A Brief History of One Square Inch
Each year, The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation provides grants of up to $10,580 (a symbolic amount representing the cost of the "Spirit of St. Louis") to men and women whose individual initiative and work in a wide spectrum of disciplines furthers the Lindbergh's vision of a balance between the advance of technology and the preservation of the natural/human environment.
In 1989, The Lindbergh Foundation awarded a grant to Gordon Hempton for The Preservation of Nature Sounds as a Natural Resource of the Pacific Northwest. This project was the first study of its kind.
The final report outlined One Square Inch as a natural soundscape management tool and created the noise-free interval (NFI) to measure natural quiet. The NFI is the period of time between audible man-made noise intrusions. Upon completion of the final report, Gordon Hempton sent the One Square Inch recommendation to the National Park Service headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Gordon Hempton listens to Rialto Beach at Olympic National Park, Washington
Ten years later (1999) the Sound Survey was added to the soundscape management toolbox. This innovative multi-media database allows users to click on a satellite image and view 360° panoramic photographs and hear 360° soundscape recordings. The database includes cultural and scientific information and can be searched by time of year, time of day, or a variety of other parameters. Natural resource managers can become familiar with a park's soundscape and its annual cycle of natural sounds in a matter of hours instead of years.
Two years later (2001) after the National Park Service failed to provide effective soundscape protection to parklands and created Air Tour Management Plans (ATMP) that further allowed the exploitation of park resources for "flight-seers," the decision was made to begin One Square Inch as an independent conservation project.
In 2005 the first One Square Inch was designated and this website was created.