Join Us to Celebrate the North Fork’s Nighttime Sky

Coalition Launches Webpage and Outreach for North Fork Dark Sky Week, April 5-12, 2021

Year-round, the North Fork enjoys a night sky full of stars, and from April 5 through 12, 2021, join the North Fork Dark Sky Coalition in celebrating and exploring this natural resource.

Today, the Coalition launched its webpage – www.northforkdarksky.org – and invites everyone to North Fork Dark Sky Week activities and events that show the beauty and benefits of this treasure we all share.

“Dark Sky Week helps us explore, enjoy, and understand the night sky and ways to protect it,” said Debbie O’Kane, a coalition member from the North Fork Audubon Society. “Dark Sky Week brings attention to this special, valuable natural resource – a clear, dark sky.”

To encourage North Fork Dark Sky Week, the Southold Town Board approved Resolution 2021-70 that emphasizes the sometimes over-looked importance of a dark night sky to the North Fork’s economic drivers, agriculture and tourism.

“Unlike so many urban and overdeveloped landscapes, the East End still enjoys a dark, beautiful panoramic night sky,” said coalition member Bob DeLuca of Group for the East End. “That’s essential to sustaining our agricultural and tourism economies and our own senses of wonder, well-being, and inspiration.”

The Coalition is the North Fork Audubon Society, Custer Institute, Coffee Pot Cellars, Group for The East End, Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association, and North Fork Environmental Council. The Coalition’s mission is two-fold:

• Engage the community in outdoor and virtual night sky exploration and education, and
• Engage businesses and professionals who work with artificial lighting across the commercial spectrum (e.g., wholesale/retail merchandising, landscape/architecture/design, construction/installation).

The goals are to enhance understanding of the value of a dark night sky, and to discuss ways to reduce light pollution, conserve electricity, and minimize costs. Achieving these goals involves engagement with all North Forkers, especially those interested in action in their own lives and businesses to better manage their own artificial light impact on the night sky

For details about pledges, partnerships, and night sky exploration, go to the new webpage, www.northforkdarksky.org

“During North Fork Dark Sky Week, we literally will help you see the far reaches of our galaxy while learning about the role the night – the dark – plays in our ‘daily’ lives,” said Custer Institute astronomer Steve Bellavia.