Dark-sky communities in Texas

(KXAN) — Despite their innate directional consciousness, some birds can nonetheless get confused by lights shining in our backyards, neighborhoods and cities — creating some huge risks for our feathered pals.

Central Texas lies inside the principle hall of North American fowl migration with flocks of aviators flying south for the winter and vice versa for the summer season.

To keep away from migration disruptions, some native cities are doing their half to guard the skies overhead by reducing down on mild air pollution. This not solely advantages migrating birds, but in addition cuts down on undesirable or escaped mild, vitality prices and consumption and obscurations of planets and stars.

The International Dark Sky Association (IDA) is a voluntary community whose objective is to teach and promote the advantages of less-light-polluted evening skies. The darkish sky program, based in 2001, encourages communities to have efficient and eco-friendly out of doors lighting.

The IDA’s darkish sky program approves cities as “International Dark-Sky Communities” by a rigorous software course of. The IDA defines a dark-sky neighborhood as “a town, city, municipality, or other legally organized community that has shown exceptional dedication to the preservation of the night sky through the implementation and enforcement of a quality outdoor lighting ordinance, dark sky education and citizen support of dark skies.”

Cities should bear in depth out of doors mild evaluations, carry out instructional workshops and promote the advantages of being a darkish sky neighborhood with public outreach to be thought-about.

In Texas, there are 5 cities which have met that standards and earned the title of International Dark-Sky Community. All 5 are positioned in Central Texas:

• Dripping Springs: designated in 2014
• Horseshoe Bay: designated in 2015
• Wimberley Valley (Wimberley + Woodcreek): designated in 2018
• Fredericksburg: designated in 2020
• Blanco: designated in 2022

Quick info about Texas’ darkish sky communities:

• Horseshoe Bay presently has no streetlights, nor plans to put in them except a state of affairs is deemed essential to public security.
• In 2015, a bunch of volunteers shaped the “Wimberley Valley Dark Sky Committee” whose objective is foyer for change and educate residents on the advantages of darkish skies.
• Blanco, the latest designated darkish sky neighborhood, held essay, artwork and songwriting contests highlighting the integrity of a darkish sky.
• Dripping Springs was the primary metropolis in Texas and the sixth in the world to be designated an International Dark Sky Community.

IN-DEPTH: Four of Texas’ state parks have earned “International Dark Sky Parks” titles — Big Bend Ranch, Enchanted Rock, Copper Breaks, and South Llano River.