From today's Spokesman-Review newspaper:
Portion of Idaho named nation’s first International Dark Sky Reserve
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By Keith Ridler
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOISE – A giant chunk of central Idaho with a dazzling night sky has become the
nation’s first International Dark Sky Reserve.
The International Dark-Sky Association late Monday designated the
1,400square-mile Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve. The sparsely populated area’s
night skies are so pristine that interstellar dust clouds are visible in the
Milky Way.
“That such truly dark nighttime environments still exist in the United States
is remarkable,” said J. Scott Feierabend, executive director of the Tucson,
Arizona- based association, calling the designation a milestone for the group.
Researchers say 80 percent of North Americans live in areas where light
pollution blots out the night sky.
The central Idaho reserve covers some of the most remote and rugged areas in
the state and is mostly land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. It contains
wilderness areas and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
“The Reserve’s chief draw is its wilderness quality, with its lack of
development and significant visitor services,” the association said on its
website.
The Forest Service has supported the designation as part of its mandate to
preserve natural and scenic qualities. It has reduced light pollution from its
buildings, but said mitigation by others in the recreation area would be
voluntary.
Opposition to dark sky measures elsewhere in the U.S. has come from the outdoor
advertising industry and those against additional government regulations.
Supporters say excess artificial light causes sleeping problems for people and
disrupts nocturnal wildlife and that a dark sky can solve those problems, boost
home values and draw tourists.
“Sun Valley is excited about this prestigious designation and I believe this is
something that will benefit residents and visitors alike,” said Sun Valley
Mayor Peter Hendricks.
Sun Valley, a resort destination that also has some of Idaho’s highest home
values, is within the reserve as is neighboring Ketchum. Both towns have worked
to limit nighttime lighting.
In November, the International Dark-Sky Association named Ketchum an
International Dark Sky Community, only the 16th in the world. Earlier this
year, the association named Craters of the Moon National Monument
and Preserve in southcentral Idaho an International Dark Sky Park, one of about
40 in the United States.
But getting the rarest prize of all with the reserve, officials said, took
several decades of work and included efforts from communities on the edges of
the reserve to reduce nighttime lighting. The association looks at what
surrounding communities are doing to protect the dark core area of a proposed
reserve.
Volunteers also fanned out across the region to take light readings at night,
and the Idaho Conservation League, an environmental group, supported the
designation aiming to limit light pollution.
Stanley, a tiny mountain town in the Sawtooth recreation area on the northern
side of the reserve, runs mostly on tourism money and has supported the reserve
with voluntary
measures to limit outdoor lighting.
“Visitors can come here and experience the primeval wonder of the starry night
sky,” Mayor Steve Botti said.
[http://spokesmanreview.wa.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/washington/spokesmanreview/20171220/12-20-2017_spokesman_c_005_main_22504444_w-or9.pdf.0/img/Image_2.jpg]
This Nils Ribi photo shows the Milky Way over the Smoky Mountains in central
Idaho on June 18. A giant chunk of central Idaho with a dazzling night sky has
become the nation’s first International Dark Sky Reserve.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
