Dark-sky preserve

Dark-sky preserve

A dark-sky preserve is an area, usually surrounding a park or observatory, that is kept free of artificial light. The purpose of a dark-sky preserve is generally to promote astronomy. Because different national organizations have worked independently to create their programs, different terms have been used to describe the areas. This has led to confusion between the terms reserve, preserve, and park. For example, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada prefers to use the word preserve because reserve is associated with a non-permanent status and could be related to Indian Reserves. The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) chooses reserve to avoid confusion with park, when using the acronyms IDSR (International Dark-Sky Reserve) and IDSP (International Dark-Sky Park).

In 1999, the first permanent preserve was established in Torrance Barrens in Ontario, Canada. Nevertheless, protection zones around observatories existed well before the creation of that preserve.

The IDA recognizes protected areas outside the United States. The Mont Mégantic Observatory in Quebec, Canada is the first such site to be recognized. In 2007, the IDA recognized the world's first International Dark-Sky Reserve around Mont Megantic, Quebec.[1] IDA has also recognized Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah as the world's first International Dark-Sky Park.[2]

Canada has established an extensive standard for dark-sky preserves that addresses lighting within the DSP and influences from skyglow from urban areas in the region. This was based on the work of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. There are no other established standards for dark sky preserves. Outside Canada, such designations are generally through self-proclamation. As a result, the validity of such a designation may be dubious. In some cases, dark sky preserves are neither dark nor protected.

It is generally understood that a Dark-Sky Preserve, or Dark-Sky Reserve, should be sufficiently dark to promote astronomy. In the Canadian program, lighting within the area must be strictly controlled to minimize the impact of artificial lighting on wildlife. These guidelines are more stringent than in other countries that lack the extensive wilderness areas that still exist in Canada. The management of a Canadian DSP extends their outreach programs from the public that visit the site to include the promotion of better lighting policies in surrounding urban areas. Currently, Dark-Sky Preserves have more control over internal and external lighting than other Programs.

With the increase in regional light pollution, some observatories have actively worked with cities in their region to establish protection zones where there is controlled light pollution. These areas may not yet have been declared Dark-Sky Preserves.

Although Dark-Sky Preserve designations are generally sought by astronomers, it is clear that preserving natural darkness has positive effects on the health of nocturnal wildlife within the parks. For example, the nocturnal Black-footed ferret was reintroduced to the Grasslands National Park Dark-sky Preserve and the success of the reintroduction is enhanced by the pristine natural darkness maintained within the park by the DSP agreement.[3]

Contents

Dark-Sky Preserves, Reserves and Parks

Name Location Area (in ha) Bortle Scale Notes/Details
Jasper National Park Alberta, Canada 1,122,800 1-2 Designated on Mar. 11, 2011[4]
Cypress Hills Saskatchewan/Alberta, Canada 39,600 2 Designated on Sep. 28, 2004[5]
Beaver Hills Alberta, Canada 29,300 4.5 Designated on Sep. 3, 2006
Zselic Landscape Protection Area Hungary 9,042 3–4 Designated on Nov. 16, 2009
Mont Mégantic Observatory Quebec, Canada 5,845 1–2 Designated Sept. 2005; first IDA International Dark-Sky Reserve[6]
McDonald Creek Provincial Park British Columbia, Canada 2,225 2–3 Designated in 2003
Gordon's Park Ontario, Canada 43.7 2–3 Designated on Aug. 15, 2009; designation is only for the Park though Manitoulin Island (276,611 ha) follows dark-sky practices[7]
Bruce Peninsula Fathom Five National Marine Park Ontario, Canada 16,700 2–3 Designated on Mar. 29, 2009
Point Pelee National Park Ontario, Canada 2,000 3–4 Designated in 2006
Torrance Barrens Ontario, Canada 1990 3 Designated in 1999; first Canadian Dark-Sky Preserve
Grasslands National Park Saskatchewan, Canada 92,100 1–2 Designated on Oct. 2, 2009[8]
Kouchibouguac National Park New Brunswick, Canada 23,920 2 Designated on Jun. 6, 2009[9]
Mount Carleton Provincial Park New Brunswick, Canada 17,427 2 Designated on Jul. 18, 2009[10]
Kejimkujik National Park Nova Scotia, Canada 40,400 2 Designated on Aug. 7, 2010[11]
Lake Hudson State Recreation Area Michigan, USA 890 3 Designated in 1993[12]
Natural Bridges National Monument Utah, USA 251 2 Designated in 2007; first International Dark-Sky Park
Potawatomi Wildlife Park Indiana, USA 116 4.5 Designated in 2003
Cherry Springs State Park Pennsylvania, USA 20 2[13] Designated as a State DSP in 2000 by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and as the second International DSP by the IDA on June 11, 2007.[14]
Galloway Forest Park Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland 75,000 3 Designated on Nov. 16, 2009[15]
Izera Dark-Sky Park Jizera Mountains, Czech Republic and Poland 7,500 3 Designated on Nov. 4, 2009; first bilateral dark sky park.
Poloniny Dark-Sky Park Poloniny National Park, Slovakia 48,519 2-3 Designated on Dec. 3, 2010[16]
Hortobagy Starry Sky Park Hungary 10,000  ? Designated on Jan. 31, 2011; IDA's third international dark-sky park (Silver tier)[17]
Sark British Crown Dependency of Guernsey 545 3 Designated on Jan. 31, 2011; IDA's first international dark-sky island (Silver tier)[18][19]
Irving Nature Park Urban Star Park Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada 243  ? Designated on Jul. 1, 2011; First RASC-designated Urban Star Park

Protected zones

Around observatories

Name Country Radius (in km)
McDonald Observatory USA 92
Kitt Peak USA 56
Mont Mégantic Observatory Canada 50
Palomar Observatory USA 48
Mount Hopkins USA 40
Monte Ekar Observatory Italy 30
Asiago Astrophysical Observatory Italy 30
Mount Laguna USA 24
Observatoire de Haute-Provence France 15
Ondřejov Observatory Czech Republic 10
Kleť Czech Republic 10
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Canada 5

Other

Some regions, like the following, are protected without any reference to an observatory or a park.

See also

References

  1. ^ "First International Dark Sky Reserve Is Announced in Québec!". International Dark-Sky Association. 2007-09-21. http://data.nextrionet.com/site/idsa/PR_Mont_Megantic_2007.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-26. 
  2. ^ "Utah’s Natural Bridges National Monument Becomes First International Dark Sky Park". International Dark-Sky Association. 2007-04-19. http://data.nextrionet.com/site/idsa/PR_Natural_Bridges_2007.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-26. 
  3. ^ "Government of Canada reintroduces lost species to the prairie wilderness". Parks Canada. 2009-10-02. http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/cp-nr/release_e.asp?id=1443&andor1=nr. Retrieved 2010-12-01. 
  4. ^ "Jasper National Park named world’s largest dark sky preserve". Parks Canada. 2011-03-11. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Jasper-National-Park-Becomes-Worlds-Largest-Dark-Sky-Preserve-1410194.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-15. 
  5. ^ "Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Designated as a Dark-Sky Preserve". Government of Saskatchewan. 2004-10-08. http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=6c2aabb3-8828-4a5a-9545-df15e33cd77d. Retrieved 2008-11-17. 
  6. ^ "the Mt. Megantic IDSR". AstroLab du park national du Mt. Megantic. http://www.astrolab-parc-national-mont-megantic.org/en/mt_megantic_international_dark_sky_reserve_idsr.the_mt_megantic_idsr.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-06. 
  7. ^ "Gordon's Park Dark Sky Preserve". Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 2008-11. http://www.rasc.ca/lpa/manitoulin.shtml. Retrieved 2010-11-18. 
  8. ^ "Dark Sky Preserve designation for Grasslands National Park". Parks Canada. 2009-10-02. http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/sk/grasslands/ne/ne6.aspx. Retrieved 2010-12-01. 
  9. ^ "Kouchibouguac National Park a Dark Sky Preserve". Parks Canada. 2009-06-06. http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/cp-nr/release_e.asp?bgid=1096&andor1=bg. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
  10. ^ "Designation requires limited artificial light to protect night skies from light pollution". CanadaEast.com. 2009-07-18. http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/rss/article/732911. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
  11. ^ "Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site a Dark Sky Preserve". Parks Canada. 2010-08-07. http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/cp-nr/release_e.asp?bgid=1096&andor1=bg. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
  12. ^ "Lake Hudson Recreation Area". Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?id=464&type=SPRK. Retrieved 2010-12-01. 
  13. ^ Clanton & Associates (May 27, 2008). "Cherry Springs State Park: Light Pollution Analysis and Recommendations". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/info/wind/documents/cherry-springs-state-park-light-pollution-analysis-05-29-08.pdf. Retrieved March 21, 2009. 
  14. ^ "Cherry Springs State Park". Wikipdia. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Springs_State_Park. Retrieved 2011-10-05. 
  15. ^ Carrell, Severin (2009-11-16). "Astronomers name Scottish park one of world's best stargazing sites". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/16/galloway-forest-dark-skies-stargazing. Retrieved 2009-11-16. 
  16. ^ [1]
  17. ^ http://docs.darksky.org/PR/2011/PRSarkHortobagyFINAL.pdf
  18. ^ http://docs.darksky.org/PR/2011/PRSarkHortobagyFINAL.pdf
  19. ^ http://www.npr.org/2011/02/01/133401367/lights-out-tiny-sark-named-first-dark-sky-island

External links


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