“Guard, protect and cherish your land,
for there is no afterlife for a place
that started out as Heaven.”
— Charles Marion Russell (1929)
WHAT IS LIGHT POLLUTION?
GLARE
Unshielded light fixtures create blinding glare from LED point sources
TRESPASS
Town streetlight shining into bedroom windows on nearby private property
CLUTTER
Too many lights causes light clutter that can disorient drivers and pedestrians
SKYGLOW
Skyglow over Polson and Missoula, as seen from Kalispell (Blacktail Mtn.)
IS LIGHT POLLUTION REALLY A SERIOUS PROBLEM?
Montana is blessed with patches of still-dark, rural night skies. If light pollution would just stop growing, Montana would be in better shape than most states. But light pollution just keeps growing and spreading. World-wide, light pollution is expanding at double the rate of population growth. In the U.S., light pollution is increasing at 6% per year. And in Montana, all of our light pollution has spread across our ‘Big Sky’ since 1880, the year that both Charlie Russell and artificial electric lights arrived.
Just a few generations ago, everyone in Montana enjoyed a pristine night sky filled with stars. Now, 80% of our citizens live under light polluted skies where only a few of the brightest stars are visible through the skyglow — and the Milky Way is missing. At the same time, light pollution wastes our money, compromises our ability to safely walk and drive at night, damages our health and threatens our native wildlife. We can do so much better with common sense solutions at little or no additional cost.
Montanans have a choice. We can ignore the issue, do nothing and loose the remaining patches of pristine skies that our grandparents enjoyed. Our nightly ‘Big Sky’ will become a glowing fog, barren of stars, northern lights and other celestial delights. Or, we can take common sense measures that save money and give us better, safer lighting that also brings back our dark night sky heritage for our children and grandchildren. Which path do you prefer?
Light Pollution Growth in Montana Over the Last Six Years (2013-2019)
Data from VIIRS instrument on NOAA satellite (click on any image to enlarge)
Billings
Bozeman
Butte
Eastern Montana
Flathead Valley
Great Falls
Helena
Missoula and Bitterroot
Dark Sky Locations Around Montana
Montana locations that are still dark at night but threatened by the continued expansion of artificial light
Bob Marshall Wilderness with Zodiacal Light and Milky Way
The zodiacal light and Milky Way show up in the inky-dark night skies over Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness
Square Butte Aurora
Northern lights dance over Square Butte, in central Montana.
Dusty Star Mountain and Meteor
A winter meteor goes dark below Comet Wirtanen, above Dusty Star Mountain and Saint Mary Lake, in the Waterton-Glacier International Dark Sky Park.
Bighorn Canyon Aurora
Northern lights dance above Bighorn Canyon along Montana’s southern border.
Medicine Rocks State Park
Stars outline a sandstone hoodoo at Medicine Rocks State Park, in southeastern Montana.
Bear Gulch Pictographs
Full-shield warrior pictographs stand watch over the Milky Way at Bear Gulch, in central Montana
Palisade Falls
The Big Dipper pours out into Palisade Falls, near Bozeman.
North Fork Flathead River
Andromeda and the Milky Way rise above Waterton-Glacier International Dark Sky Park.
The International Dark Sky Association (IDA) Montana Chapter is the official IDA chapter for the Big Sky State.
We are a 501(c)3 non-profit registered in the state of Montana. All donations are tax-deductable.