New Website Celebrates North Fork's Dark Skies

NORTH FORK, NY — A new website was launched recently to celebrate the North Fork's night skies.

The North Fork Dark Sky Coalition launched the page, which also details activities and events organized to celebrate North Fork Dark Sky Week, taking place from April 5 to 12.

“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.”

Also, the group said, with an eye toward encouraging North Fork Dark Sky Week, the Southold Town Board approved a resolution 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 consists of organizations including 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 mission of the coalition is both to engage the community in outdoor and virtual night sky exploration and education, and to engage businesses and professionals who work with artificial lighting across the commercial canvas — to help enhance understanding of the value of a dark night sky, and to discuss ways to reduce light pollution, conserve electricity, and minimize costs, the group said.

“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.