Idaho Wants To Establish America's First 'Dark Sky Preserve' (idahostatesman.com)

schwit1 shares a story from the AP: Tourists heading to central Idaho will be in the dark if local officials get their way. The first International Dark Sky Reserve in the United States would fill a chunk of the state's sparsely populated region that contains night skies so pristine that interstellar dust clouds are visible in the Milky Way... 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. Opposition to dark sky measures elsewhere in the U.S. have come from the outdoor advertising industry and those against additional government regulations.

Researchers say 80 percent of North Americans live in areas where light pollution blots out the night sky. Central Idaho contains one of the few places in the contiguous United States large enough and dark enough to attain reserve status, Barentine said. Only 11 such reserves exist in the world... The proposed Idaho reserve is mainly land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and contains the wilderness of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area... Leaders in the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley, the tiny mountain town of Stanley, other local and federal officials, and a conservation group have been working for several years to apply this fall to designate 1,400 square miles (3,600 square kilometers) as a reserve. A final decision by the association would come about 10 weeks after the application is submitted.

Comments

A good thing I think

[solanum]

Here in South Australia, the Astronomy Society of South Australia is also involved in this process, applying to the International Darksky Association for formal accreditation of the Mid-Murray region ( http://www.rivermurraydarkskyr... ), a very sparsely populated region with significant areas of national park. I'd be interested to know know the differences in local legislation/recognition required between the US and South Australia. I'm not involved myself, but from what I've heard the local council here are very supportive.

Re:Crime not Advertizing

[schwit1]

Idaho has its own way of minimizing crime - shoot back. Residents 21 years of age, not disqualified from having a permit, may carry a concealed firearm statewide without a permit.

Re:Crime not Advertizing

[vux984]

Actually, suicide increases as access to guns decreases.

Wait... do you really think the suicide rate would actually go down in Japan if guns were more readily available there?

If anything, I think it'd go up even higher. Guns and gun laws aren't WHY people commit suicide, guns are just a relatively quick and reliable and way TO commit suicide.

Re:Crime not Advertizing

[Dayze!Confused]

I tried in vain for years to convince my local HOA of this, they would have none of it. Despite our Alley way being a private street, H shaped with no through traffic, they still insisted that we must have our alley light on. It was obvious that none of my neighbors believed it was necessary as most of those 3 years 7 out of 10 houses on our little alley had dead bulbs, and mine was turned off on principle, making 8 out of 10 houses without alley lights. About once a year the management company would come out and write up tickets for all of us, then never come back and check. How the houses were built they all had ambient light sensors to automatically turn the alley light on. I had applied to change this from an ambient light sensor to a timer where I could set it to turn off at a decent hour, but was denied. One of the chairs of the committee would always spread the false safety concern on the Facebook group, and I'd always reply with the studies that shows that more light does not correlate to less crime, to which he would be dismissive.