Dark Sky Designation Program Passes in Nevada

The Milky Way rises beyond a Joshua tree, as the town of Goldfield glows below.

More good news… Nevada’s “Dark Sky Designation” bill SB52 was signed today! It will encourage recognition and preservation of Nevada’s world-class dark skies. This is very timely, as domestic travel and dark sky tourism are on the rise.

Reno TV station KOLO8 covered the story, with time-lapse video of the Milky Way included:

Dark skies now law in Nevada
https://www.kolotv.com/2021/05/21/dark-skies-now-law-in-nevada/

So why is this bill important now? As light pollution rises each year, the remining dark places, such as much of rural Nevada, get more rare, and become more valuable!

Unfortunately the fasted growth in light pollution is in the darkest areas:

Five Years of Satellite Images Show Global Light Pollution Increasing at a Rate of Two Percent Per Year
https://www.darksky.org/five-years-of-satellite-images-show-global-light-pollution-increasing-at-a-rate-of-two-percent-per-year/

Light pollution researcher Christpher Kyba noted, “Light is growing most rapidly in places that didn’t have a lot of light to start with. That means that the fastest rates of increase are occurring in places that so far hadn’t been very strongly affected by light pollution.”

This makes it all the more timely for Nevada communities to recognize the value of their dark skies to travelers, who bring much-needed tourism dollars.

Using lights more efficiently can also save a lot of money. According to the International Dark-Sky Association, “Light pollution is increasing worldwide at twice the rate of global population growth. Eight out of ten people live under a light-polluted night sky, at least three billion dollars is wasted on outdoor lighting each year in the U.S., and virtually every species studied has been harmed by light pollution.”

This is not the first time Nevada’s dark skies have received attention. USA Today named the city of Tonopah as being the #1 stargazing destination in 2004. Tonopah built the Clair Blackburn Memorial Stargazing Park. Then a gas station was built nearby, with unshielded lights that shine directly on the park. That illustrates both the opportunity and the risk that Nevada towns have. They can pay attention to their dark sky resource and use it to attract visitors and revenue. Or they can let their valuable resource slip away, and have the tourism portion of their economy slide with it.

How much economic impact and revenue is at stake? A detailed economic study was done for the Colorado Plateau, and it was estimated that visitors who value dark skies represent a $5.8bn in revenue over the next 10 years, and they will contribute $2.4bn in higher wages and create over 10,000 additional jobs over that period.

Dark sky tourism: economic impacts on the Colorado Plateau Economy
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/TR-10-2018-0146/full/html

Nevada, central to the Great Basin geographic region, has a much greater opportunity than is generally recognized as well. To take advantage of this growing niche in travel dollars, the IDA advises towns on how to protect their resource and become certified dark sky communities. No doubt the new Nevada program will help raise visibility of opportunities like IDA certification for Nevada communities.

Hopefully many Nevada communities will consider claiming their share of the travel dollars available. It’ll be important to start to consider lighting in any planned upgrades to public buildings, roads and highways, mines, military bases, and other lit infrastructure. It’s not difficult or costly to create a preference for shielded light fixtures, but there are some pitfalls to avoid, like assuming that reducing brightness is the only or main goal:

A new article from the US @NatlParkService suggests that a HPS to LED lighting retrofit caused the sky to get brighter, even though the retrofit cut total lumen output and had better shielding. It’s #OpenAccess, check it out: https://t.co/mZClGvwpsr#LightPollution pic.twitter.com/nPwqDkaP2C

— Christopher Kyba (@skyglowberlin) May 22, 2021

Why is this topic and program important to me? I’ve been leading night photography tours for a decade. I was awarded “Astronomy Photographer of the Year, People and Space Special Prize in 2011. My night photography has been featured by National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, and many more. We bring thousands of dollars to businesses in Central Nevada every year as we teach and lead night photographers. We’d love to continue doing it, and with support from the State and from local communities, to expand our sites, routes and destinations!

Sky objects such as the Milky Way look pretty much the same from various dark sky sites, so for communities to differentiate themselves from other locations, it will be necessary for them to emphasize the unique foreground features of their sites. As with daylight photography, compelling landscape astrophotography requires utmost attention to the foreground subject and composition, while the sky makes a compelling background. That’s what we’ve been teaching for a decade on our Bodie – Mono Lake – Tioga Pass workshops.

See more of our images from Nevada and vicinity in my prior blog on dark sky advocacy:

Nevada Considers Dark Sky Program
https://www.jeffsullivanphotography.com/blog/2021/02/18/nevada-considers-dark-sky-program/

See our page on our Nevada night photography tours for more information on those. We can add dates and itineraries when there’s sufficient demand!