It’s a massive undertaking, but two men are hoping to turn much of eastern Ontario into a dark-sky preserve — and they’re leaning into astrotourism, something they say has been a growing trend since the pandemic.
Dark-sky preserves are considered protected areas that try to reduce light pollution and preserve the night sky for animals, insects and plants that rely on it.
With that comes astrotourism, where people venture to those areas to see objects in the night sky that aren’t visible in cities.
“I call it covert environmentalism, but under the hood, it does wonders for people, wilderness, butterflies, bats,” said John Criswick, who started the NWNC Dark-Sky Project (which stands for Narrows Lock, Westport, Newboro and Chaffeys Lock) and has been working to get that smaller region declared a preserve through Dark Sky International.
They feel that going with that organization, versus the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada — which has certified numerous other preserves in the country — would provide more tourism attention internationally.
It also wouldn’t be the first in the region to be certfied by DarkSky International, as Mont Tremblant in western Quebec became certified a few years ago.
Their undertaking doesn’t stop there, however.
Within the next few years, they hope to expand the project to cover a roughly 42,000 square-kilometre area that includes about 75 towns and townships and more than half a million residents in eastern Ontario.
“It would make it one of the largest dark-sky preserves in Canada,” said Criswick.
That area would stretch from Cornwall to Hawkesbury, through to Petawawa, Bancroft, Algonquin Provincial Park and down Highway 401.
It would exclude municipalities with populations greater than about seven thousand people.
While Criswick said it’s more of an educational campaign, they’d like to see regulations brought in by municipalities that would cover the types of lights used outside — for instance, a more yellow-red hue for street lamps rather than bright white.
That’s part of the challenge, Criswick said, as they’re up against a growing problem in Canada and around the world — light pollution.
“One of the biggest things is the cheapness of LED lights,” said Bernie Hasselman, part of the light pollution abatement committee with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
“Bright white gives off a lot of blue light and blue light is … a serotonin inhibitor. So it prevents a lot of the ability for people to get the rest that they need.”
It’s also a growing problem.
The world, Hasselman said, is losing about two per cent of the night sky every year to light pollution, a problem that didn’t really exist much more than 100 years ago.
People who live in urban centres, he said, likely have never seen a truly dark sky unless they’ve ventured into the country at night.
“They’ve never seen the Milky Way unless they’ve gone out camping,” he said.
“It’s amazing how fast your eyes can be adjusted to darkness in about 10 minutes,” Hasselman added. “But one flash of a flashlight and boom, you’re back to starting all over.”
Part of the initiative involves helping eastern Ontarians understand what light pollution is, and how to reduce it.
“If you need some lights to be able to get safely down your steps or get out to your dock, great. If you want to have some lights in your garden, that’s great,” said Dustin Johnston, who’s working with Criswick on the dark-sky project.
There are small tweaks, however, that anyone can do, he added.
“You can have [those lights] shielded or facing down or have them not super bright. You can have them on the amber spectrum.”
Before labelling much of the eastern Ontario region a dark-sky preserve, they’re aiming toward holding a “dark week” in May 2026 — the 200th anniversary of the start of the construction of the Rideau Canal.
“It’s interesting to live here and be in eastern Ontario, in this region. It’s pristine, it’s beautiful. It’s dark. It has all those attributes,” said Criswick. “We’re not really asking anyone to do anything, it’s just going forward.”
Criswick and Johnston are holding a festival in Perth, Ont., on Saturday.
