World’s Newest Dark Sky Park Announced in NZ

New Zealand is quickly becoming one of the top dark sky destinations on earth, Valerie Stimac reports for Forbes, with the country home to two International Dark Sky Association (IDA) certified Dark Sky Sanctuaries – Aotea / Great Barrier Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura – and a Dark Sky Reserve, Aoraki Mackenzie. Now, New Zealand has its first Dark Sky Park.

The IDA has recently announced that the 135-ha Wai-iti Recreational Reserve and Tunnicliff Forest at the northern end of the South Island, just south of Wakefield, has been certified as a Dark Sky Park, ensuring light pollution management and protection of the high-quality dark skies above the natural area.

“The Wai-iti Dark Sky Park has been established to preserve the area’s pristine night skies, as a place for pure enjoyment of the night sky, as well as for study of the night sky for scientific, artistic and amateur astronomy purposes,” chairman of the Top of the South Dark Sky Committee Ralph Bradley said.

Original article by Valerie Stimac, Forbes, July 6, 2020.

Photo by darkskies.nz.