Glacier Park looks at creating dark sky preserve

On a clear winter night in Glacier National Park, even when the moon is new, there’s enough starlight to see by.

Sure, it isn’t the blaring light of a city street. It’s a subtle white glow that takes some getting used to, but it’s true light, heavenly in natural charm.

A group of volunteers who are looking to keep it that way are working with Park officials both here and in Canada to make Waterton-Glacier the first certified “international” International Dark Sky Association Preserve.

Last week, astronomer Dave Ingram, the Northwest representative of the International Dark Skies Association, along with a host of other interested volunteers, toured the west side of Glacier Park looking for sources of light pollution.

While Glacier Park is primarily a dark national park already, there are some lights that interfere with night sky viewing, Ingram said.

In order to become a preserve, the National Park Service over time may have to modify or replace existing lights with dark-sky friendly models.

“The purpose of (artificial) lighting is way finding and pedestrian safety,” Ingram said. “Going up into the sky is totally wasted energy.”

In a process that can take several years, the Park can change its lighting schemes and add adaptive lighting and optics, Ingram explained. Adaptive lights can turn on and off by a motion sensor or other device. Other fixtures can be shielded so the light goes toward the ground and not up in the air.

As part of the process of becoming a dark sky preserve, changes don’t need to be made overnight — the Park just needs to come up with a plan.

Ingram said it’s more than just about star-gazing in Glacier Park. It’s about habitat — a host of creatures rely on dark skies to properly live in the Park. Dark skies are an integral part of the natural world. Light pollution has proven harmful to migrating birds and bats, which have evolved over eons utilizing the natural night skies

The project is also about educating visitors. Last summer, Ingram and other local astronomers volunteered their time teaching visitors about the Park’s heavenly vistas.

“If they leave the Park understanding and loving the night sky, they’ll learn to protect it,” he said.

There could be problems outside the Park, however. With continued energy development on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, light pollution could become an issue. Western North Dakota, which was once dark prairie, now looks like a city when viewed from above, as oil well rigs are lit up like Christmas trees.