Care For Big Bear Joins Efforts to Keep Night Skies Dark
Posted: 01/23/25 | By Janet Dooley
Look up! What do you see in the night sky? A hundred stars and planets?
Care For Big Bear wants you to be able to see thousands and thousands of them when the viewing is optimal with the help of its Dark Sky Initiative.
Sara Schacht is the Sustainability Manager for Care For Big Bear, part of Visit Big Bear’s effort to make Big Bear a joy for visitors and residents. The Dark Sky Initiative is just one way to appreciate and take advantage of our island in the sky.
“Ultimately this came around when I talked with Vatch,” Schacht said, referring to the President of the Big Bear Valley Astronomical Society, Vatch Arouchian.
Arouchian had first reached out to Schacht during the Society’s Perseid meteor shower viewing in August. Care For Big Bear and the Astronomical Society had invited Valley residents to turn down the glow for one night for optimal viewing of the night sky.
“I kind of got the idea from that about the dark skies,” Schacht said. She said she got a positive local response to the effort in August.
Schacht explained how Big Bear is unique in Southern California for stargazing and that it is one of our great assets. Much of the Southland is too densely populated and too bright at night. Even Big Bear has more building of houses than ever and the skies at night are not as dark as they could be.
I try to tell people we’re trying to keep our forest natural, that means dark at night. Vatch Arouchian
The Milky Way visible from North Shore Drive in Big Bear Lake. Bending Energy Photography
To this end, Visit Big Bear’s website has a page dedicated to the Dark Sky Initiative. There are tips to keep the skies dark, tips for what to look for in the night skies and best places for stargazing, a calendar of celestial events and information about the Big Bear Solar Observatory tours, the 2025 Perseid star party and Astronomical Society monthly meetings.
“I’m trying to shed more light on it, so to speak,” Schacht joked.
Not only is awareness of light pollution the polite and neighborly way to act, it is also the law. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors adopted a Light Trespass Ordinance in 2021 that spells out how late in the night and how far onto neighboring property light can trespass.
Of course, Big Bear Valley’s main business is tourism. Owners want to light up their businesses. And we all enjoyed the recent holiday lights in The Village and around The Valley.
“What I would propose, and think would be a good compromise, is to have a cutoff time so that at least lighting has to be subdued,” Arouchian said.
He went on to explain that people understand what noise pollution and environmental pollution are and how they affect not just your own property but your neighbors’ as well.
“Light can also be polluted, can be used in excess,” Arouchian. “It becomes a nuisance, just like a barking dog becomes a nuisance.”
Light pollution is the reason we no longer see the Milky Way at night. Arouchian said stargazers are having to travel farther and farther away from residential areas to appreciate the night sky.
The Dark Sky Initiative invites people to enjoy one more aspect of nature - our beautiful forest, the wildlife, the opportunity for outdoor activities and stargazing.
Care For Big Bear is the sustainability arm of Visit Big Bear - educating visitors on responsible visitation such as picking up their trash and treating the forest with respect. Sara Schacht
Find more information on the Dark Sky Initiative at CareForBigBear.com. Find more information about the Big Bear Valley Astronomical Society at bearvalleyastronomers.org.
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Originally published at BigBearGrizzly.net