A dark-sky preserve (DSP) is an area, usually surrounding a park or

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

, that restricts or reduces

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of any unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting sources, during the ...

or maintains and protects naturally dark night skies. Different terms have been used to describe these areas as national organizations and governments have worked independently to create programs.

DarkSky International DarkSky International, formerly the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), is a United States–based nonprofit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician and amateur ...

(DarkSky) uses "International Dark Sky Reserve" (IDSR) and "International Dark Sky Park" (IDSP) among others when certifying Dark Sky Places.

History

DarkSky International was founded in 1988 to reserve public or private land for an exquisite outlook of nocturnal territories and starry night skies. Dark-sky preserves are specifically conserved for their cultural, scientific, natural, or educational value and public enjoyment. In 2007, the

Mont Mégantic Observatory The Mont Mégantic Observatory (, ; OMM) is an astronomical observatory owned and operated jointly by the Université de Montréal (UdeM) and the Université Laval (ULaval). Founded in 1978, the observatory houses the second largest telescope in E ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

was the first site to be certified as an International Dark Sky Reserve by DarkSky. The same year,

Natural Bridges National Monument Natural Bridges National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about northwest of the Four Corners boundary of southeast Utah, in the western United States, at the junction of White Canyon and Armstrong Canyon, part of the Colorad ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

became the first International Dark Sky Park. The

Gabriela Mistral Lucila Godoy Alcayaga (; 7 April 1889 – 10 January 1957), known by her pseudonym Gabriela Mistral (), was a Chilean poet-diplomat, educator, and Catholic. She was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order or Third Franciscan order. She was ...

Dark Sky Sanctuary in the Elqui Valley of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

was designated as the world's first International Dark Sky Sanctuary in 2015. A dark-sky preserve, or dark-sky reserve, should be sufficiently dark to promote

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

. The lighting protocol for a dark-sky preserve is based on the sensitivity of wildlife to

artificial light Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...

at night. Canada has established an extensive and stringent standard for dark-sky preserves, that addresses lighting within dark-sky preserves and influences from

skyglow Skyglow (or sky glow) is the diffuse luminance of the night sky, apart from discrete light sources such as the Moon and visible individual stars. It is a commonly noticed aspect of light pollution. While usually referring to luminance arising f ...

from

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

areas in the region. This was based on the work of the

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) is a national, non-profit, charitable organization devoted to the advancement of astronomy and related sciences. At present, there are 30 local branches of the Society, called Centres, in towns an ...

Dark Sky Places

DarkSky International's Dark Sky Places program currently offers five types of designations: * International Dark Sky Communities – Communities are legally organized cities and towns that adopt quality outdoor lighting ordinances and undertake efforts to educate residents about the importance of dark skies. * International Dark Sky Parks – Parks are publicly or privately owned spaces protected for natural conservation that implement good outdoor lighting and provide dark sky programs for visitors. * International Dark Sky Reserves – Reserves consist of a dark "core" zone surrounded by a populated periphery where policy controls are enacted to protect the darkness of the core. These sites are established by a partnership of multiple land managers. * International Dark Sky Sanctuaries – Sanctuaries are the most remote (and often darkest) places in the world whose conservation state is most fragile. The geographic isolation of these places significantly limits opportunities for outreach, so this designation is designed to increase awareness of these sites and promote their long-term conservation. * Urban Night Sky Places – These places do not qualify for designation within any other category but are recognized for their efforts to educate the public on the benefits of proper outdoor lighting that ensures safety while minimizing potential harm to the natural nighttime environment. Urban Night Sky Places can be municipal parks, open spaces, or similar properties near or surrounded by an urban environment, but whose planning and design actively promote an authentic nighttime experience in the midst of significant artificial light. Dark Sky Developments of Distinction recognize subdivisions, master planned communities, and unincorporated neighborhoods and townships whose planning actively promotes a more natural night sky but does not qualify them for the International Dark Sky Community designation. This designation was retired in 2020. Further designations include "Dark Sky Nation", given to the

Kaibab Indian Reservation The Kaibab Indian Reservation is the home of the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians ( Southern Paiute Language: Kai'vi'vits), a federally recognized tribe of Southern Paiutes. The Indian reservation is located in northern part of the U.S. state of Ar ...

, and "Parashant International Night Sky Province-Window to the Cosmos", given to

Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation), ...

Dark sky preserves, reserves, and parks

As of January 2023, there are 201 certified Dark Sky Places globally: 38 Communities, 115 Parks, 20 Reserves, 16 Sanctuaries, 6 Developments of Distinction and 6 Urban Night Sky Places.

Protected zones

Around observatories

Other

Some regions, like the following, are protected without any reference to an observatory or a park. * Regions of

Coquimbo Coquimbo is a port List of cities in Chile, city, Communes of Chile, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo is situated in a valley south of La Serena, Chile, La S ...

Atacama The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barren lower slopes ...

, and

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. Once claimed by Bolivia follo ...

in northern

* The island of

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

* The Big Island of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

beach communities restrict lighting on beaches, to preserve hatchling

Sea Turtles Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerh ...

By country

Canada

In the Canadian program, lighting within the area must be strictly controlled to minimize the impact of artificial lighting on wildlife. These guidelines are more stringent than in other countries that lack the extensive wilderness areas that still exist in Canada. The management of a Canadian DSP extends their outreach programs from the public that visit the site to include the promotion of better lighting policies in surrounding urban areas. Currently, dark-sky preserves have more control over internal and external lighting than other programs. With the increase in regional

, some observatories have actively worked with cities in their region to establish protection zones where there is controlled light pollution. These areas may not yet have been declared dark-sky preserves. Although dark-sky preserve designations are generally sought by astronomers, it is clear that preserving natural darkness has positive effects on the health of nocturnal wildlife within the parks. For example, the nocturnal

black-footed ferret The black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes''), also known as the American polecatHeptner, V. G. (Vladimir Georgievich); Nasimovich, A. A; Bannikov, Andrei Grigorovich; Hoffmann, Robert S. (2001)''Mammals of the Soviet Union''Volume: v. 2, pt. 1 ...

was reintroduced to the

Grasslands National Park Grasslands National Park is a Canadian national park located near the village of Val Marie, Saskatchewan, and one of 44 national parks and park reserves in Canada's national park system (though one of only two in Saskatchewan itself). This n ...

dark-sky preserve and the success of the reintroduction is enhanced by the pristine natural darkness maintained within the park by the DSP agreement.

Scotland

The island of

Rùm Rùm (), a Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic name often Anglicisation, anglicised to Rum ( ), is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, in the district of Lochaber. For much of the 20th century the ...

in the Hebrides was declared a Dark Sky Sanctuary in 2024. The island has a small population who value the dark sky, and know that too much artificial light negatively affects the young of the

Manx Shearwater The Manx shearwater (''Puffinus puffinus'') is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. The scientific name of this species records a name shift: Manx shearwaters were called Manks puffins in the 17th century. Puffin is an ...

birds that breed on the island. The local population worked to gain this designation. It is the second such designation in Europe, and the first in Scotland.

References

External links

DarkSky International

DarkSky International: International Dark Sky Places

DarkSky International: Dark Sky Place Certification and Application Information

Izera Dark-Sky Park

Poloniny Dark-Sky Park

Torrance Barrens Dark-Sky Preserve
. Essay by Michael Silver. Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
Veľká Fatra Dark-Sky ParkNorth Frontenac Dark Sky Preserve
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark-Sky Preserve Light pollution Protected areas Darkness Environmental protection 1993 introductions