Night skies in the Gorge are getting brighter. This group is pushing back

Two Gorge residents in Oregon are trying to convince Hood River County officials that light pollution is on the rise and that adopting “dark sky” policies for outdoor lighting will help bring traditional nighttime back to the Columbia River Gorge.

Mike Hendricks of Hood River and Michael McKeag of Mosier have been organizing community outreach programs and collecting years of nighttime sky-quality data to promote the work of DarkSky Oregon, a chapter of DarkSky International, dedicated to reducing light pollution “for the health, safety and well-being of all life.”