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Things are looking up Wood Buffalo to seek international dark-sky preserve status in January
Paul Bickford
"Wood Buffalo National Park is applying to become the world's largest international dark-sky preserve," said Tim Gauthier, a communications officer with the park. "This is an honour currently held by a park in New Zealand. We are seeking to supplant that and to provide an exciting new visitor experience." Gauthier, who is also the public outreach co-ordinator with the Thebacha and Wood Buffalo Astronomical Society, said the application will be made in early January to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. The national organization will pass the application on to the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). Gauthier noted an application was submitted in September to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for preliminary review and the society was very pleased with it. "At the time, we were only applying to become a dark-sky preserve," he said. "They encouraged us to go for international dark-sky preserve status, which is another layer of prestige." The current largest dark-sky preserve in the world is Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand. "We would be the largest dark-sky preserve in the world by a significant margin," Gauthier noted. The designation would mean a commitment that the entirety of Wood Buffalo National Park –44,804 square kilometres – would maintain extremely strict lighting protocols. It is uncertain how long the IDA will take to decide on the Wood Buffalo application. The IDA is meeting in March, Gauthier noted. "So we hope to be considered during their meeting there. As to whether or not we would get status at that time, we don't know." Preparation for the application has taken about 14 months. It involved, among other things, gathering panoramic photographs of all proposed dark-sky preserve observation sites and taking night sky readings with a sky quality meter, which measures the absence of light. Gauthier said a "staggering" amount of research had to be done, including a complete lighting inventory of the park, even at the Alberta community of Garden River inside the park. "Every street light had to be counted," he said. Gauthier said the light inventory included the park section of Highway 5, where there is a light at the grader shed about 100 km from Fort Smith. The park also had to have public outreach programs to explain the value of preserving darkness and its effects on plants and animals, along with outlining planned events for visitors. The Thebacha and Wood Buffalo Astronomical Society was formed in 2011 as a result of that outreach. Canadians increasingly live in urban areas, Gauthier noted. "Dark skies are essentially an increasingly rare commodity. We have it. Wood Buffalo National Park is all about space – the space to enjoy yourself here and the space that is up above us."
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