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Dark Sky

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The International Dark Sky Association (IDA) was founded in 1988 to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting. Their award-winning International Dark Sky Places Program was founded in 2001 to encourage communities, parks and protected areas around the world to preserve and protect dark sky sites through responsible lighting policies and public education.

The program offers six types of designation:

International Dark Sky Communities: These are legally organized cities and towns that adopt quality outdoor lighting ordinances and undertake efforts to educate residents about the importance of dark skies.

International Dark Sky Parks: Parks are publicly- or privately-owned spaces protected for natural conservation that implement good outdoor lighting and provide dark sky programs for visitors.

International Dark Sky Reserves: Reserves consist of a dark “core” zone surrounded by a populated periphery where policy controls are enacted to protect the darkness of the core.

International Dark Sky Sanctuaries: Sanctuaries are the most remote and often darkest places in the world whose conservation state is most fragile.

Urban Night Sky Places: These are sites surrounded by large urban environs whose planning and design actively promote an authentic nighttime experience in the midst of significant artificial light at night.

Dark Sky Friendly Developments of Distinction: These recognize subdivisions, master planned communities, and unincorporated neighborhoods and townships whose planning actively promotes a more natural night sky.

Arizona has a high concentration of International Dark Sky Places with 17 in all so far. Fountain Hills is the world’s 17th International Dark Sky Community and leads the way in Dark Sky designation for suburban areas that are in close proximity to a major metro area.

For more information, visit FHDarkSky.com.