BCFNS NEWSLETTER

May 2020

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, a LOT has been happening in terms of night sky preservation in the Texas Hill Country. Here’s some of it.

501(c)3

The biggest and bestest news is that the Blanco County Friends of the Night Sky (BCFNS) is now an official, IRS-designated, 501(c)3, non-profit entity! Total credit for this goes to BCFNS Board Member Barbara Hudson, whose dogged persistence in dealing with the Byzantine federal requirements and gentle persuasiveness in somehow finding pro bono legal help, got ‘er done. So, what does this mean? It means that contributions to the BCFNS can now be tax deductible. It means that we can now apply for grants. It means that we can try to get our Amazon Associate status back and start making money from online purchases on our website. It is a galactically big deal. THANK YOU, BARBARA!

Night Sky Advocate Groups

In cooperation with Cliff Kaplan at the Hill Country Alliance, we are continuing to make excellent progress on cloning the BCFNS across the entire Hill Country. We have Zoomed back and forth with a group of folks who are starting up the Comal County Friends of the Night Sky and have been working with another group that is starting the Kendall County Friends of the Night Sky. The Hays County Friends of the Night Sky is up and running and, of course, the Wimberley Valley group predated the BCFNS. Two more groups are forming up now — the Travis County Friends of the Night Sky and the Bandera County Friends of forming in Kerr County, Gillespie County, and Uvalde-Real Counties. Additionally, we continue to coordinate closely with the Texas Chapter of the International Dark Sky Association, through which we are now sharing information with Softlight Houston, a group primarily dedicated to reducing glare in Harris County.

Needless to say, the night sky preservation “movement” in Texas is gaining momentum and we are proud to be part of it.

Night Sky Preservation News

We are constantly on the watch for news about light pollution, night sky preservation, and ways to better appreciate and enjoy the night sky. There is a steady stream of this information on our FACEBOOK page and our website www.blancocountynightsky.org Be sure to check this out as it can be pretty interesting. Night Sky Essay Contest/Art Contest. Sadly, because of the virus, we had to kick these cans down the road. Several of our BCFNS members, however, are fired up and ready to go with these outreaches to students once the schools are back up and running. Night Sky CD. As you know, we had a very successful Night Sky Song contest last year that culminated in us producing a CD, Deep in the Dark of Texas™ Vol 1, with thirteen terrific, original songs by some of the very talented songwriters we are blessed with in the local area. Our thought was that music is an excellent way of getting people emotionally involved with the night sky. Through the consequent renewed appreciation for the night sky, we hope the music might motivate them to take action to preserve it. The CDs have been well received and we have sold enough to recover our production cost (of course, it helped that Larry and Terri Seiler donated the use of their Los Senderos Recording Studio and the considerable technical talents of Larry, one of our BCFNS Board Members). This is a fundraising endeavor with all profits going to protect the night sky. If you haven’t grabbed your CD, they are on sale at Liz on the Square in Blanco and on ur website (look under Merchandise). BCFNS members get a discount when purchased on the website. The CDs make great Christmas presents, birthday presents, thank you gifts, and any other excuse you can think of. Have a neighbor with a particularly irritating outdoor light that shines onto your place? Give them a CD! Might start a productive conversation.

Night Sky Song Contest/2020

We were so pleased with last year’s contest that we decided to do it again. The 2020 rules are up on the BCFNS website. Deadline for entry is September 25, 2020, with the contest coming shortly after that. So, if you are musically inclined or know someone who is, jump right in and let’s produce an even better CD this time around!

Kerrville Folk Festival

We established some good contacts at the KFF and they were going to let us run a night sky information booth, sell our CDs of Night Sky Songs, and maybe even have some of our songwriters perform in some sort of venue there. Unfortunately, the virus has postponed the KFF until October 8-18. We intend to reengage then and have high hopes for success.

IDA AGM

In a similar sad vein, the International Dark Sky Association had scheduled their next Annual General Meeting to be held this year in San Antonio in November. The BCFNS had volunteered to help. They had asked if some of our songwriters could go down and perform and, of course, we said yes as who can turn down a chance to preform to a worldwide audience. But then came the virus. The IDA AGM has been postponed a year and will now be held in San Antonio in November 2021. We’ll be there!

Wizard Storytelling

The Wizard of the Night Sky (aka BCFNS Board Member Bob Heinonen) has posted a terrific video on the BCFNS website with him reading a delightful little tale, “Story of Light and Darkness.” We discovered this story through a friend, ran down the author, Erica Baron, in New York, and got her permission to use it. We’ve made the Wizard's reading available to the two libraries in Blanco county for their online outreach to students. But (hint, hint) adults can enjoy it too. It’s a wonderous thing.

Wizard Song

Speaking of wonderous things, check out the Wizard and Mrs Wizard’s (Elizabeth Seibert) musical modification of the old tune, “Blue Skies.” Their song, “Dark Skies,” is up on the website. OK, it may not win a Grammy, but it's a fun song and a great effort from a very special couple who love — can I say it? — Dark Skies.

West Texas Dark Sky Reserve

We've been corresponding with Bill Wren, Special Assistant to the Chief Astronomer at McDonald Observatory in Ft. Davis, about a proposal to create a large Dark Sky Reserve in West Texas covering Jeff Davis, Presidio, and Brewster counties. There is scope to expand the reserve into a gigantic International Dark Sky Reserve by incorporating three large natural areas in Northern Mexico that border Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. If brought to fruition, the West Texas Dark Sky Reserve would be some 12,313 square miles and be larger than the other 16 Dark Sky Reserves in the world combined. The BCFNS will continue to work through the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) — Texas Chapter to support this effort in any way possible. Neat stuff!

IDA-Texas

Speaking of…we have been working closely with night sky preservation advocates across the State of Texas to jumpstart the Texas Chapter of the International Dark Sky Association. Regional managers have been confirmed (thank you, volunteers!) and a list of specific goals and objectives are being refined. Needless to say, the challenges of light pollution in Houston are far different than those in Terlingua but we all share the same night sky and are making common cause in support of night sky preservation.

Cold Ones for Conservation

The last event we hosted before the pandemic hit was the “Cold Ones for Conservation&rddquo; event we did with the Hill Country Alliance at Real Ale on Feb 8th. It was a fun event and a rousing success. It was made all the better as BCFNS members Melanie Van Aken and Rebecca Greathouse were on hand to perform their songs from our Deep in the Dark of Texas™ CD. Though it was only a moderate success as a fundraiser (we cleared all of $30), we got one $100 donation and had several new people join the BCFNS and others renew their memberships. Additionally, and importantly, we were able to share information about night sky preservation with an audience we normally would not reach. We really appreciate the continued support of Real Ale in our efforts!

The Way Ahead

In addition to the things mentioned above, the BCFNS is looking forward to a productive rest of the year. We will continue to add original videos to the website; we're looking for approval from IDA on Blanco's application to be designated an International Dark Sky Community (IDSC); we hope to work with Johnson City to refine their Outdoor Lighting Ordinance and help them apply for IDSC designation; we’ll work with the City of Blanco to make technical changes to its Outdoor Lighting Ordinance; we hope to work with the Chamber of Commerce or another entity in Johnson City to establish a Night Sky Friendly Business Recognition Program there similar to the on-going program in Blanco (there is also interest in this program out in West Texas); we want to continue a bulb exchange program we began just before the virus, replacing “evil” glare producing, high Kelvin light bulbs with flat-bottomed, 2700 Kelvin LED bulbs; we’ll work with the Hill Country Alliance Night Sky Team to implement a meaningful Hill Country Night Sky Month in October; we’ll make a night sky preservation presentation at the LBJ NHP/Ranch’s Runway Star Party on Nov 7; we’ll continue to implement the authority the Texas State Legislature gave us for limited use of Hotel Occupancy Tax funds to retrofit aberrant outdoor lighting; we’d like to start contacting specific businesses in Blanco County with horrific outdoor lighting and see how we can work together to, as Melanie Van Aken sings, “point ‘em down, point 'em down.” We WILL get all this done. How fast we get it done depends on how many active, committed volunteers we have. If anything we have mentioned in this newsletter tickles your fancy, please contact us and we’ll get you plugged in to where you can make a difference. Not to worry ‐ we'll get you trained up as necessary.

Final Word

Thanks to you, the members and friends of the Blanco County Friends of the Night Sky, we have a pretty awesome little organization going here. We've accomplished a lot, but there's so much more to do. It’s a lot of work but we think the night sky is worth it. Don't you agree?

Thanks to all for all you do.

Wayne Gosnell
President, Blanco County Friends of the Night Sky
(210) 557-6127
GosnellTexas@Gmail.com