Listening for Silence

Silence is the poetics of space, what it means to be in a place. —Gordon Hempton

The Hoh Rain Forest is one of the largest temperate rainforests in the United States. Situated within the Olympic National Park in western Washington State, the Hoh is protected from commercial logging and is a haven for old-growth Sitka spruce, western hemlock, coast Douglas-fir, big-leaf maples, and black cottonwoods. Far from trafficked roads and the unrelenting bellow of development, the Hoh remains one of the quietest places in North America.

For thirty-five years, acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton has been documenting the sounds of the Hoh and its many species: Pacific tree frogs, Roosevelt elk, northern spotted owls, red-breasted nuthatches, Pacific wrens.

Listening through a microphone taught him to take things in with equal value, without judgment. As we joined him in the rainforest for the making of Sanctuaries of Silence, we were struck by this practice and we found ourselves completely present in the landscape and deeply connected to the space around us.

Our hope with this practice is that you come away with a new perspective toward sound and the power of silence. The simple act of listening to the natural world can profoundly impact our relationship to place, rooting us in a presence that we otherwise often take for granted. These prompts can be done over the course of a day, a week, a month. Try to listen without judgment and simply be present, open, and curious.