Restoring the Night Sky—Assessment, Training, and Outreach (E&D)
Implementing Organization
US Department of the Interior
Overview
DWH Project Funding
$486,639
Known Leveraged Funding
$0
Funding Organization
Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees (NRDA)
Funding Program
Natural Resource Damage Assessment NRDA
Details
Project Category
Science
Project Actions
Monitoring and Observations
Targeted Resources
Other
Project Description
This project's long-term goal is to reduce light pollution on federally managed lands. Past lighting assessments and documented sea turtle disorientations along the Alabama coast suggest that anthropogenic light pollution negatively affects Alabama’s natural resources. Light pollution disorients nesting sea turtles and hatchlings, disrupting their reproductive activities and reducing their reproductive success, and it adversely affects a diverse range of other coastal fauna. The project will produce an analysis of the impacts of light pollution on federally managed lands at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Baldwin and Mobile counties in Alabama. The project will help guide future work to mitigate this issue and, in so doing, help restore coastal habitats injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This project has two primary objectives: 1) use remote sensing imagery and other National Park Service (NPS) equipment, methods, and staff to identify locations that disproportionately contribute to light pollution on the Alabama coast, and 2) produce a detailed strategy to mitigate the identified problematic lighting. The assessment will detail the most problematic locations along Bon Secour NWR with respect to light pollution and evaluate the most cost-effective options to reduce it in coastal Alabama. A second, future phase (funded by a future Alabama Trustee Implementation Group restoration plan or other funding) could use the guidelines developed to fund upgrades to more energy-efficient and wildlife-friendly lighting techniques and materials, which would reduce the amount of light cast on natural habitats of the Alabama...click on "More Info" link below
Contact
Dianne Ingram(251) 517-8012
dianne_ingram@fws.gov
Project Website
None
For official trustee information regarding the Deepwater Horizon NRDA, including information regarding the NRDA process and the status of projects, see https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/