Editor: 

On the meadow in Dutch Flat, Idyllwild-Pine Cove at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 11.

Eyes closed with my head tilted back and all the other senses soaking in nature as it gradually darkens. Birds are singing the seasonal stream burbling. 

Sounds of nature. Sounds of tranquility.

No Highway 243 traffic. No dogs barking. No jets overhead. 

COVID relief. COVID darkness.

To the people of the Hill, go outside your homes and appreciate the absence of man-made noise and the presence of the positive sounds of nature.

  Remember these moments, these smells, these sounds, this peacefulness. 

We may not sense them again in our lifetime. 

Unless … we unite to call for the designation of Riverside County’s only mountain community — Idyllwild, Pine Cove and Mountain Center — as a county-designated Tranquility Zone.  

Quiet Skies Idyllwild has brought this idea to Chuck Washington, our county supervisor.

  Let’s raise awareness of the preciousness of nature’s sounds in our community and our attention to eliminating controllable noise. We shouldn’t be known to snow players, but rather tranquility seekers.

David Pearson

Idyllwild