Idaho Wants to Establish America's First 'Dark Sky Preserve'
idahostatesman.com
idahostatesman.com
I've been to the Headlands park in Michigan; it's a beautiful location on the north-west corner of the lower peninsula, right on the lakeshore. The guest house is actually shockingly cheap ($300) for a beach-front rental space; you'd be hard-pressed to find an AirBNB with similar features for less - it would make a great company retreat for 10-20 people.
C = Communities
P = Parks
R = Reserves
S = Sanctuaries
D = Developments of Distinction
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International Dark Sky Communities Communities are legally organized cities and towns that adopt quality outdoor lighting ordinances and undertake efforts to educate residents about the importance of dark skies.
International Dark Sky Parks Parks are publicly- or privately-owned spaces protected for natural conservation that implement good outdoor lighting and provide dark sky programs for visitors.
International Dark Sky Reserves Reserves consist of a dark “core” zone surrounded by a populated periphery where policy controls are enacted to protect the darkness of the core.
International Dark Sky Sanctuaries Sanctuaries are the most remote (and often darkest) places in the world whose conservation state is most fragile.
Dark Sky Developments of Distinction Developments of Distinction recognize subdivisions, master planned communities, and unincorporated neighborhoods and townships whose planning actively promotes a more natural night sky but does not qualify them for the International Dark Sky Community designation.
Source: http://www.darksky.org/idsp/
"The Dark Sky Places program offers five types of designations:
...
International Dark Sky Parks
Parks are publicly- or privately-owned spaces protected for natural conservation that implement good outdoor lighting and provide dark sky programs for visitors.
International Dark Sky Reserves
Reserves consist of a dark 'core' zone surrounded by a populated periphery where policy controls are enacted to protect the darkness of the core."
We would often host Japanese exchange students and communities elders. I have the distinct memory of one of the ~60 year old Japanese men spending night after night outside, staring at the sky.
Later it was explained - he had never seen stars in his life.
Does anyone know a good place in America like that? Ideally it would have other good natural features to entertain me during the day.
I just can't help but thinking that looking up at the sky a thousand years ago must have been absolutely awe inspiring. A civilization without artificial light would look up and see a dazzling display of starlight. it's no wonder they all believed there was a supreme power above them.
Still haven't been to Death Valley but...soon.
The light pollution overlay is the highest resolution I've seen outside more advanced tools, and it has clickable markers for registered dark sky locations, and more locations than any other map I've found as well.
[0] http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/
Good luck! It's definitely worth doing!
Note that it's getting to the end of the time of year when the Milky Way is at its most brilliant. From ~November through April, it's not as spectacular as ~May though October. And, as others have said, you want to do it when there's no moon (once every 28 days).
Good luck! It's truly beautiful!
To get truly dark skies you'll have to drive 5-6+ hours from SF. Much of the Sierras don't cut it anymore, and Mendocino NF gets lots of light pollution from the central valley, or too far north can have too much water vapor in the air.
Places I've been to within a 7-8 hour drive of SF with super-dark skies:
Central Nevada in the Humboldt-Toiyabe NF units (e.g., North Toiyabe Crest or Table Mountain), or pretty much any place in central Nevada. Northern parts of Death Valley. Warner Mountain range in Modoc County, CA.
Further afield:
Great Basin NP in Nevada. Jarbidge Wilderness in Nevada. South-central Utah (e.g., Capitol Reef NP). Gila NF in SW New Mexico.
This is on the other side of Gila as well:
I tell people about being able to see the milky way streak across the sky in the summer and they're shocked that I didn't need some sort of long exposure camera.
Then I went to college in Illinois at UIUC from 95-99. On the best nights in the midwest, I could barely make out Jupiter, due to both smog and light pollution.
So I just want to throw in my vote that I hope this happens.
Also on a national level, I'd like to see a movement towards shrouded street lighting, since everything is being retrofitted for high efficiency and getting brighter. Like maybe we could have a process to report bright street lamps and prioritize them to get shrouded.