Halfway Closer to Dark Sky Community Designation

Hells Canyon Journal July 30, 2025, Page 4

Only Public Lighting Would Be Affected; Private Compliance is Voluntary

By Gail Kimberling
of the Hells Canyon Journal

The City of Halfway is getting closer to obtaining official designation as a Dark Sky Community.

What does this mean?

According to DarkSky International, positive impacts include creating darker night skies, attracting more visitors for night time viewing and boosting economic benefits.

A Dark Sky designation does not mean heavy handed enforcement of private property owners and businesses in regards to outdoor lighting

Michael McKeag, cofounder and board member of DarkSky Oregon, emphasized this point when interviewed by the Hells Canyon Journal.

I think you have good prospects for gaining Dark Sky certification, and for those who are fearful of the impact it will have on them there's ample reason for reassurance, end quote McKeag said. “They're not going to be compelled to make changes, although they might be encouraged, but it's all voluntary. “

The exception, he added, will be new construction and remodels requiring a permit.

McKeag explained Dark Sky Communities must have some type of governmental overlay, such as a city or county to craft and administer a lighting ordinance.

He said, “There’s certain standards DarkSky International sets for consideration of an appropriate lighting ordinance for a Dark Sky Community, and your only opportunity to enforce a lighting ordinance is through the building permit process for certain lighting standards for new construction or remodels.”

McKeag added the City of Halfway only has direct control over its own existing properties, saying, “They can make choices to replace old lighting with new lighting that conforms with the ordinance when and if they have the budget to do that. Lighting for businesses or private homes is strictly voluntary and you can make progress there just through outreach and community education and gentle persuasion.”

There shouldn't be any fear of there being enforcement in terms of private properties and businesses. It's always going to be voluntary through public education and encouragement.”

Halfway Lights

An outdoor light survey is another requirement to obtain DarkSky designation, and McKeag visited Halfway recently to complete this task.

McKeag explained the survey involves determining which fixtures meet DarkSky International standards and which don't, and what modifications might be needed.

“Sometimes it's just changing a lamp that's in a fixture, or replacing a fixture with a more suitable one,“ he said.

“What we inventoried was the publicly-owned streetlights, the schools and any facilities that are publicly owned like the sewer treatment plant,” McKeag said. “We also documented lights on businesses in town. They are privately owned but public establishments. Didn't touch and wouldn't her lights on private residences.”

McKeag found a majority of the city's lighting was not compliant with DarkSky International standards, but added a certain percentage or quota is not required for Dark Sky designation.

The Halfway outdoor lighting inventory documented 175 fixtures on public and business properties,” he said. “About 60 [mostly street lights] were found to comply with DarkSky International standards for shielding and color temperature. About 25 require further study to determine whether or not they comply with DarkSky International outdoor lighting standards. About 90 are clearly not compliant, most of them at the two schools.

McKeag said the inventory results and suggestions for correction of non-compliant fixtures, including replacement, relamping, removal, supplemental shielding, etc have been forwarded to Dark Skies Over Halfway, the group applying for Dark Sky designation.

He noted local interest is “absolutely essential” to the certification process and said “It starts with people in the community some little core to take on the goal. DarkSky Oregon’s role is to support their efforts and provide technical support such as lighting inventory work. We basically provide what help we can when they need it or request it, but it basically starts with members of the community deciding it's something they want to pursue.”

“Another key is it's not a one-off [designation] you don't gain certification and then you're done. There needs to be an organization in the community that is going to be around, it needs to be maintained. There's an annual reporting requirement that includes taking measurements of night sky quality and reporting the results, in doing public outreach and education throughout the year.”

“You have the nucleus in Halfway to do this,” McKeag stated.

Dark Skies Over Halfway

That nucleus is led by Pam Conley, chair, and Rachel Cairns, secretary, of Dark Skies Over Halfway, a project of United Community Partners.

The group has held several well-attended star parties at the Pine Valley Fairgrounds and began more public outreach about their efforts.

They are also continuing a night sky light pollution survey, building on information collected by a single sky quality meter installed several years ago at a private residence. That meter takes measurements every night, every 5 minutes, and every three months the data is downloaded and sent to DarkSky Oregon.

“We have a record of a few years from that one meter,” McKeag said. “More recently we worked with Pam and her colleagues to select half a dozen locations in and around Halfway for periodic measurements with a handheld sky quality meter. At most they would visit the locations around every new moon about 12 times a year or at least quarterly. They just started and those records will be part of their Dark Sky Community annual report.

McKeag said his recent visit to Halfway was his first, and he admitted, “I was warned it was a conservative community which translates to ‘resistant to any change’, so I thought about what it was going to be like roaming around in the dark making measurements and encountering suspicion.

But what I noted to Pam was every time someone accosted us it was “Can I help you. That was the read I got from the people I met. I thought there's a lot of good-hearted people here.”

McKeag also wondered what kind of services would be available for visitors who were attracted to Halfway because of its Dark Sky Community status and he said, “The other question I had was how prepared are the businesses in this community to support increased visitorship and I was favorably impressed. There are plenty of restaurants in that kind of thing.”

“I live just outside of Mosier in the Columbia River Gorge. It's about the same size as Halfway but we're in a National Scenic Area and an hour from a major metropolitan area and on a major interstate. We get inundated by visitors, but Mosier has only a fraction of the infrastructure Halfway has.”

DarkSky Expansion

DarkSky International has certified more than 200 locations since Flagstaff, Arizona was named the First International Dark Sky City in 2001. According to DarkSky.org, there are now more than 160,000 square kilometers of protected land and night skies in 22 countries on six continents, and the list grows every year as new places achieves certification.

DarkSky Communities in Oregon include Antelope and Sisters, which both gained certification earlier this year.

Also certified our cottonwood Canyon State Park, an International Dark Sky Park (December 2024), Oregon Cave National Monument and Preserve, an International Dark Sky Park (November 2024), Oregon Outback an International Dark Sky Sanctuary (March 2024), Prineville Reservoir State Park, an International Dark Sky Park (May 2021), and Sunriver an International Dark Sky Development of Distinction (August 2020).

Blue River and Halfway are actively seeking certification as new Dark Sky Communities. Blue River under Lane County and Halfway through the City of Halfway.

Wallowa Lake State Park is also close to submitting their application to become an International Dark Sky Park and McKeag visited the park to update their lighting inventory following his work in Halfway.

McKeag said he's not exactly sure why there is a sudden interest in the Dark Sky movement in Oregon although he believes one driving force is Travel Oregon, the marketing arm of the Oregon Tourism Commission.

“They are always on the lookout for economic opportunities for rural communities and they've identified nights sky tourism as one of those opportunities,” McKeag said. “Residents of cities can't see the night sky other than the moon from where they live, so Travel Oregon recognized there is an interest in that kind of recreation. Dark night skies is a natural resource that communities have to offer that urban communities don't have access to, and it's a natural resource that you can consume without consuming it.”

McKeag added in addition to actively promoting night sky tourism, “Travel Oregon has also been offering some pretty generous grant opportunities to support the kind of development needed by rural communities to attract and accommodate visitors interested in that kind of experience.”

McKeag who grew up under the cloudy skies near Seattle spent his career as an electron microscopist in the semiconductor process development team at Intel.

An amateur astronomer since moving to Mosier, McKeag helped organize the 2016 Gorge Night Sky Conference. He became a Dark Sky Delegate in 2018 when he attended the annual meeting of Dark Sky International, (then known as International Dark Sky Association) which was held in the same location as an international scientific conference on light pollution.

That was my first-hand encounter with Dark Sky International and people whose papers I had been reading since 2016,” McKeag recalled.

While working with Unihedron, a Canadian company, on night sky measurement methods and reporting, McKeag became acquainted with Bill Kowalik of Bend and their mutual interests led to the founding of DarkSky Oregon in 2019.

Kowalik is the nonprofit’s chair and McKeag serves on a prestigious board of directors.

“We've managed to attract a capable set of board members,” McKeag said.

Acknowledging the rapid growth of the Dark Sky movement in the state McKeag quipped there was a point when momentum was starting to build and I told Bill Kowalik it was like we're inexperienced surfers who just looked over our shoulders to see the wave behind us. Bill's response was “Wave, hell, it's a tsunami. “

Long Haul

McKeag said DarkSky organ holds monthly open Zoom meetings for anyone who has contacted the nonprofit.

“The agenda is all just introductions and learning where they're coming from and their interest and talents and helping them move ahead,” McKeag said. “We have enough contacts now, that very often the case is were introducing them to other people in their community who share the same interests.

“So, for these community efforts that are spawning around the state, our role is supporting them where we can like in the case of Halfway, helping them with a lighting inventory and setting up a night sky monitoring program, or just letting them know there are other members of the community who are interested in getting in together.”

McKeag added, “I'm encouraged now having gotten much better acquainted with Halfway. I think you have good prospects for gaining Dark Sky certification and, for those who are fearful of the impact it will have on them. There's ample reason for reassurance they're not going to be compelled to make changes.

“I think you have people who are engaged and passionate about pursuing this in Halfway and they're prepared to support it in the long haul and that's a necessity.”

Conley said “We thanked DarkSky Oregon’s Michael McKeag for helping us with the technical aspects of collecting information about our city's present outdoor lighting. This project took us two days to complete comment and we just could not have done it without his help. It really takes a team of Oregonians to put all the pieces of the application together. We are so appreciative of the generous time he spent with us. And he really enjoyed his dinners at the Main Place and Hells Canyon Inn.”