Preserving Pristine Night Skies in National Parks and the Wilderness Ethic
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Dan Duriscoe Preserving Pristine Night Skies in National Parks and the Wilderness Ethic n the American West throughout the latter part of the 19th century, the conquest of the frontier by American industrial culture led to a profound sense of loss among conservation-minded individuals. They mourned the passing of a way of life and of an unspoiled grand landscape that fos- tered individual freedoms, simple rewards for hard work, and an inti- Imacy with the land that was required for mere survival. The last 20 or 30 years have seen a similar or analogous rapid disappearance of a resource that was once taken for granted: the unfettered view of the universe on a dark, clear, moonless night. Today, we are on the verge of losing the pristine night sky entirely in the 48 contiguous states. However, unlike losing a species to extinction, topsoil to erosion, or yet-to-be-explored virgin lands to develop- ment, the night sky is 100% recoverable. The alarm signaling the potential have become more eclectic, and now irretrievable loss of wildlands was include lighting engineers, landscape sounded in large part by the preser- architects, urban planners, federal vationists of the infant wilderness land managers, and the general pub- movement, such as Henry David lic. In the Far West, some of the Thoreau and John Muir. This alarm darkest and clearest of night skies in awakened the public and politicians, the world are found in national parks and the idea of wilderness preserva- such as Yellowstone, Glacier, Bryce tion eventually became one of the Canyon, Canyonlands, and Death hallmarks of American values. Pro- Valley. Many of these parks are now fessional and amateur astronomers experiencing or are threatened by were the first to cry out for preserva- light pollution. I propose that the tion of night skies in the 1970s, and preservation of the right to view the an effort to save what’s left of visual universe from America’s wilderness astronomy from earth is now well national parks is a duty assigned to underway. Loosely collected under the National Park Service under the the umbrella organization of the In- Wilderness Act of 1964 and the Or- ternational Dark-Sky Association, ganic Act of 1916. Furthermore, the those wishing to preserve night skies present-day effort to save night skies 30 The George Wright FORUM is not merely analogous to, but an provements in the observation of the integral part of the wilderness ethic. universe beyond earth have rendered The idea that wild and beautiful firsthand observations unnecessary lands with all their appealing attrib- or even inferior. The Hubble Space utes should be preserved for their Telescope, placed above light pollu- own sake has sometimes been de- tion and atmospheric distortion of scribed as “the esthetic of the sub- ground-based observatories, has lime” (Rodman 1983). Since the provided views of space of unprece- Romantic movement, persons of dented detail. One may merely log European background have equated on to Web sites such as “Astronomy the feeling of awe such places bring Picture of the Day” and enjoy an un- about with sacredness, or a place that paralleled view of the universe from is beyond and far greater than hu- the vantage point of a personal com- manity. Perhaps no landscape has puter. While there is no reason to promoted such feelings more than believe that such images have been that which includes the night sky, artificially created or manufactured, which has been described as “that such an experience is still essentially most glorious and compelling and virtual reality. It is equivalent to inspiring of nature’s faces” (Schaaf watching a church service on televi- 1988, 205). While the environmental sion rather than attending in person, ethic has evolved to focus on a more or watching a nature film on wild holistic approach to ecosystem animal behavior rather than observ- health rather than exclusively on the ing them firsthand. Part of the intent preservation of sacred, sublime of the Wilderness Act of 1964 was to places, the preservationist tradition is provide all Americans access to still very much a part of American “primitive and unconfined” recrea- culture. It is an idea that is particu- tion and opportunities for the spiri- larly appropriate when applied to a tual enlightenment and personal de- place that is primarily beyond earth’s velopment such experiences provide. boundaries, as no management prac- The view of a dark night sky can tices humans have yet devised are certainly be interpreted as an integral affecting the health of extraterrestrial part of that experience, and remote resources. The ability to observe that wilderness parks are among the few heavenly landscape is what is in dan- places left where it can be seen. ger. It is illustrative to review events Firsthand observations are ex- surrounding the creation of two of ceedingly important to the develop- the most famous and cherished na- ment of values, philosophies, and tional parks, Yellowstone and Yo- matters of a spiritual nature. It may semite. Although Yellowstone is the be argued that technological im- nation’s oldest national park, created Volume 18 • Number 4 2001 31 in 1872, Yosemite Valley was actu- preserve the scenery in and around ally set aside as a park or preserve the valley only. Yellowstone National first, by a federal grant of land to the Park was initially thought of as a state of California in 1864. Roderick “museum of wonderful and natural Nash, in his classic work Wilderness curiosities,” but it was realized later and the American Mind, describes by members of Congress that this both these great milestones in vast area of the Montana Territory America’s cultural development. He was indeed a wilderness preserve. It attributes the creation and early was in this spirit that the language of maintenance of the Yosemite park the Wilderness Act of 1964 was largely to Fredrick Law Olmsted, the crafted. The value of a wilderness leading landscape architect of his area lies not only in the scenery and time. Olmsted’s words in an advisory geologic oddities, but in its report to the California Legislature in “primeval character,” essentially 1865, as quoted and commented on “untrammeled by man.” A challenge by Nash, make a strong case for the to the notion of the need for a large, esthetic of the sublime: wild preserve occurred in 1886 when a railroad was proposed to cross park land to support mining ventures in the area. Nash recounts the Congressional Record and comments on this major victory for the preservation ethic: While Yosemite’s unique and striking beauty was virtually indis- putable and embraced by nearly all who visited the valley, the new state preserve was relatively small in area and was intended primarily to 32 The George Wright FORUM lands. If Olmsted’s philosophy is extended to night sky “scenery,” skies visible from wilderness preserves should receive the same protection as the terrestrial landscape within the preserve itself. A similar concept was put forth in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977, whereby vistas that were considered integral to the meaning and purpose of federal Class I (wilderness) areas were given special protection from visibility impairment, even if the vista overlooked lands outside the preserve. The Yellowstone example is These accounts demonstrate two remarkable in that it shows the firm important perspectives on wilderness conviction by members of Congress preservation that appear to have a in the idea of wilderness preservation long history in our culture. In the over 100 years ago, and in the Yosemite example, Olmsted’s view realization that preservation of such that certain landscapes have such areas requires a large buffer of intrinsic beauty that they can never protection from development. The become “private property” can proposed railroad would almost inarguably be applied to the view of certainly have been routed to avoid the night sky. If an artificial light is the “natural curiosities” of the erected and maintained that geysers, waterfalls, and canyons of compromises or interferes with the Yellowstone, but Congress recog- view of the night sky from a nized that it would violate the wilderness preserve, that light is in character of “these as yet virgin violation of one of the basic premises regions” by voting to keep its path of the wilderness ethic: namely, entirely outside of the park. Regions obvious evidence of human now possessing “virgin” night skies technology becomes visible on the that also fall within designated landscape. Such a situation is known wilderness can be seen to be as “light trespass,” and may be experiencing a similar threat to that regarded as just as serious a violation facing Yellowstone in the 1880s. To of the wilderness character as the protect pristine sky quality, however, trespass of domestic livestock or off- the buffer must extend beyond the highway vehicles onto wilderness park’s boundaries because of the Volume 18 • Number 4 2001 33 potential for the glow of lights from function in all but the densest of cities, towns, or industrial areas to forests or deepest of canyons at pollute the skies within a hundred- night, even when the moon is not in mile or more radius of the source. the sky. According to Schaaf (1988, Exactly what is lost when the view 167), “the faintest stars the human of the night sky is less than pristine? eye can glimpse without optical aid Astronomers, professional and are about 100,000,000,000,000 amateur, have addressed this (100 trillion) times dimmer than the question from a technical or scientific brightest light it can perceive without standpoint for at least three decades.