Los Angeles Times (29 July 2017)

Dark Sky designation puts Joshua Tree National Park in a new light

Winning the distinction represents nearly a decade of hard work by activists... That’s because their application for Dark Sky status “involved the most complex set of circumstances we’ve ever had to consider anywhere in the world,” said John Barentine, program manager for the Dark Sky association.

“For example, the western edge of this 790,000-acre park is so polluted by the night light of Coachella Valley cities including Palm Springs and the Los Angeles metropolitan area that it is almost ineligible,” Barentine said. “But its eastern edge has levels of darkness found nowhere else in the state.”

Read more: ​http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-joshua-tree-stars-20170729-story.html