Of Solitude and Darkness

A dark Big Bend night

NPS photo

Why are dark night skies important?

One of the foundational concepts of the National Parks—and the National Park Service which was created in 1916 to care for the parks—was the idea that solitude and wildness is a component of a healthy society. We now know that artificial light detracts from the natural environment and contributes to the degradation of ecosystems. In the early 20th century, the Park Service grew. Most of the parks and monuments added to the system were in the western United States. For the most part, the new parks were wild and dark, unfettered by artificial light. Many writers, commentators, and thinkers at the time believed preserving nature as a place of refreshment, rejuvenation, and a link to days past, was necessary for a balanced civilization. These thoughts and ideas gave rise to the National Park Service.

As we “light the night” with ever increasing vigor, places like Big Bend become even more important as Oases of Darkness. They give those that want to escape the city or civilization a place to revert to a time when nature was part of the human existence. Parks like Big Bend preserve not only darkness for the benefit of people; more importantly, they allow flora and fauna to thrive in environments that each and every species evolved to exist in; cycles of light and dark, varying in length only by the seasons, for millions of years.
Resource scientists have found that both plants and animals are having increasing difficulty adapting to artificial light. In some species, migration and reproductive cycles are disturbed by this light. Predator and prey relationships are altered as nocturnal adaptations are interrupted or made difficult by this human-caused element. Yet the amount of artificial light continues to expand. Every day. Seemingly without end. What are the ramifications for the future?

Big Bend National Park is one of the darkest places in the lower 48 states. And as such, Big Bend is a place where nature exists on terms nature decided many eons ago. It is also a place of solitude. Here, people can recapture a part of themselves suppressed by careers, distance, and time—anything that keeps them from being in nature. Solitude and darkness as a component of wildness, wildness as a space for reflection. Solitude and darkness can be a fearful place, but when met with a mindset of potential, a place to sooth the soul, the very reason the National Parks were created.

 

Big Bend is an oasis of darkness

R. Bend