by Brianna Crandall — April 27, 2015—In recent weeks the nonprofit International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) reached several milestones in its fight to preserve dark skies at night, thereby protecting wildlife, cutting energy waste, and stopping light pollution.
International Dark Sky Week
International Dark Sky Week was celebrated this year April 13-19. Created in 2003 by high-school student Jennifer Barlow, International Dark Sky Week has grown to become a worldwide event and a key component of Global Astronomy Month. Each year it is held in April around Earth Day and Astronomy Day.
Colorado’s First International Dark Sky Community
The bordering towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff in southern Colorado have come together to protect a shared natural resource—their dark night skies. In the first effort of its kind, the towns worked side by side to ensure preservation of dark nights for the benefit of future residents.
With a population of less than 1,200 people, Westcliffe and Silver Cliff are the only incorporated settlements in the Wet Mountain Valley of southern central Colorado. The area was once a bustling population center driven by commercial mining, but it is now heavily dependent on agriculture and ranching, notes IDA. As a result of their efforts, the towns have earned Colorado’s first International Dark Sky Community designation from IDA.
Weber County North Fork Park is second county park in world to be designated an International Dark Sky Park
Utah is known as a place of contrasts, from the rustic landscapes of its National Parks and Monuments to the modern city environment of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. With the rapid growth of its cities, parts of Utah are losing the dark night skies that once characterized frontier life in the Beehive State, notes IDA. In an effort to save this vanishing resource, local residents came together to preserve the night sky.
Thanks to their years of dedication, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) now recognizes Weber County North Fork Park as the world’s first Bronze-tier International Dark Sky Park. North Fork Park is only the second county park in the world to receive the prestigious Dark Sky Park designation.
Capitol Reef National Park gains International Dark Sky Park status
Few places in the continental United States experience nights as dark as those on the Colorado Plateau, but not even the isolation of the Plateau’s wild lands make its skies immune to the harmful effects of light pollution, points out IDA. Protecting the natural nighttime environment in some of America’s greatest national parks and monuments requires educating park staff, visitors and local communities, and adopting good outdoor lighting practices.
Capitol Reef National Park (CRNP) in Utah has undertaken a multi-year program doing just that and was recently recognized as a Gold-tier International Dark Sky Park.
Arizona Native American community named world’s first “dark sky nation”
Efforts to preserve dark night skies for the benefit of future generations often begin with small groups of committed individuals. For nearly fifteen years, IDA has recognized these efforts around the world, but never before has an entire group of ethnically and linguistically related people come together to collectively embrace dark-skies principles.
The Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation is a community of approximately 250 residents located on the Arizona-Utah border about 50 miles north of the Grand Canyon. The Kaibab Paiute are one of ten member bands of the Southern Paiute tribe of Native Americans. Members speak an Uto-Aztecan native language in addition to English. The reservation’s lands total 48,900 hectares (120,840 acres) and contain five tribal villages as well as Pipe Spring National Monument and the non-Indian community of Moccasin.
As a result of the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians’ work to protect the pristine night skies over its northern Arizona territory, IDA recently designated the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation as an International Dark Sky Community. The IDA status makes the Kaibab Paiute truly the world’s first “dark sky nation,” says IDA.
