GOLDEN GATE STATE PARK — Golden Gate Canyon State Park’s administrator Bronwyn Phillips has spent a lot of time in the  past couple of years looking at the night sky. 

While she admits that Panorama Point is the park’s classic stargazing spot, Phillips cited Ole  Barn Knoll and Paintbrush Picnic Area as her favorite places to see the stars.

“There’s not as  much light dome from the city because they have Promontory Ridge and Tremont Mountain  blocking anything from Denver,” she explains.

But Phillips wasn’t just stargazing; she was trying to find out if Golden Gate Canyon’s night sky  was dark enough to be an International Dark Sky Place, classified by DarkSky International as a  space dedicated to reducing light pollution and protecting natural night skies.

The light dome from the Denver metro ultimately makes the skies at Golden Gate slightly too  bright to be certified as a Dark Sky Park, but the work that Phillips and her team put into  promoting dark skies has helped protect the park’s skies from other sources of light pollution.

Dark Sky Certification Specialist Aaron Watson was impressed with the efforts made by Phillips’  team to protect Golden Gate Canyon’s night skies. “They really understood the process,” he  says. “They did a great job with their education program, with their sky monitoring, and with  changing their lighting.”

Now, DarkSky Colorado has officially certified the park as an Urban Night Sky Place (UNSP). The designation is reserved for areas that promote "authentic" nighttime experiences despite their  proximity to urban sites. The designation makes Golden Gate Canyon State Park the first  certified UNSP in Colorado, and only the eighteenth in the world.

Despite their rarity, Watson stresses the importance and value of having public UNSPs like  Golden Gate. “A lot more people are going to come because they’re closer to the city than they  are to a remote place, so you’re able to bring that education to people,” Watson says. “I think  we’re going to see a lot more of these Urban Night Sky Places in the next few years.”

In addition to the educational perks, reducing light pollution helps wildlife species that rely on  stars for navigation and keeps nocturnal animals from getting disoriented, making Dark Sky  certification a no-brainer for any outdoor space that can achieve it.

“With our elevation, we do have certain species of birds who migrate through, so they are often  affected [by bright lights],” Phillips explains. “I would also say [the same for] the elk populations  coming through.”

Park Ranger Jake McCulloch, who helped out with measuring the brightness of the park’s night  sky, grew more aware of the nighttime wildlife the park was protecting while taking night  readings.

“I kept observing a northern saw-whet owl, which I’d never heard before,” McCulloch says. “That was a really fun process and kind of eye-opening as to why it’s important to pursue this  kind of work and protect our dark skies.”

Darker night skies will also make nights more pleasant for Gilpin County residents. “No one  really wants bright lights in [their] eyes when they’re trying to enjoy walking at night or sitting  on the porch,” Phillips points out.

“It’s not just inspiration we’re losing, but there’s actually a host of health benefits that are  impacted,” Watson adds. “Health risks are linked to too much artificial light.”

Taking all of the positives of darker skies together, it is easy to see why so many communities  have rallied behind Dark Sky efforts. “I’ve done some environmental work before and it can be  kind of disheartening because it can be so hard to see changes happen,” Watson says. “But with  dark skies, not only is it instant...but it seems that people really get excited about the night sky, because it’s something that they love.”

The president of Friends of the Gilpin County Community Center, Carolyn Petersen, is one of  many local supporters of dark skies, having provided significant support to Golden Gate Canyon’s UNSP application. “She was…a big advocate for us becoming an Urban Night Sky  Place,” Phillips says. “She wrote us a letter of recommendation for it.”

Petersen has led many of the park’s educational programs relating to the night sky. Each summer, she brings visitors out to Panorama Point for a Star Party, where guests can use telescopes to stargaze and gain a deeper appreciation for what constellations can look like at  their most vibrant. She has also hosted a variety of talks about dark skies at Reverend’s Ridge Amphitheater.

The fight against light pollution is one that Colorado has a real shot at winning. And now that  Golden Gate’s park staff has learned how to protect their night skies, they are excited to share their knowledge with any other parks and communities that are interested in doing the same.

“Everybody at the end of the day is genuinely curious about the night sky, kind of like with the  ocean. They’re just like, ‘What’s out there?’” Phillips concludes. “So having a park that you live  right next to that wants to showcase [the stars] will be such a cool thing.”

To learn more about Dark Sky programs, keep an eye on Golden Gate Canyon’s Eventbrite page  (ggcsp.eventbrite.com) for astrological events during the summer season. Curious parties can  also check out DarkSky Colorado’s website (darkskycolorado.org) for digital resources on why  night skies are important and how to get your community Dark Sky certified.