McDonald Observatory, Partners Request Letters of Support for Dark Sky Reserve

By Rebecca Johnson

September 14, 2021

The new Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve covers 15,000 square miles in west Texas and northern Mexico. It is the world’s largest International Dark Sky Reserve. Credit: Tim Jones/McDonald Observatory.

McDonald Observatory and its community partners (Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, the Davis Mountains Preserve, and others) are close to sending in their application to create an International Dark Sky Reserve in the Big Bend, and need your help. The group is asking for letters of support to accompany their application to the International Dark Sky Association.

The proposed Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve would be the largest of its kind in the world, at more than 10 million acres in West Texas and Northern Mexico.

In Texas, it would include the counties of Presidio, Brewster, Jeff Davis, and a small portion of Reeves. A successful application will need letters of support for the reserve and lighting management plan from citizens and business owners in those counties.

The observatory has posted a sample letter that can be used as a template. To access it, as well as additional information about the Reserve, please see: https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/dark-sky-reserve

Letters of support must be received by October 1, 2021. They may be either emailed to Bill Wren at bwren@utexas.edu or mailed to:

Bill Wren, Dark Skies Initiative Coordinator
82 Mt. Locke Rd.
McDonald Observatory, TX 79734

The observatory and its partners appreciate the support they have received from the community for this project so far, and look forward to receiving letters from the community.