A night in one of Alberta’s most popular national parks becomes a nightmare for Parks Canada employees.
Elk Island National Park, about 50 kilometres east of Edmonton, offers some of the best stargazing opportunities, but increased attendance and some inappropriate behaviour have led to the closure of three popular stargazing sites, Dale Kirkland, parks director, said in an interview.
“We did it simply to keep people from driving into those areas,” Kirkland said.
Park staff are grappling with an increase in noise complaints, illegal campfires and a scourge of night-time road kills.
Elk Island is part of the Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve, a designation given by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Beaver Hills was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Site in 2016, and the area is a popular place for stargazing.
The park is a popular attraction for hikers, campers and kayakers, as well as for those who want to see the famous herd of bison roaming freely in the area.
About 250,000 people visited the park this summer, Kirkland said, up 10 percent from last year.
From the Northern Lights to the Perseid meteor shower, otherworldly celestial phenomena keep Canadian astronomers looking at the night sky. Geoff Robertson of Edmonton is with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
However, increased traffic over the past two years has led to more than 1,000 animals being hit in the park and along border roads.
“We have workers who do a very thorough check of the roads every morning, collecting and identifying roadkill,” he says.
“We see garter snakes, skunks, fishermen, bison, coyotes, rabbits and even endangered species like the western toad and tiger salamander.”
He added that the park is in the midst of a two-year study that will look at everything from changes in wildlife movements to traffic-calming measures and restricting access to certain areas.
Stargazers are still welcome in the park during official events, however, five gates have been installed to prevent public access to the Astotin Lake Recreation Area, Tawayik Day Use Area and Moss Lake Trail area between the hours of 11pm and 7am.
Official stargazing events are organized by the Edmonton branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
Geoff Robertson, the association’s director of public education, says one recent all-star weekend event drew about 5,300 guests in more than 2,000 vehicles.
“There were lines of 20, 25, 30 people around where my scope was,” Robertson said.
“I couldn’t reach the telescope to turn it on and run it.
“People really want to know about the night sky.”
Robertson points to the total eclipse that occurred in North America in April, which caused cities like Niagara Falls, Ontario, to declare a state of emergency as thousands of tourists eager to enjoy the dark skies sought a chance to view the phenomenon.
He was one of those who traveled to Ontario to view the eclipse.
“There was a lot, a lot of excitement, signs on the highway warning of traffic jams because people were coming for the eclipse.”
Solar maximum on the horizon
For Alberta photographer Matt Melnyk, the surge in popularity of staring at the night sky has opened up new opportunities — and new challenges.
He says the technology, forecasting tools and access to data are much better than they used to be, which is encouraging even more amateur astronomers and night photographers.
“Now people can get notifications and alerts when certain events happen,” Melnyk says.
He also saw an increase in the number of people coming to places like Elk Island National Park.
“But the only problem is that now that it’s such a popular spot, there will be so many vehicles with their lights on that it will make it difficult to see at night.”
I suggest moving away from crowds and cars, especially with the upcoming maximum of solar activity.
“The sun has an 11-year cycle, and we are currently in the final phase of it,” Melnyk says.
Sunspots are what cause the aurora borealis. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, there were an average of 215.5 daily sunspots on our star’s surface last month — up from 0.5 just five years ago, the lowest level on the cycle.
“We’re going to see so much action from the sun that the auroras are going to be much more frequent than they’ve been in the past and quite amazing.”
