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Home July 9, 2020 Minutes

July 9, 2020 Minutes

Attending:

Stephen Goldmsith, Duane Hamacher, Stacy Harwood, Jessica Heim, Joe Jensen, Dave Kieda, Aubrey Larsen, Gabriel Lozada, Kate Magargal, Daniel Mendoza, Richard Menzies, Brian Moench, Janet Muir, Justina Parsons-Bernstein, Nathanael Petersen, Thomas Quayle, Paul Ricketts, Larry Smith, Jan Sojka, Randy Stanley, Flint Timmins, James Toledo, Hugh Van Wagenen, Crystal White

An update on the Dark Sky Minor and drone:

  • DM: The minor was formally approved recently and can now be formally offered. “Significantly more inquiries” with this status. First two classes were taught last academic year. We got through the drone work this spring, and managed to get a paper out on its development. It will be sent out to you all with the minutes and posted to the website.
  • DM: Stephen sent out an article from Forbes highlighting Helper as the first dark sky city in Utah. A lot of help with that from students in the minor. Stephen, would you put a link in the chat?
  • SG: https://www.forbes.com/sites/valeriestimac/2020/04/01/helper-utah-is-the-worlds-newest-dark-sky-communityheres-how-to-visit/
  • DM: I will teach the capstone class this fall. We will probably try to hold in-person classes for the first couple of weeks and see how things go. 
  • SH: We are working on our U of U Dark Sky Studies Minor Webpage: http://plan.cap.utah.edu/dark-sky-studies-minor/  Suggestions welcome.

The SE Utah Night Sky Refuge:

  • CW: Getting our advocates on the ground, making sure we’re not duplicating efforts. Discussing challenges. “Using all of our combined knowledge” so when COVID isn’t an issue we can hit the ground running. With COVID being rampant, we’re not approaching communities at all, “waiting for better days”.
  • CW: Working on documents (FAQs; best practices for approaching communities, etc. Link: Southeastern Utah Night Sky Reserve Frequently Asked Questions). Website is up; we have a Facebook page. Instagram is in the works. Business cards. We have recruited some help from folks like Ryan Andreason. 
  • DM: We’re going to be working on the website with Nathanael, our summer intern. Send me a short bio, contact info, headshot. Explain your role in one line: e.g., educator; parks; particular institutions and/or your interests. Want to make this as useful as possible for everyone.
    • BM: Individual bios, or orgs?
    • DM: Either is fine.

IDA Utah Updates:

  • AD: I’m filling in for Anil Seth today. I’m the board chair for IDA Utah. We formed our board in January with 16 members and 5 committees. I’ll review their goals
    • Executive: Board structure, documents, creation of additional committees
    • Legislative: Policy issues, both for new initiatives and to thank public figures for their past efforts. Working on a Utah special issue license plate.
    • Ordinance: Reviewing all Utah municipal lighting ordinances to devise a best-practices toolkit. Have been in touch with Park City. Lost of momentum with SLC and Sandy City.
    • Outreach: Gathering resources to host dark-sky events; create content; social media
    • Dark-sky places: Support nominations
  • AD: Board meets 4-5 times per year according to our bylaws. For committee work, all five committees are “full steam ahead” despite it being summer.
  • AD: I’ll put my contact info in the chat. We would love to have help with our committees. Website is up: utah.darksky.ngo. We have also created a Slack workspace. 
  • DM: Anything that any group member wants to send to me to be put up in the website, please do so. Or anything you want to send to the while group 

CPDSC Updates:

  • AL: I’ll link our 2019 annual report in the chat: 2019 Colorado Plateau Dark Sky Cooperative. This is our second annual report.
  • AL gave an overview of the annual report. Highlights
    • Added a 4th element to our mission statement on promoting astrotourism
    • We have a monthly newsletter that is doing well, including a guest spotlight each time. The August spotlight will be the dark-sky studies minor with the help of Stacy.
    • Social media is growing
    • We have created several new storymaps and dashboards
    • Lots of presence at events in 2019 including IDA AGM and the UN conference
  • AL: 2020 priorities include stakeholder agreements, Western Night Skies Council, supporting Basin & Range DS Cooperative, exploring future funding scenarios for the cooperative.

Bryan Boulanger upcoming Zion National Park work:

  • DM: Bryan can’t be here today, but sent me a message with some details about the project. Early August. New tools: calibrated sky quality and scene illuminance meters. I think that’s the last of the Big Five parks that needs some work before certification. 
  • DM: Any comments before we move to the bylaws?
    • CF: We would love to promote dark-sky events in Utah and have set up a web page to take submissions.
    • DM: Potential dates for next meeting are in about October, assuming quarterly meeting. Possibly the 8th but that’s fall break at the U. The VP debate will take place at the U on the 7th, so that’s another concern for the 8th. The 15th is when the local school system has its fall break. Any strong preference for 1st or 22nd? 

Bylaws discussion:

  • DM: We had a planning meeting a few months ago. Sen. Vickers and Rep. Handy were present at our meeting at the end of last year. They are the sponsors of the resolution a couple of years ago to encourage Utahns to reduce light pollution. They are key CDSS allies. I understand that it pays to have legislators involved in the process to be part of the organization. They’re keen on looking at LP as an environmental hazard. So we want to keep them involved in this. It’s a good step forward.
  • DM: Thoughts/opinions about the bylaws? We would like to try to pass them in this meeting.
  • JP-B: Comment about Art II, Sec 1 description: “The CDSS is an academic organization focusing on research and education of topics related to the protection of Dark Skies globally.” Can it be “academic and outreach” organization?
    • DM: The main reason we worded it like that is because we wanted to distinguish it from an advocacy group. 
    • JP-B: I remember when we talked about this last year, it’s important to have that partnership of orgs on the ground with scholars. Consider them “twin pillars”.
    • DK: How about “academic and educational”? (JP-B: Ok)
  • DM: Anything else?
  • DK: In terms of feedback, this is very important as a document. Sets a stage for everyone. Looking forward to people getting more involved in the organization. We should pass it as soon as possible.
  • The bylaws were unanimously approved by all attending this meeting.

Misc:

  • DK: Has anyone been doing light monitoring during COVID?
    • JP-B: We have been monitoring several of the parks, comparing readings going back to 2016
    • JM: We took readings about a month and a half ago, and they’re the best since 2013
    • PR: Permanent SQM on South Physics
    • DK: Would be a really cool paper.
    • DM: Due to lower light levels or less scattering?
    • JB: And there have been some decreases seen in satellite data