Submitted by Quiet Skies over San Juan County

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Growlers are definitely back in force. They started at 8:12 a.m. today and finally stopped roaring at 8:10 p.m.. We’ve had several inside measurements of 90dBA – one at 117dBA – on the Southend of Lopez and are aware they are flying all over Lopez and possibly beyond.

A FEW THOUGHTS:

All the counties around us who are affected by the Growlers would love to have a map like the one San Juan County has provided for us. (sjcgis.org/aircraft-noise-)

HERE’S WHY:

It’s a way to record our data and how the Growlers are affecting our lives.

Because this data is collected by a government entity (SJC) it can be sent to other government entities (legislators, state officials, Navy) and will carry more weight than our individual complaints.

The Navy and our legislators cannot tell us that we are not affected.

San Juan County is sending the data monthly to our legislators and the Navy.

HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE THE MAP DATA AND MAKE IT MORE USEFUL:

1.COMMENTS SECTION: Including wind direction and cloud cover is helpful.

2.COMMENT SECTION: Be sure to say if the noise is from an overflight or from Ault Field training or both. We do not get Coupeville noise.

3.USE the COMMENT SECTION: You can send messages to legislators and the Navy. They are receiving the data monthly from the county.

Possible messages:

* We need a schedule of growler training at ault field.

* San Juan county is collateral damage for the growler mission.

* Larsen, Cantwell and Murray are creating a legacy of noise and property devaluation in San Juan county.

* SJC needs growler noise mitigation now!

* SJC needs real noise measurements on the ground – not computer generated.

4. MEASURE THE SOUND: Get a sound measuring application for your cell phone: Here are some ideas: http://www.healthyhearing.com/

Sound meters are available on Amazon. We use a WENSN Digital Sound Level

Meter WS1361 – Around $48.

If you are measuring sound levels, indicate whether they are inside or outside measurements. Measure using the dBA scale.

5. COMMENT SECTION: Use the comment section of the map to record several noise measurements on one report. EXAMPLE: This morning at the South end of Lopez between 8:12 a.m. and 10:02am- I recorded 14 big noise events.

I entered them on one noise report which listed that the 14 events occurred between 8:12 and 10:02 and ranged from 66dBA – 91.7dBA.

Hopefully we have more going on in our lives than recording the latest jarring GROWLER noise but even giving a range of time and the basic decibel readings is helpful.

6. KEEP A LOG. Some of us are keeping a log and entering the noise events

once a day or once a week.

MAP TIP: Enlarge the map to find your own property lines and house by pressing the + (plus) in the upper left hand corner. By holding the mouse down on the map you can move the map to your part of the county. Click on any dot to read what others have written.

IS THIS MAP HELPING US?

To date, we have entered 3,891 noise reports since May 8 2014. Take a look at all the reports on the map since 5/6/14: http://sjcgis.org/aircraft-.

We are making an impact. We need to keep pushing hard for mitigation and letting our legislators know that we are not willing to be collateral damage.

USE THE MAP AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN. SPREAD THE WORD.

Thanks to all for working to reclaim our Quiet Skies.

www.quietskies.info

P.S. The Lopez Library now has a paper copy of the current Noise Map on the bulletin board. Take a look!