A map of the extent of the light glow in the Bonnyville area.
Submitted photo
Lakeland Provincial Park is already known among sky watchers
as an excellent place to watch the stars drift by, but soon it could
have official designation for its panoramic views.
The MD of Bonnyville agreed to send a letter of support to the Dark Sky Preserve Designation Project, an effort by Alberta Parks to promote areas away from the glow of urban centres.
“It gives us a good designation for tourism and it doesn’t cost us anything,” commented Coun. Dana Swigart.
Alberta already has five so-called “Dark Sky Preserves,” with Wood Buffalo National Park being the largest in the world. Dark Sky Preserves are an initiative created by astronomers to ensure there are areas that they are able to get a maximum view of the night sky.
Light from artificial sources, called sky glow, can interfere with light from stars, obscuring their view and making accurate observations of the cosmos difficult.
Parks Planner Jennifer Okrainec explained that much of the Lakeland area is already quite popular with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC); so creating the regulations to get the park dark sky designation is the next logical step.
“We are in the process of applying to designate Lakeland Provincial Park as a Dark Sky Preserve,” said Okrainec. “There aren’t a lot of sites anymore that are relatively close to urban centres, just because of the fact we have things like power plants and camps. We actually have more lighting across the landscape than we think.”
Okrainec added that not only does the designation help researchers and stargazers, it also helps preserve wildlife.
“We don’t realize it, but the amount of light in the sky actually affects nocturnal wildlife substantially. It affects things like their hunting behaviours,” pointed out Okrainec. “The brighter the sky, the more likely wildlife will think that it’s daytime.”
According to Okrainec, light from towns, especially LED light, can travel hundreds of miles from their source. Typically incandescent light travels less easily, and light that is pointed down tends to have less range than light that is pointed up.
Making Lakeland 100 per cent dark sky compliant would be very easy. Okrainec pointed out that there were only six light fixtures in Lakeland National Park as it was, so all the MD would really have to do is replace the lights accordingly when it came time to replace them.
“It’s not something that has to happen right away, you just kind of incorporate it and change it when you go to change your fixtures,” explained Okrainec.
She continued, “Only one of the light fixtures (are owned by Alberta) Parks, and the rest are trappers and private land owners – they’re only generator operated at this point. So we’ll be working with our trappers for when those light fixtures need to be replaced that we’ll ask them to consider the different styled light fixture.”
Okrainec also mentioned that her department had already conducted sky quality measurements on the Lakeland sky.
“Lakeland was actually one of the second best sites that the member of the Edmonton RASC has ever seen,” boasted Okrainec. “We’re in a very good position with Lakeland.”
Getting the designation would also establish a one and a half-kilometre buffer zone around the provincial park boundary where development will have to consider their lighting choices.
Park staff will be engaging in public outreach to educate people on sky glow and what park staff will be doing to prevent it.
Okrainec stressed that these new policies would only affect parks and not the MD as a whole.
The MD of Bonnyville agreed to send a letter of support to the Dark Sky Preserve Designation Project, an effort by Alberta Parks to promote areas away from the glow of urban centres.
“It gives us a good designation for tourism and it doesn’t cost us anything,” commented Coun. Dana Swigart.
Alberta already has five so-called “Dark Sky Preserves,” with Wood Buffalo National Park being the largest in the world. Dark Sky Preserves are an initiative created by astronomers to ensure there are areas that they are able to get a maximum view of the night sky.
Light from artificial sources, called sky glow, can interfere with light from stars, obscuring their view and making accurate observations of the cosmos difficult.
Parks Planner Jennifer Okrainec explained that much of the Lakeland area is already quite popular with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC); so creating the regulations to get the park dark sky designation is the next logical step.
“We are in the process of applying to designate Lakeland Provincial Park as a Dark Sky Preserve,” said Okrainec. “There aren’t a lot of sites anymore that are relatively close to urban centres, just because of the fact we have things like power plants and camps. We actually have more lighting across the landscape than we think.”
Okrainec added that not only does the designation help researchers and stargazers, it also helps preserve wildlife.
“We don’t realize it, but the amount of light in the sky actually affects nocturnal wildlife substantially. It affects things like their hunting behaviours,” pointed out Okrainec. “The brighter the sky, the more likely wildlife will think that it’s daytime.”
According to Okrainec, light from towns, especially LED light, can travel hundreds of miles from their source. Typically incandescent light travels less easily, and light that is pointed down tends to have less range than light that is pointed up.
Making Lakeland 100 per cent dark sky compliant would be very easy. Okrainec pointed out that there were only six light fixtures in Lakeland National Park as it was, so all the MD would really have to do is replace the lights accordingly when it came time to replace them.
“It’s not something that has to happen right away, you just kind of incorporate it and change it when you go to change your fixtures,” explained Okrainec.
She continued, “Only one of the light fixtures (are owned by Alberta) Parks, and the rest are trappers and private land owners – they’re only generator operated at this point. So we’ll be working with our trappers for when those light fixtures need to be replaced that we’ll ask them to consider the different styled light fixture.”
Okrainec also mentioned that her department had already conducted sky quality measurements on the Lakeland sky.
“Lakeland was actually one of the second best sites that the member of the Edmonton RASC has ever seen,” boasted Okrainec. “We’re in a very good position with Lakeland.”
Getting the designation would also establish a one and a half-kilometre buffer zone around the provincial park boundary where development will have to consider their lighting choices.
Park staff will be engaging in public outreach to educate people on sky glow and what park staff will be doing to prevent it.
Okrainec stressed that these new policies would only affect parks and not the MD as a whole.
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