Q and A: NWS Proposed Improvements to Dark Sky Viewing Area

Newport Wilderness Society (NWS), the friends group of Newport State Park, is hosting a presentation/Q&A regarding NWS’s Dark Sky Viewing Area Improvement Plan for the park. 

Where: Newport Nature Center (inside the Visitors Center at the park entrance/Lot 1)

When: Saturday, December 7; 10:30am

NWS has long-recognized the need for improvements to the dark sky viewing area, located in the day-use area adjacent to Lot 3. NWS’s concerns with the current condition of the viewing area, especially when hosting an educational or night sky viewing program, include:

• no seating is available for program participants;
• there is no footpath to the viewing area; 
• adjacent sand dunes are often trampled by visitors seeking the shortest route to/from the venue;
• visitors with mobility issues must traverse a lot of uneven ground to access the program venue;
• spillover light from vehicles in the parking lot interferes with night sky viewing;
• there is no power supply (other than battery/generator) to power AV equipment for a program or the telescopes we transport in for viewing.

Over the past year, the NWS Long-range Planning Committee has been working, in collaboration with the DNR, to design improvements to the viewing area that would specifically address these concerns. The preliminary plan includes:

• a ground-level, two-tiered, natural stone seating area that could accommodate up to 100 people;
• the seating area will be nestled into a grassy berm that already exists; it is designed not to be visible from the parking lot;
• paths to the viewing area designed to protect adjacent sand dunes and provide safe access for all visitors;
• dark sky-compliant, non-white-light pathway illumination (in use for programs only);
• a stacked stone wall along the east edge of the parking lot to better screen spillover light from vehicles, but not to impede the view of Lake Michigan;
• improvements to the size and placement of telescope pads;
• a small, accessible viewing platform overlooking Newport Beach at the end of an already existing asphalt path (which currently tumbles unsafely onto the beach);
• a small shed near the picnic shelter to store equipment and provide solar-powered charging for equipment, including a recently-acquired Trak-Chair for visitors with mobility challenges.

Newport received Dark Sky Park certification in 2017. It is Wisconsin’s only Dark Sky Park. Park staff, Universe in the Park/UW-Madison, and friends of NWS have provided night sky education programs and viewing opportunities for hundreds of participants since before 2014. On any given evening, visitors come to Newport to enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the Milky Way, to identify planets and constellations, or in hope of witnessing some dancing Northern Lights.

NWS understands that the public is passionate about protecting and preserving our ~2,400-acre wilderness park. NWS is too, and our BOD and dedicated volunteers have been doing that work for 40 years at Newport. NWS hopes the public will be reassured that theplan to improve the dark sky educational and viewing experience for park visitors is specifically designed to support that mission. 

NWS looks forward to listening to you and answering your questions.