Nighttime nightmares grow for stargazing spots

Nighttime is becoming a nightmare for Parks Canada officials in one of Alberta's most popular national parks. 

Elk Island National Park, about 50 kilometres east of Edmonton, offers some of the best stargazing opportunities, but increased attendance and some bad behaviour has meant new closures in three popular areas for stargazing, Parks superintendent Dale Kirkland said in an interview.

"We've done so just to simply keep people out of these areas," Kirkland said.

Park staff have been dealing with a spike in noise complaints, illegal campfires and a rash of nocturnal roadkill.

In addition to hiking, camping and kayaking, Elk Island is in the Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve. Designated a UNESCO site in 2016, it's a popular spot to view the stars as well as the famous herd of bison freely roaming the grounds. 

About 250,000 people have visited the park this summer, a 10 per cent increase from last year, Kirkland said. 

But the increased traffic over the past two summers has led to more than 1,000 animals being struck in the park and along the boundary roads. 

"We have staff that are doing very detailed sweeps of the roads every morning and they're collecting and identifying roadkill," he says.

"We are seeing garter snakes, skunks, fishers, bison, coyotes, cottontails — even species at risk such as the western toad and the tiger salamander." 

The park is in the middle of a two-year study to look at everything from changing wildlife movements, to traffic calming measures and restricting access to areas, he said.

Stargazers are still welcome in the park for official events, but five gates are being installed to prevent people from accessing Astotin Lake Recreation Area, Tawayik Day Use Area and Moss Lake Trailhead Area between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Official stargazing events are run by the Edmonton-based Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 

Geoff Robertson, public education director with the RSAC, says one of their recent weekend star parties saw an estimated 5,300 visitors in more than 2,000 vehicles.

"There were lineups of 20 and 25 and 30 people deep around where my scope was," Robertson said.