Night Skies on Otter Lake
Did You Know ……..
The following information is provided in an effort to give helpful information and best practices to ensure your night time safety and security needs are met without negative impacts on wildlife and your neighbours at Otter Lake.
Outdoor lighting can be dark sky friendly.” See this website to modify your current lighting: https://idsw.darksky.org One of the wonderful experiences at the lake is enjoying the night sky … a feeling of peace and tranquility. The sources for this information can be found below under References & Links.
Wildlife & Environment
To mitigate the impact of outdoor lighting on wildlife please consider:
- Outdoor artificial light affects nocturnal activity of birds, amphibians, animals and (believe it or not) plants, resulting in adversely affecting behavior and reproduction.
- Artificial light attracts unwanted insects
- Less lighting reduces our carbon foot print.
- Artificial light has been proven to reduce the population of fireflies/lightning bugs since it interferes with their mating rituals
Health & Safety
- Blue-rich light is most harmful to human health; cool light during the day and warm light at night is the best.
- Use warm-white bulbs or filtered LEDs (CCT < 3,000K; S/P ratio < 1.2) to minimize blue emission.
- Blue-rich light sources increase glare and compromise human vision, especially in the aging eye.
- Blue-rich light worsens sky glow because it has a significantly larger geographic reach than lighting consisting of less blue.
- While many people believe more and brighter lighting makes us safer, there is no conclusive evidence suggesting this is true. In fact, glare from unshielded lights can create harsh shadows where criminals can hide and bright lighting can even make it easier for criminals to work.
Courtesy
- Select lighting that reduces glare, light trespass on your neighbours and sky glow.
- Use shielded light fixtures that cast light downwards and light up only needed areas.
- About 35% of light is wasted by unshielded and/or poorly-aimed outdoor lighting.
- Use timers or motion detectors to limit use of outdoor lighting to only when needed as well as lower your electricity bill and save money.
- Use energy efficient bulbs and only as bright as you need – brighter is not always better.
References & Links
- International Dark-Sky Association: http://www.darksky.org
- Mississippi Lake Plan, p. 34: https://www.mlakes.org/lake-plan-2015
Pike Lake Stewardship Handbook, p. 17: https://www.pikelake.ca/our-programs
