Dark Sky Reserves

[Black_Fly]

I know they don’t mean anything, really. Dark sky reserves are way down the ladder of priority when it comes to policy making. I don’t even have a yard light, to the dismay of one neighbor. So they matter to me. I can’t remember any sight that affected me spiritually more than the Milky Way in SE Arizona.

Data centers are sprouting like thistles here in the Midwest - anywhere with copious amounts of water and a power grid that can be extended, an inert local political structure. This should be of concern to outdoors people. The builders of these atrocities have not an iota of concern about the environment. My own county is struggling to get common sense regulations implemented before additional facilities get fast tracked. It’s too late to regulate the Amazon data center that is coming to the town after bribing and NDAing its way through zoning changes in city council. Any new regulations simply won’t apply. I’m waiting for NE Minnesota, with its rich water resources, to be targeted. BWCA is a dark sky reserve, a little less dark every year due to development.

Here’s a photo of the sky over a Texas data center where regulators missed the ball entirely.

 

[scoutergriz]

In Ontario, dark sky preserves have legally protected status equal to national and provincial parks as "protected areas of special interest". Parks such as Killarney, Quetico, and Lake Superior provincial parks, as well as Point Pelee, Bruce Peninsula, and Fathom Five National Parks, and many regionally and municipally protected areas like Cheltenham Badlands all follow these international "dark sky" standards
All these places have very strict laws and regulations like street lights that are fitted with special "anti- backscatter) lenses and shades that prevent any light from being directed to the side or above, maximum intensities, etc. Even residential lights must not throw lighting sideways or vertically above the fixture (not that any new housing is even allowed in most of these preserves). Even in my town near the Niagara Escarpment, while development is legal, no up-lighting (except navigation lights) is allowed and major lighting (street lights, area lights) etc. must be fitted with anti-backscatter fixtures, my neighborhood had to change the streetlights recently and the required lenses added about $160cdn to the cost of each fixture, eventually the entire town will have similar lighting.
Hopefully more areas of the US will adopt similar legislation while there's still a night sky to see...

 

[Gamma1214]

They're building a data center about 8 miles from me and there's a ton of public animosity towards it... I wonder why all the lights on the outside of the buildings in the picture above? Seems more sensible to keep a low profile & hope everyone forgets they're there.

 

[Punkinhead]

They're building a data center near us and they have hundreds of diesel run lights on 24 hours even though they don't work at night. They've had a ton of complaints. At a recent commissioner meeting the county's lawyer said we have regulations against excessive lighting but it only applies to finished buildings. There are no laws regulating light pollution during construction. We also have regulations against dust from the worksite but my wife and I flew over at 1500 ft last week and there were dust plumes at least 1000 ft high.

 

[Black_Fly]

The fix is on, and will be elsewhere. I’m glad Canada has meaningful regulations to protect dark skies, but I find that power is bought, and there’s plenty of greed everywhere to affect changes that the powerful want.

 

[jdeerfoot]

Microsoft is building a number of data centers on the former Foxconn property in SE Wisconsin’s Racine County. From Microsoft’s perspective it is the perfect place - a huge cleared area with all utilities installed (roads, sewer/water, extensive electric grid) at great local expense and most importantly, ready access to millions of gallons of Lake Michigan water.

Construction is going on around the clock with seemingly thousands of construction workers. There are several massive off-site worker parking lots with school buses shuttling workers to/from the huge job sites. The construction sites are lit up like a maximum security prison. Hopefully, when they become operational the lights can be turned way down.

Regarding Dark Sky sites, I like the one located within Newport State Park at the far end of the thumb of Wisconsin. It juts into northern Lake Michigan with the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the north. A great place with hike in primitive campsites and on clear nights a great view view of the sky with no light pollution.

 

[Alan Gage]

I've been spending a lot of time in New Mexico this year since I bought a 2nd property there (I'm actually there, I mean here, now). Pretty incredible night skies. There is an international dark sky sanctuary nearby at Cosmic Campground. I suppose it's easiest to choose one location to represent an entire area but I think they could almost put the entire Gila National Forest in that category (or all of SW NM and SE AZ for that matter).

The area around Portal, AZ is also well known for dark skies and has drawn many professional and amateur astronomers. The area is beginning to see some development and there are entire subdivisions for astronomy nerds. There are restrictions about outside lighting for anyone that builds in the immediate area. It's weird to drive through a neighborhood out in the middle of the desert and see observatories built onto every house.

Does anyone know what qualifications need to be met for a dark sky sanctuary? Do they prioritize dark sky areas that are at least somewhat accessible and adjacent to somewhat populated areas to set a shining example (maybe that's the wrong word)? Otherwise I would expect large tracts of the west and Canada to have that status. Are there actual regulations about development once an area receives that status? If there are regulations I can see why they only adopt certain small areas.

Alan