The National Park Service has been documenting the acoustic environment in National Parks for years. But in addition to the sounds of nature --  Coyotes in Colorado, a hummingbird in Washington State, elk from Sand Dunes National Park -- the microphones also capture the sounds of civilization -- such as sirens.

"President Barack Obama is designating three new national monuments for protection as historic or ecologically significant sites, including the Pullman neighborhood in Chicago where African-American railroad workers won a historic labor agreement."

"Just north of Iliamna Lake in southwestern Alaska is an empty expanse of marsh and shrub that conceals one of the world’s great buried fortunes: A mile-thick layer of virgin ore said to contain at least 6.7 million pounds — or $120 billion worth — of gold."

"A federal judge on Friday (Feb. 13) dismissed a controversial wetlands damage lawsuit filed by the east bank levee authority against more than 80 oil, gas and pipeline companies, ruling that the authority failed to make a valid claim against the energy firms."

"National environmental groups today blasted an Obama administration proposal to divert more than $3 billion in future oil and gas revenues due to Gulf Coast states to pay for land conservation, rural counties, wildlife grants, coastal restoration or other 'national priorities,' warning that such a move would stymie coastal restoration projects in Louisiana."

"POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE, Calif. — The once-bustling oyster farm and sales shack at the end of the dirt road had the look of sudden abandonment."