BY KAREN BOSSICK
Idaho has its first International Dark-Sky Park.
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve east of Carey is the 21st park in the National Park Service to be awarded the designation. It’s among only 39 sites in the United States to be named an International Dark-Sky Park.
The National Park Service officials announced the designation made by the Tucson, Ariz.-based International Dark Sky Association.
The park where astronauts practiced for walking on the moon is excellent for stargazing because of its distance from large cities and the low southern horizon looking out over the Snake River Plain, said Ted Stout, the park’s chief of interpretation and education.
The International Dark-Sky Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting light pollution in order to preserve places where people can see the Milky Way. It encourages businesses and homeowners, for instance, to point light downward to reduce the amount of light pollution going out into the night sky.
Craters Superintendent Wade Vagias submitted an application in January 2017.
“The Milky Way stretching across the park’s incredibly dark night sky is a sight many visitors will never forget,” Vagias wrote. “With this designation, the International Dark-Sky Association recognizes the importance of the natural darkness found here.”
Representatives of the Idaho Conservation League and others are lobbying to get an even bigger Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve that would encompass the Sawtooth and Pioneer Mountains. And the City of Ketchum hopes to hear any day whether it has been designated a Dark Sky Community.