Dark Skies

Big Bend Ranch State Park

Article, photos and graphic by KATY BALDOCK

We all know the song, “The stars at night are big and bright…deep in the heart of Texas.” However, as urban development has dramatically increased over the past few decades and artificial lighting used at night has only gotten brighter, the stars at night aren’t quite as bright as they used to be.

This is especially true for our highly developed population centers such as Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio and their suburbs. Even so, there is still ample opportunity for Texans to get out of the city and experience spectacular night skies with our many dark sky designated areas.

Official dark sky designations are decided on by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). According to their website, “IDA designates [International Dark Sky Places] following a rigorous application process requiring applicants to demonstrate robust community support for dark sky protection and document designation-specific program requirements.”

Texas currently has six Dark Sky Parks, “publicly- or privately-owned spaces protected for natural conservation that implement good outdoor lighting and provide dark sky programs for visitors;” four Dark Sky Communities, “legally organized cities and towns that adopt quality outdoor lighting ordinances and undertake efforts to educate residents about the importance of dark skies;” and one Dark Sky Sanctuary, “the most remote (and often darkest) places in the world whose conservation state is most fragile.”

Having access to these designated Dark Sky Places in our state should not be taken for granted. According to recent studies, over 80 percent of Americans cannot see the Milky Way from their homes. The fact that we have so many places in Texas that still have pristine night skies is truly special; but our night skies are under increasing threat.

The accelerated use of urban lighting and the evolution of the ways that we use lighting has dramatically decreased night sky visibility over the years. When looking across the horizon from the outskirts of a city, approximately one third of the sky glow we see comes from streetlights. With the invention of LED lighting, the use of blue light in neighborhood and highway street lighting is increasing. This cool, bluish light, rather than infrared or reddish lighting, is more harsh on humans, wildlife and our dark skies.

For the greater Big Bend region, the largest contiguous area of dark skies in the state and the least populated region in the state, the biggest threat is encroaching oil and gas related activity to the north in the Permian Basin.

This increasing light pollution can have severe impacts on wildlife populations, especially those close to larger cities. Bill Wren, Special Assistant to the Superintendent at McDonald Observatory and coordinator of the Dark Skies Initiative in West Texas, spoke with me about some of the negative effects of light pollution and solutions to help preserve dark skies.

“If you think about it in terms of evolutionary history, for really all living creatures on the planet, we evolved under a diurnal cycle,” Wren said. “And it's only been in the past hundred years or so that it's gone from day, night, day, night, to day, twilight, day, twilight. It never really gets dark in and around our major population centers, and that is problematic.”

The gradual loss of true darkness at night in many areas around our country has indeed been problematic for wildlife. The patterns of light in the sky serve as a signal

that guides many species’ daily and yearly cycles, such as when to sleep, hunt, reproduce, migrate or hide from predators. Approximately half of all living creatures on Earth are most active at night, and light pollution can interfere with the timing of these biological activities.

Lack of true darkness at night imposes negative impacts to humans, as well. Artificial light can suppress the production of melatonin, a hormone that serves as our biological clock, signaling when to sleep and when to wake up. Failure of our biological rhythms to align with natural light patterns can increase risks for sleep disorders, depression and diabetes, to name a few.

Beyond just artificial lighting, the types of lighting we use can make a big difference. Research has proven that it’s blue light, in particular, that suppresses melatonin production. When the light bulb was first invented, it was a warm light, similar to what humans were used to with fires and candles. But with the advent of bright, blue light LEDs and the use of blue light in our electronic screens, we are now seeing more blue light used than ever before. Devils River State Natural Area

“There's more and more blue white light in the night environment and no one really ever stopped to think about what the consequences might be ecologically,” Wren said. “And now we are learning that the consequences are really quite dramatic when it comes to every living creature, really.”

Fortunately, it’s fairly easy for us to implement smart lighting techniques that decrease the effects of light pollution. Wren explained that it’s not about using less lighting; rather, it’s about proper lighting.

“It’s a very visual topic. It’s the kind of thing that people often have to see before it registers,” Wren said. “You can talk about it, read about it, but it's often not until they actually see good lighting in use that it clicks, and they get it. This is not just about dark skies; it's also about good lighting. It's not anti-lighting.”

Good lighting, as Wren explains, is using the right kind of light, the proper placement and the correct structures. Using warm, reddish color temperature light bulbs, shielding the light down, and only using lights on your own property is the best

way to accomplish this.

“Forget the dark sky part. If you use a warmer color light and you direct it where you want the light to go (not wasting it offsite), you use fewer lights, lower wattage and it pays for itself in a couple of years,” Wren said. “Visibility is enhanced, increased and improved. Safety is improved because of reduced glare. It is very much a win-win situation.”

The easiest change for individuals to make is ensuring they have proper lighting on their own property. Beyond that, encouraging neighbors and fellow community members to change the way they think about lighting and implement good lighting practices can make a huge impact.

“When you aim so that it’s directed toward the area that you want to see, you’re cutting cost, you're improving visibility, increasing safety,” Wren said. “It's better lighting. And that applies for your home, your business, your community. It is simply more responsible, more cost-efficient, more effective outdoor lighting at night for safety and security. And, oh by the way, it also helps preserve our view of the stars.”

Wren and others at the McDonald Observatory have been working with oil and gas companies in the Permian Basin to encourage good lighting practices on their drilling sites, often resulting in praises of these new lighting practices because it leads to much improved visibility.

In addition to large energy companies out west, there have been ongoing efforts to educate the communities surrounding designated dark sky areas about the benefits of proper lighting. Amber Harrison, Interpreter at Big Bend Ranch State Park, spearheaded the Dark Sky Park designation at Big Bend Ranch and now continues to advocate for dark sky protection in surrounding areas.

“Part of the ongoing effort for the park, now that we have the designation, is to continue doing public outreach and education in surrounding communities to make sure that people are practicing good lighting behaviors to keep our Dark Skies healthy,” Harrison said.

For the past few years, she has been doing outreach, hosting educational programs, and developing partnerships

Lighting Techniques

Texas Dark Sky Places Map

in the greater Big Bend region both in her work time and personal time to spread awareness about the effects of light pollution.

“Now we're protected and we made that internal commitment, but that doesn't do us a whole lot if the surrounding communities aren't practicing good lighting behaviors. The hard part is working with those communities so that light pollution from the surrounding cities does not impact the quality of the

Big Bend National Park

night sky in the designated parks,” Harrison said. “People come down here for the nature and the solitude and the dark skies and those sorts of things, and these communities rely heavily on ecotourism and tourism.”

With a growing population and growing influx of tourism in the region, Harrison emphasized that mindful development will be crucial for preserving the area’s dark skies.

“Development’s going to happen, growth is going to happen, those things are inevitable; and that's good in a lot of ways, but it's really important that we do it in a mindful and measured way because we have a lot at stake and we have a lot to lose. Not just with night skies, but with all our resources,” Harrison said. “It’s just important that people are mindful of the natural environment because that's why people come here.”

To even further preserve the dark skies of the greater Big Bend region, both Harrison and Wren are working on obtaining additional designations from the IDA. Earlier this year, Chinati Mountains State Natural Area was added to the Big Bend Ranch Complex. While not yet open to the public, this addition added almost 40,000 acres to the Dark Sky Park designation.

Harrison is also working on applications to get Elephant Mountain and Black Gap Wildlife Management Areas designated as Dark Sky Sanctuaries. In addition to furthering protections in close proximity to Big Bend State and National Parks, these designations would benefit an even larger effort being led by Wren — the Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve.

“We’re trying to create what will be the largest International Dark Sky Reserve in the world—bigger than all the others put together,” Wren said. “Jeff Davis, Brewster, Presidio County, and then some very large areas of protected land south of the Rio Grande in northern Mexico—Del Carmen, Ocampo, and Santa Elena are the three protected areas that border Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park on the other side of the river.”

According to the IDA, International Dark Sky Reserves “consist of a dark ‘core’ zone surrounded by a populated periphery where policy controls are enacted to protect the darkness of the core.” Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park, together, would serve as the core of this Dark Sky Reserve, being accessible to the public for dark sky viewing.

The protected lands to the south in Mexico and communities to the north in Texas would be the periphery with dark sky friendly lighting policies enforced. In order to accomplish this,

all of the surrounding landowners, community members, and parks will need to be on board.

“They'll have to sign on to the lighting management plan,” Wren said. “Everybody that wants to be part of the Reserve will have to endorse that and subscribe to those practices as defined in the lighting management plan. The criteria for the Reserve… requires that the peripheral completely surround the core—that the core not be exposed on any of its boundaries to lands which are not part of the Reserve.”

He continued, “It seems kind of like a no-brainer with those lands south of the river, where very, very little artificial lighting exists. It’s extremely dark, probably one of the darkest spots left on the continent, certainly. Getting that land included in this Reserve would be very desirable.”

In far West Texas, organizations like the Big Bend Conservation Alliance, the McDonald Observatory, Tierra Grande Master Naturalists, and Friends of Big Bend Ranch State Park are joining efforts to help advocate for dark skies in the surrounding communities and help see these plans for a Reserve come into fruition.

However, West Texas isn’t the only part of the state with night sky awareness and action. Central Texas has become increasingly involved in dark sky issues, with Friends of the Night Sky groups being active in Blanco, Travis and Hays counties, just to name a few.

The Hill Country Alliance has adopted night skies as one of their pillars for conservation, working to promote smart lighting techniques and protect the area’s dark skies from encroaching development.

According to its website, “The Hill Country Alliance Night Skies program helps Hill Country counties and cities minimize the impacts of light pollution through education and outreach, the establishment of outdoor lighting policies, and the recognition and celebration of certified Dark Sky Places in our region.”

Regardless of what area of the state you are in, there are many ways for individuals and businesses to contribute to reducing light pollution both on a small and large scale. Switching to smarter lighting practices around homes and businesses, starting a local Friends of the Night Sky group or joining an existing one, donating and volunteering with conservation organizations focused on dark sky preservation, and encouraging businesses to implement better lighting techniques are all impactful ways to help the effort.

The future is looking bright for the stars at night in Texas, but it won’t come without cooperation of individuals and business to change the way we think about and use outdoor lighting. We will need to be mindful as development increases, while continuing public outreach and awareness to keep our night skies, wildlife species, and human populations healthy.

Roger Parker

210.209.8474 NMLS #794874

Joe Patterson

830.627.9335 NMLS #612376

Doing What We Promise

When the Team You Deal With Is As Important As The Deal You Make.

Ranch financing throughout Texas and the Southwest is our specialty. That means you enjoy the highest level of coordination, communication and execution throughout your financing process with our Private Banking Team.

Call and let us show you how we’re the right fit for your deal – and you.