Thank you for helping us protect our extraordinary night skies and everything that lives beneath them!
We did it! On April 11th, 2025 Teton County became the world’s first county to be designated as an International Dark Sky Community!
Light pollution–the excessive and unnecessary artificial light that brightens the night sky–has become a problem in Jackson Hole. It negatively impacts the health and safety of people and wildlife; it wastes money and energy; it impedes our ability to enjoy dark night skies. Many other cities around the globe are protecting themselves and their wildlife from light pollution while capitalizing on their efforts to restore their dark night skies. We are working to Salva nuestros cielos nocturnos too!
After 10 years of work, Wyoming Stargazing’s Salva nuestros cielos nocturnos Campaign achieved one of its main goals of receiving International Dark Sky Community Certification for the Town of Jackson and Teton County. But the work does not stop here. Now, more than ever, we need every visitor and resident of Jackson Hole to help Salva nuestros cielos nocturnos!
Many thanks to the generous support from the Fundación comunitaria de Jackson Hole, la Teton Conservation District, 1% for the Tetons, la JH Travel and Tourism Board, Fotografía itinerante gratuita, New Thought Digital Agency, la Grupo de fotografía Teton, la Alianza para la Conservación de Jackson Hole, and many private donors for making this all possible!
Why is Reducing Light Pollution Important?
Animals suffer from excessive artificial lighting at night. Moths and other insects are attracted to brighter lights. The light causes them to leave their natural area, which leads birds and bats to expend more energy hunting those insects farther from their homes. Light pollution also negatively affects the migration of birds, resulting in an estimated 1,000,000,000+ bird deaths every year. Larger prey species are also left at a disadvantage because more light means fewer places to hide. That excess light allows predators to create dangerous instabilities in ecosystems. All noctornal mammals lose their depth perception and become disoriented when they are exposed to bright artificial light at night, especially bluish-white light. That’s where the saying, “a deer caught in the headlights” originates.
Dark Night Skies es parte del carácter de la comunidad en Jackson (Política del plan integral 1.3.d). Those of us who live in Jackson Hole are incredibly fortunate to be in a place where we can still see a spectacular number of stars from just a few miles outside of the Town of Jackson. As of 2016, only 20% of people in the US could see the arms of the Milky Way Galaxy from where they lived (Faichi et al. 2016). In downtown Jackson, that view is very close to being lost entirely, but it’s not too late to bring it back!
Varios estudios científicos have shown that lighting at night disrupts sleep patterns and hormone production. Some of those hormones have been proven to help mitigate cancerous growths. With properly shielded lighting?ideally using a warm color (reddish instead of blueish)?sleep is drastically improved and hormones such as melatonin are produced naturally, allowing for improved health.
“[Dark Sky International] estimates that at least 30 percent of all outdoor lighting in the U.S. alone is wasted, mostly by lights that aren?t shielded. That adds up to $3.3 billion and the release of 21 million tons of carbon dioxide per year!“
La creencia de que más iluminación conduce a más seguridad no es más que un mito.. “There is no clear scientific evidence that increased outdoor lighting deters crimes. It may make us feel safer, but has not been shown to make us safer” (IDA). Unshielded lighting causes our eyes to adjust to the brightness of the light itself, thereby hiding objects or people hidden behind the light in the shadows. Shielded lighting increases visibility by reducing glare, which makes it easier to pick out would-be criminals as well as people and animals crossing the road.
So What’s the Solution?
2025 Save Our Night Skies Goals
2024 Goal Completed
2025 Goals Completed
Interim ? 1-5 Years
- Decrease and maintain sky brightness in Jackson, Teton County, and Grand Teton National Park so that the Milky Way can be easily viewable from anywhere in Jackson Hole.
10 Year Vision
Latest Updates
The Town of Jackson and Teton County
Teton County is now the world’s first county to be designated as a Dark Sky Community by DarkSky International!
Teton County Exterior Lighting Standard and Sign Standard (pages 236-242 and 262-270)
Grand Teton National Park
We completed a comprehensive outdoor lighting inventory of Grand Teton National Park in 2023. The full report can be viewed here. The good news is that GTNP is well on its way to becoming Dark Sky compliant.
JH Airport
The JH Airport has been designated as an Urban Night Sky Place from Dark Sky International.
Our efforts in 2022 to Salva nuestros cielos nocturnos were made possible by generous private donations and a grant from the Fundación comunitaria de Jackson Hole
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