BRUNEAU, IDAHO – Bruneau Dunes State Park and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation are excited to announce that Bruneau Dunes is officially a designated dark sky park.
Bruneau Dunes State Park was certified as an International Dark Sky Park by DarkSky International earlier this year. This is an important achievement as Bruneau Dunes possesses almost pristine nighttime skies. Due to its incredible stargazing opportunities, the park is home to two of the most powerful public telescopes in the state of Idaho. By gaining this certification the park will enhance its ability for education and outreach in promoting the importance of preserving night sky conditions.
“We are proud of this milestone here at Bruneau. Receiving our certification will help us protect our night skies, which we are known just as well for as our sand dunes,” shared Bruneau Dunes Park Manager, Bryce Bealba. He continues, “I am personally thankful for the hard work our park employees and agency staff put in to make this happen, as well as the outpouring of support letters from the public.”
Bruneau Dunes began its efforts for Dark Sky Certification in 2015. At this time the park began inventorying all their outdoor lighting and taking meter readings to determine the status of the parks’ night skies. They also applied for, and received, a $20,000 grant from the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation that was used to upgrade all their outdoor light fixtures to ones that were dark sky compliant or certified.
To learn more about Bruneau Dunes and Dark Sky International, view the full press release at darksky.org/news/bruneau-dunes-state-park/.