[shimmery music] - I'm at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, learning about The Driftless Area and what it takes to become a designated Dark Sky Park.

[uplifting acoustic guitar] My first stop was to the Nature Center to meet with Executive Director at the Reserve, Jason Leis.

- Jason Leis: The Kickapoo Valley Reserve is an 8,600-acre tract of public land that offers a multitude of recreational activities.

We have over 50 miles of trails here.

Horseback riding, hiking, biking... Bird watching is very popular, as well, and, of course, we have the Kickapoo River that runs right through the middle of the property, which is very popular for canoeing and kayaking, as well.

- And what's unique or special about the ecology of the reserve?

- The reserve is located in the Driftless area, so untouched by glaciers mostly.

What is kind of unique about this area is the sandstone cliffs and outcroppings, and a lot of those are best seen along the river.

[birds chirping] - Up in the sky, visitors can enjoy spectacular stargazing as the Kickapoo Valley Reserve works to become a designated Dark Sky Park.

One of the leaders of that effort is Scott Lind.

- Scott Lind: Well, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve is located in a part of Wisconsin that still has relatively dark skies compared to the rest of the state, and so it's a natural place to try and continue to keep that area dark and provide a good space for stargazing, 'cause it's rare in the state of Wisconsin now to be able to see as many stars at night as you can see in this part of the state.

- And so, in terms of trying to minimize that pollution to maintain the opportunity to stargaze here, what do those conservation efforts look like?

- So, we do that right here on the sites that we're actually trying to get designated.

But the next step then is to try to do outreach to the communities around us to try and encourage businesses and residences to also do the same thing with their fixtures, because all those lights around us, as far away as La Crosse even, produce sky glow here.

- It's a great point.

It looks like you have an example of one of those light fixtures here.

- I do, yeah.

There's something a lot of times folks don't understand is that when you get a light fixture like this, which is a full cutoff fixture, what that means is the fixture's entirely opaque, except for the bottom surface where the lens is right here.

That controls the direction of the light.

So, what they often don't understand is when they see that small opening at the bottom, you might assume that all the light goes right there.

This LED fixture right here can throw light at far distances away in front of it, right?

That light is cast out in front, but none of it goes above this line right here.

So, dark sky lighting gives you lower electricity bills for the same amount of light on the ground, and you have the benefits to the habitat, and you don't get the sky glow.

- I love that that message is expanding such a wide terrain in terms of how we collectively can do our part to help maintain what's needed in order for folks to enjoy the sky.

Angela: With cutoff light fixtures and a dedicated team managing the land, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve works to keep this area wild and dark.

[gentle, pensive guitar]