a grocery store. There was a truck that pulled up and began backing up to unload. As he got closer and closer, I could hear the truck beeping in reverse. Just as he was about to run me over, I woke up – and this is what I heard coming from the woods. (Play audio of Northern Saw Whet Owl).
(Talk about later experiences banding Saw Whets and how they use their calls to bring them in. Also, mention how the Saw Whet got its name).
Tangible/Intangible: Saw Whet/experiences, perceptions
Techniques and Methods: Story-telling, audio samples
Intellectual Opportunities: Provide an opportunity of awareness of another sound, who is making it, and how Saw Whets got their name.
Emotional Opportunities: Curiosity is provoked and an opportunity for surprise exists when the source of the sound is unveiled.
Transition
When I visit new parks or wilderness areas, I make sure I am always up speed on what potential critters I may encounter both day and night. It’s always good to go into wilderness situations with a good foundation of knowledge.
Goatsuckers
That said, let’s imagine that you are just arriving to Glacier National Park. You head into the visitor center to get the low down on the critters that live in a park. You speak with a nice, handsome park interpreter with a flashy red beard. You are pleased with the information he is able to give you, but are bit flustered when you ask about nighttime critters and he turns to you and says (in a strange and somewhat discomforting voice) – “There’s goatsuckers in them woods!”
Should you be scared? (Maybe of the weirdo with the flashy red beard) Let’s find out more about these “goatsuckers”.
(Show a slide of a common nighthawk and play audio of its flight. Explain how it makes the vroom sound with its wings – changes flight direction and wind vibrates through its primary feathers. Explain how birds of the nighthawk family got the name “goatsuckers”.)
Tangible/Intangibles: Common Nighthawk/fear, uncertainty,
Techniques and methods: Story, imagery, audio, irony
Intellectual Opportunities: An opportunity for the unveiling of the identity of a critter whose family has a scary name but, really is not all that scary at all.
Emotional Opportunities: Curiosity is provoked and an opportunity for surprise exists when the source of the sound is unveiled.
Transition
We bring a lot of baggage with us into the wilderness. When the moon is new and the sun goes down here at Glacier it gets dark, real dark. If we are fearful of one thing staying overnight in Glacier’s wilderness, in the darkness, what is it? (Assume someone will say bears)
Bear or Non-Bear - Mystery Animal Game
How many of us have spent a good part of the night (or a whole night) awake because we just were not sure what was making the noises we were hearing – and since we were not sure we assumed that the noise must be coming from a bear? (Ask for a show of hands) - Glad to see that I am not the only one. What is funny is it does not matter what we hear, it could be the breeze, a boreal toad, or a barred owl – when we are in a dark wilderness (especially in Glacier Park) we often assume the worse.
So to help us differentiate between bears and other nighttime sounds, I’ve prepared an activity that will test our discernment and will help us eliminate some nighttime sounds from being potential bears – and maybe save us some sleep. Your task will be to determine whether the sound we have is from a bear or if the sound is from another animal we may hear at night in Glacier Park. If we decide it’s not a bear, think about what animal found at Glacier Park it might be.
Play a sound and then reveal the noise-maker with a slide. Take time to briefly talk about the less-familiar noises (ie: pine sawyer):
· Red Fox
· Bear
· Raccoon
· Flying Squirrel
· Striped Skunk
· White-tail Deer
· River Otter
· Patrick (snoring)
· Pine Sawyer
Tangible/Intangible: Variety of sounds/uncertainty, mystery
Techniques and Methods: Activity, game, challenge
Intellectual Opportunities: Opportunities exist for the listener to use their discernment in guessing what animal is making each noise. Further unveiling opportunities exist when the maker of each noise is revealed.
Emotional Opportunities: Emotional opportunities include fear that is addressed regarding grizzly bears and overnight stays in the park.
Transition: So how did you do? Did you fear the worse? Should you be a bit more wary? (Talk briefly about bear safety in the wilderness).
We often paint the nighttime wilderness as a place of fear and uncertainty. I hope by now some of those assumptions have been challenged. For the rest of the program tonight, I would like to talk about some of the sounds of Glacier that really make a wilderness experience special.
Loons and Wolves
(Quote Sigurd Olson - "The singing wilderness has to do with the calling of the loons….It is concerned with the simple joys, the timelessness and perspective found in a way of life that is close to the past.")
Two animals found at Glacier that epitomize a singing wilderness at night are loons and wolves. Let’s take a listen first to the wolves (play audio).
(Explain some of the reasons wolves howl – location, territorial, rallying, etc.)
Let’s listen to the loons. (Talk about three of the loon calls – wails, tremolos, and yodels, and what they signify.)
(Talk about how wolves’ numbers have recovered a bit in Glacier Park (from zero). Use this as an example of sound that has made a come-back in Glacier Park. Contrast the wolf’s success with the diminishing numbers of loons. Loons are one of our most prehistoric critters whose calls have filled the night for millennia. Their hatching success rate in the park is not sustainable.
Tangibles/Intangibles: Loons and wolves/peace, solitude, loss, wonder, future
Techniques and Methods: Compare and contrast, audio samples
Intellectual Opportunities: Provide an opportunity for awareness of loons and wolves within the park – what their calls signify, there population status, etc.
Emotional Opportunities: (Personally, even after playing the calls numerous times now, I feel a sense of homesickness and nostalgia when I hear wolf and loon calls.) A sense of peace and solitude are provoked with calls. Loss is felt to learn how loons are on the decline in the park.
Transition: Will their (loons) calls be a part of our wilderness experiences in the years to come?
Campfires
For as long as humans have entered the wilderness, we have added and enjoyed certain sounds.
There is something about the sound of a crackling campfire. When we are far away from development, electricity, and all that comes with it - we find comfort in the wilderness from the warmth, the smell, and the sound of a campfire (play audio).