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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 and of an unspoiled grand that fos- tered individual freedoms, simple rewards for hard work, and an inti- Imacy with the that was required for mere survival. The last 20 or 30 years have seen a similar or analogous rapid disappearance of a that was once taken for granted: the unfettered view of the 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 to , topsoil to erosion, or yet-to-be-explored virgin 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 . 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, , 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 is now well national parks is a duty assigned to underway. Loosely collected under the under the the umbrella organization of the In- 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 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 ’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 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 have yet devised are certainly be interpreted as an integral affecting the health of extraterrestrial part of that experience, and remote . 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- 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 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 . 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 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 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 now possessing “virgin” night skies 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 , towns, or industrial areas to 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) dimmer than the question from a technical or scientific brightest light it can perceive without standpoint for at least three decades. suffering damage.” A landscape An increase in sky brightness leads to illuminated by the full or nearly-full a decrease in contrast between faint moon is relatively easy to negotiate or diffuse astronomical objects and for the properly dark-adapted human the sky background, in many cases eye. In open country, even with rendering them invisible. Many of nothing more than starlight at the the more sublime features of the most remote of wilderness locations, night sky are subtle or diffuse in it is possible for humans to get nature, such as the zodiacal light and around without the use of an artificial the Milky Way. A glow near the light. It became second nature to our horizon from distant cities or towns, ancestors to use what are now known while not significantly affecting the as “astronomer’s tricks” (such as sky quality near the zenith, may averted vision) to enhance night cause a “light dome” to become vision. Wilderness travelers of today silhouetted against the horizon and almost entirely restrict their wan- foreground objects in the direction of derings to the daytime hours. Occa- the , washing out stars and other sionally, however, there arises a need astronomical objects. This leads to a or desire to travel at night, planned significant degradation of the wild or unplanned, and often without the appearance of the landscape for the aid of a flashlight. It is during these nighttime wilderness visitor. An episodes that much is learned about unbroken carpet of stars extending the eye’s true capabilities, and the nearly to the horizon in all directions natural light sources in the night sky with no evidence of artificial light is are fully appreciated. There are those one of the more impressive features who actually prefer to travel at night, of a wilderness landscape, especially especially in hot desert regions or in the high-mountain or desert exposed subalpine or alpine envi- regions where the air is commonly ronments, to avoid some of the very transparent. harmful effects of full on the The human eye–brain combin- body. For them, the wilderness pres- ation is well adapted to allow us to ervation ethic applies twenty-four

34 The George Wright FORUM hours a day. place. The more one knows about a It is no mere coincidence that place, its features and inhabitants, amateur astronomers commonly pur- the more one is likely to advocate sue their hobby in national parks. preservation of those features, be- What better environment to appreci- cause they have led to one’s personal ate the beauty of the night sky than and spiritual development. Rodman from protected and pristine earthly elaborates on this remarkable char- landscapes? The San Francisco acter of Leopold’s work that has uni- Sidewalk Astronomers, led by John versal appeal: Dobson in the 1970s and 1980s, promoted the glories of the night sky with star parties at Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park and in Death Valley National Monument (now National Park), gatherings which continue to the present day. Most national parks have interpretive pro- grams on the night sky for the public. It is a simple step to include the preservation of night sky visibility in programs concerned with wilderness Leopold writes of trying to put values or air quality-related values. oneself in the position of various wild The most important value of first- —the skunk, the mouse, the hand observations of the night sky muskrat—and trying to imagine what wilderness may well be the possibil- their perception of their environment ity that such experiences will lead to is. Those who would observe the an expansion of an individual’s per- universe under pristine skies from ception. , in his famous the platform of a wilderness preserve book (1949, are ideally situated to place them- 204), put forth the idea of a land selves out there. This type of percep- ethic, which “simply enlarges the tion expansion inevitably leads to the boundaries of the community to in- sense of wonder that fosters a better clude , , , and ani- understanding of the place of hu- mals, or collectively the land.” This mans, not only on this planet but in concept is introduced only after the universe as a whole. While the Leopold relates many observations of objects, events, and processes that go animal behavior in wild places, so on outside earth may seem to some that it is obvious to the reader that only to have practical value to theo- such an ethic is an inevitable conse- retical physicists and fortune tellers, quence of intimate knowledge with a there can be little argument as to the Volume 18 • Number 4 2001 35 cultural and spiritual significance of of the universe may in fact lead to the face of the night sky. If it can be respectful types of conduct, one of left “unimpaired for future genera- which might just be the judicious tions,” the opportunity for the devel- and conservative use of artificial opment of such intimate knowledge lighting.

Leopold, Aldo. 1949. A Sand County Almanac. New York: Oxford University Press. Nash, Roderick. 1982. Wilderness and the American Mind. 3rd ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Rodman, John. 1983. Four forms of ecological reconsidered. Pp. 82-92 in Ethics and the Environment. D. Scherer and T. Attig, eds. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Schaaf, Fred. 1988. The Starry Room: Naked Eye Astronomy in the Intimate Universe. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Dan Duriscoe, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Three Rivers, California 93271; [email protected]

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