Author: Nathan Dupre

Celebrate Utah’s Dark Sky Month

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Celebrate Utah’s Dark Sky Month by taking a Stargazing Adventure at one of our local Dark Sky Places  

Utah is at the heart of a dense cluster of certified parks called The Great Western Starry Way from New Mexico to Montana.   The Beehive State boasts some of the finest dark skies in the world where viewing the billions of stars in the Milky Way has become an increasingly popular pastime for all ages.

In Utah alone, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), with a mission to protect naturally dark places for present and future generations, has certified 23 (and counting) locations, including communities, parks, and protected areas.

Dark Skies Exploration: A Beginner’s Guide

Best places to stargaze close to home include Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Park, and local state parks Gunlock State Park and Snow Canyon State Park (UTAH STATE PARKS STARRY NIGHTS INITIATIVE) 

Tips for Stargazing

Zion National Park offers the following suggestions:

  • Don’t stop or stand in the roadway. Oncoming cars can’t see you in the fading light (and they are looking at the scenery too!) Use pullouts and parking lots.
  • Have a light. If you plan on walking away from your vehicle, every member of your group should have a personal light (headlamp or flashlight; don’t rely on your phone!) If you didn’t bring one with you, lights are available for purchase in many local stores and the park bookstore.
  • Check the astronomical viewing forecast to determine when it is best to view the night sky.

Need locations? Our favorites include:
The Museum patio 
Pa’rus Trail
Kolob Canyons Viewpoint
Watchman Campground
 

Bryce Canyon National Park offer astronomy programs Wednesday and Fridays evenings from May to September, followed by stargazing with telescopes. No reservations are required, but it is advised to arrive 15-30 minutes early. Ranger-guided full moon hikes are an exciting way to experience the park and its stunning sky. Full moon hiking spots are limited and last 1-2 miles or 2-3 hours.

Cedar Breaks National Monument offers Seven Simple Ways to Enjoy Natural Darkness

  1. Conquer your fears: Admit it. Most people are a bit uncomfortable in the dark. Try walking outside in a very dark area while keeping your flashlight in your pocket.
  2. Make a night vision friendly flashlight: By covering your flashlight with red cellophane or a red filter, you can prevent it from disrupting your night vision. Small flashlights work better than large ones.
  3. Stargaze: Spend time looking through telescopes and learning about the cosmos with your local science center, astronomy club, or park ranger.
  4. Go for a moonlit hike: The full moon provides ample light to see in most places. Let your eyes fully adjust. Be safe. A full moon hike will be a memorable experience.
  5. Awaken your nocturnal senses: Find a comfortable spot and look around. Allow your eyes 20 minutes to adjust, and you may be surprised how well you can see by starlight. Do objects appear further? Listen. Do sounds seem louder at night?
  6. Watch nocturnal wildlife: Many animals live their “days” at night. Look for nocturnal wildlife such as owls, bats, deer, bobcats, or fireflies.


Thanks for your support of Ivins Night Sky

Governor Cox Declares April Dark Sky Month


Governor Cox Declares April Dark Sky Month From the Office of Governor Spencer J. Cox
On April 1st, 2023, Governor Cox declared the month of April as
Utah Dark Sky Month
for the third consecutive year. The declaration encourages residents and visitors alike to celebrate this month by visiting one of Utah’s 24 accredited International Dark Sky Places – including all of the Mighty 5® national parks, 10 state parks, and two towns

Did you know Utah is home to some of the darkest skies in the nation and is not only a national leader in dark sky protection and preservation but has the highest number of certified dark sky places in the world?

We are so fortunate in Ivins to live in a city that supports the Night Sky through its progressive outdoor lighting ordinance. As mentioned in this KSL article “…many municipalities throughout the state have or are in the process of adopting dark sky lighting ordinances. A walk down the amber-colored paths winding through Ivins, in southern Utah, shows the fruits of their long-adopted ordinances. A *survey of all residents last fall confirmed the importance of the night sky.”  (*The top two issues residents said the city should immediately focus on are open space and trails (81.1% very or completely important) and regulating outdoor lighting and maintaining a dark sky (74.3%). 
Here in Southern Utah you can visit Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks and Bryce National Park, all designated International Dark Sky Parks and all within just two hours drive.

To view a timeplapse of the Night Sky at Zion by Aryeh Nirenberg click here. 

Thanks for your support of Ivins Night Sky.  

Ivins Survey Results

Hope you’re all reviewing the survey responses, lots of good news. Here’s just a sample:

WHAT RESIDENT NEEDS SHOULD IVINS CITY FOCUS ON?  

ALL residents:

Continue to regulate outdoor lighting to maintain a dark night sky 16.2% (1-2)   9.5% (3) 74.3% (4-5) this is the 2nd highest ranking out of 28 after open space & trails (81.1%)

Residents here less than 1 year (all neighborhoods) – protecting Dark Sky was #1

Continue to regulate outdoor lighting to maintain a dark night sky 10.3% (1-2) 8.1% (3) 81.6% (4-5)

Even when broken down by neighborhoods, protecting the night sky is one of the top priorities.

https://ivins.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=1084&meta_id=161222

Planning Ivins Future


Updating the General Plan and Protecting the Night SkyWhat is the General Plan and why is it important?
Ivins City has just begun the process of reviewing our current General Plan that was last updated in 2015. The General Plan is an essential document that lays out our shared vision and goals for the future and guides the ordinances that are written and govern the city’s development. It should include what we most value and what is worth protecting and it is really important that we all participate in developing a new Plan. Chapter Three of the current Plan outlines “The Community’s Vision” for the Future  and the fifteen goals that were important in 2015. (For more detailed information read Councilman Mike Scott’s explanation of the process) 
Protecting the Night Sky is included in our current Plan’s “Vision for the Future” and we recently experienced the importance of that designation when some members of the Planning Commission suggested deleting that protection when they were updating the Lighting Ordinance. All ordinances should follow the General Plan and that is why it is so very important for all of us who cherish our night sky to participate in the Town Hall meetings and make sure protection of our night sky continues to be one of our guiding principles.   There are five more town hall meetings scheduled to gather citizen input and although there are recommendations of specific neighborhoods attending a certain meeting, all citizens are welcome to attend any meeting (or all) that best fits their schedule.  The meeting will also be available by Zoom. 

Tuesday, October 11th and 25th for residents living east of 200 East  (we’re sorry if you missed the meeting on the 11th but you can still attend any of the others)
11th Zoom link
25th Zoom link

Wednesday, October 12th and 26th for residents living between 200 East and 400 West
12th Zoom link
26th Zoom link

Thursday, October 13th and 27th for residents living wwest of 400 West
13th Zoom link
27th Zoom link

Please participate in these town hall meetings and let our City Council know how important protecting the night sky is to you.

Celebrate April Dark Sky Month


Think you can’t protect the night sky close to a large urban community? Think again…North Fork Park, located only 12 miles outside North Ogden, is a true success story for Dark Sky preservation. Designated in 2015, North Fork Park was the second county park in the world to receive the prestigious Dark Sky Park designation. With the rapid growth of its cities, parts of Utah are losing the dark night skies that once characterized frontier life in the Beehive State. In an effort to save this vanishing resource, local residents came together to preserve the night sky. Thanks to their years of dedication, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) now recognizes Weber County North Fork Park as the world’s first Bronze-tier International Dark Sky Park. 
Read more of this success story here

And in our own backyard, you can take a trip to Cedar Breaks National Monument, an International Dark Sky Park designed in 2017 and one of the best places for stargazing in Utah. Cedar Breaks is located in one of the largest regions of remaining natural darkness in the lower 48 U.S. states and is developing into a mecca for astrotourism. Cedar Breaks recognizes that the dark sky is a fragile and vanishing natural resource and is dedicated to making every effort to help preserve it.
(Although the Park’s summer ranger-led astronomy programs were cancelled during Covid, you can contact the Park at (435) 986-7120 to confirm star-gazing programs for the summer of 2022.) 

Even if the ranger programs are not being held, you can read seven simple ways to enjoy the dark sky here 

Protecting our dark skies might be easier than you think. Check out this short video from Clark Planetarium for simple ways you can help protect the night sky. 

Ivins Night Sky continues to focus on protecting our Night Sky

  In September 2021 the Ivins City Council approved final revisions to the Outdoor Lighting Ordinance. While there were some very objectionable proposed changes in the beginning, because of your comments and concerns, the final ordinance retains strong provisions that will help protect our night sky. 

Some of the major changes include:

– Definitions and clarifications were added for Illuminated Signs, Correlated Color Temperature (CCT), Kelvin, height of luminaires and visible light source.
– Electronic Message Boards were listed under “Prohibited Lighting”.
– Maintained that the standard CCT for residential outdoor lighting and non-residential lighting for streets and parking lots shall be 3,000 degrees K or less.
– Inserted figures describing and providing requirements for light trespass, fully-shielded fixtures, walkway lighting, canopy lighting.
– Clarified that backlighting must not be visible beyond your property boundary.
– Requires security lighting be on a timer and not be triggered by off-property activity.
– Added requirements for private sport court facilities.

What’s happening with the Shivwits soccer fields?

If you have recently driven out Highway 91 past Fire Lake you may have noticed the earth-moving equipment behind the Shivwits Gas Station & Convenience Store.  The Shivwits Band is constructing a soccer field complex complete with lighting for night games.  Ivins Night Sky has been working with the Shivwits since March 2021 to influence the design of the lighting system so it minimizes the light pollution off-site. What we do not want is sports lighting similar to what exists at nearby Unity Park, Gubler Park and The Canyons Softball Fields where the lights are not properly shielded and broadcast light well beyond the sports fields into neighboring communities.  The ultimate goal is a design that approaches the International Dark Sky Association’s criteria for ‘Community Friendly Sports Lighting’.

So far the Shivwits Band has taken this effort seriously, as they have a positive ethic towards environmental conservation and also want to minimize light pollution and its impact on Dark Skies.  The reality is a well-designed lighting system is going to have additional costs and there will likely be a community fund-raising effort to help defray the incremental cost.  More information will be following.

For more information, please click on these links:

Utah Youth Soccer Legacy Fields at Shivwits

A Soccer Mecca: Complex groundbreaking a big step for both Shivwits, Utah Youth Soccer Association

International Dark Sky Community-Friendly Sports Lighting Design Certification

March 20, 2021: City Council’s Decision & Next Steps

On Thursday March 18th, the Ivins City Council decided to break the Outdoor Lighting Ordinance issue into two parts.

Part 1 will be a public hearing on April 1st to consider: (1) a prohibition of electronic message boards; (2) increasing the color temperature for residential from 2700K to 3000K, and, (3) lowering the output of flag lighting from 6,000 to 1,500 lumens.

Part 2 will take place after April 1st, when the Council will consider all of the other changes proposed by the Planning Commission.

We agree with the message board and flag lighting changes. The residential increase is reasonable.

We do not agree with many of the other Planning Commission recommendations, which will be considered after April 1st.

If you agree with us and haven’t signed our Letter of Support yet, please do it now (Click here for the Letter of Support).

If you are not sure if you signed the Letter of Support, do it again. We will watch for duplicates.

We need to show the City Council that a lot of people object to the Planning commission’s recommendations. Please reach out to people you know in Ivins and encourage them to sign the Letter of Support.

Based on the discussion at Thursday’s Council meeting, it appears the April 1st public hearing and any resulting decision will not include the more concerning recommendations from the Planning Commission. But anything can happen. So, if you are able to speak at the public hearing, either in person or using Zoom, about the issues that concern you, thank you.

As of March 20th, more than 1,200 Ivins residents, all adults, have added their names to the Letter of Support. The map below shows there is broad support from all over the city. Please add your name and increase our collective voice.

Night Sky Candidate Responses

Do Candidates for Ivins City Support the Night Sky?

As most of you know, two Ivins City Council seats and the mayor position are up for election this November. Because of the number of candidates who have filed to run, there will be a primary between the six city council candidates on August 10, 2021.

Decisions by the City Council can have a huge impact on protecting and preserving the integrity of our night skies. Right now the Council is still considering the proposed changes submitted by the Planning Commission, many of which would negatively impact our night skies. Who is elected in the upcoming election can make a tremendous difference.

We thought it was important for our supporters to get an idea of where each candidate stands in regard to our night sky so we submitted a quick survey to each candidate and are very appreciative and pleased that most completed the survey.

Here are the candidates with a link to their survey responses:

Cheyne McDonald
Derek Larsen
Lance Anderson
Mike Scott
Paul Bryson
Stephanie Webb (no response)

Mayor
Andy Appel (no response)
Chris Hart

Please vote for the candidate you think would do the most to protect our night sky. The primary will be by mail so if you will be traveling or staying at another address, you can apply for an ABSENTEE BALLOT here.

DEADLINE FOR REQUESTING A CHANGE OF ADDRESS FOR YOUR BALLOT IS FRIDAY, JULY 9TH!!!

1. Click “Register to Vote or update registration”
2. You’ll need your driver’s license number and last 4 digits of your SS # to verify your identity and the address you want your ballot forwarded to.
3. As you answer the questions, be sure and indicate how long you want to use the temporary address.

Traditionally non-presidential elections have low voter turnout, but as we’ve seen, who sits on our city council is vitally important. So this election is just as important as any other. Please be sure to vote in the primary and apply for absentee ballot if necessary.

Thank you for your support and thank you to the candidates who took the time to complete our survey.


Letter of Support

In addition to people sending emails to the City Council, as of March 15th almost 1,200 Ivins residents, all adults, added their names to a Letter of Support to preserve and protect our night sky, objecting to some of the proposed changes to the Ivins Outdoor Lighting Ordinance. (Note: The list of names will be sent separately to the City Recorder.)

If you agree with the Letter of Support, please add your name (click here). A few weeks ago we had close to 600 names, but that did not impress the Planning Commission. You would think that would have been meaningful. Apparently not. So we need your help.

The map shows there is broad-based support throughout the city for the statements made in the Letter of Support.

The map understates the level of support because it makes only one plot when: (a) two or more adults live at one address, (b) when supporters list only a street name, HOA name, or neighborhood name, and (c) more people have signed since we did the map and more sign every day.

A Planning Commissioner suggested that the ordinance doesn’t matter to people living in HOAs because HOAs can have more restrictive lighting requirements. However, this broad-based support shows people are more community minded. They care about the whole community, not just their own back yard.

And any legitimate concerns about safety can be addressed in other ways, as discussed in the posts, Shedding light on crime trends in Ivins and Talking about color temperature raises everyone’s temperature.

LETTER OF SUPPORT

If you agree with the Letter of Support, please add your name (click here).

I support a strong lighting ordinance that:

  • “Protect(s) the night sky by carefully regulating lighting while also promoting safety for residents” as stated in the Ivins General Plan;
  • maintains all references to “preserve, protect and enhance the night sky” in the Ordinance.

I support these proposed changes:

  • Prohibiting the use of electronic message boards;
  • lowering the max. output on lighting of our national and state flag from 6000 to 1500 lumens;
  • grandfathering existing lighting;
  • new and revised definitions and minor clean-up language.

I DO NOT support these proposed changes:

  • Increasing the color temperature to 4000K for all outdoor lights (up from 2200K for commercial properties and streetlights and 2700K for residential);
  • allowing no upper limit on color temperature as long as they are motion activated with timers;
  • eliminating the use of amber filters to lower color temperature for streetlights and commercial;


I DO NOT support ANY of the other proposed changes to the ordinance because they weaken protections for neighbors, increase the risk of glare and light trespass, are contrary to the vision and goals in the General Plan, weaken enforceability, and create ambiguity.

Why I object to lighting ordinance changes

By Kai Reed, Ivins resident

I am writing to express my opposition to some of what I consider detrimental changes proposed by the Planning Commission to our lighting ordinance. I watched/listened to all the discussions during the PC meetings regarding these changes and was very concerned with the competency of the process. 

My major concerns are:

  • 1. Changes outside what were asked
  • 2. Did not get expert advice to answer questions they were unsure of
  • 3 Used “safety” to justify changes without statistical support and
  • 4. Approved an ordinance they knew was defective but wanted to “punt” it to City Council.

#1: Changes outside what were asked

I am disturbed the Planning Commission made changes outside the direction given by the City Council. In the Dec. 15th PC meeting Bryan Pack stated “A year ago the City council did give the PC direction on very limited things such as message boards that need to be changed…none of which affected the night sky portion.”  Updating definitions and using the latest technology is appropriate, however, increasing the color temperature, eliminating amber filters and permitting unlimited color temperature of lights is totally uncalled for, outside what they were asked to do and will most definitely have a negative impact on our night sky.  The Commissioners acknowledged over and over again that protecting and preserving the night sky was an important component of the General Plan yet their decisions have weakened those protections. 

#2: Did not get expert advice to answer questions they were unsure of

I also found it extremely troubling that over and over again commission members asked questions about why they should increase color temperature to 4000K and no one was able to provide a satisfactory explanation. In fact it was noted many times that the commission needed an “expert” to help them understand what impact the changes would have.  In the Jan. 5th meeting it was noted we “need an expert to clean up technical language”, “(we need to) get experts to help with numbers and definitions.” At one point one of the commissioners actually said “are we just pulling numbers out of a hat?” Lance Anderson told the other members how they had arrived at the original number by actually going out at night and having a display of different lights and seeing for themselves the impacts the brighter lights had. He suggested the PC members do the same but his advice was ignored. And Dale Coulam told the Commission members there was a process in place to obtain the services of a specialist or expert but again, the Planning Commission never chose to do so.  In another meeting Dale stated “if you are not going to have staff retain an expert, then recommend to City Council the type of expert to be retained and have Staff go through requests for proposals.” Again ignored.

#3: Used “safety” to justify changes without statistical support

Another concern is the focus on “safety” over all other considerations.  It was implied that Ivins is a very dangerous place, that crime is high and we need more and brighter lights to keep everyone safe.  These arguments have been refuted many times.  Kathy Barth submitted a very detailed and comprehensive report (Shedding light on crime trends) to the PC showing that in fact, crime is very low in Ivins. Other studies were submitted that show that just increasing lights does not deter crime.  The PC members either did not read those reports and studies or chose to ignore them and continued to use “safety” as the excuse for weakening the current ordinance. 

#4: Approved an ordinance they knew was defective but wanted to “punt” it to City Council

I feel the Planning Commission knew they were approving and passing a defective ordinance.  Several times the Commission Chair said he wanted “to push this forward to City Council to put this in the realm it needs to be in to tell us yes or no.” “Punt it to them and get it where it needs to be.”  “push this to the City Council for discussion…amongst those who are more directly accountable to the citizenry.”  I feel the PC abdicated their responsibility and just wanted to get the ordinance off their agenda. Even Dale Coulam told them “Give the best recommendation  you can and if you don’t know that specific technical number, recommend the type of expert needed for that to help get them that number.” Again advice not taken.

What I do support

I do support prohibiting electronic message boards, updating definitions and lowering the lighting on state & national flags.

What I do not support

I do not support increasing the kelvin number to 4000, eliminating any upper limit on color temperatures even if they are motion activated with timers or eliminating amber filers. No sufficient reason was ever given in the PC meetings as to why these changes were necessary. I also do not support language that is unenforceable such as “Exterior lighting shall be allowed at levels necessary for safety and security purposes.”