Dark Sky - Turtle Safe Lighting

At night, put light where it is needed, keep it warm, keep it dim.

Night Lighting Ecology - Learning Objectives

1. Why Dark Sky?
2. Effects of Light on Hatching Turtles
3. Turtle Safe Lighting explained
4. How to support Dark Sky?

Turtle Safe Lighting

Certain ecological problems associated with artificial night lighting are widely known - for example, the disorientation of sea turtle hatchlings by beachfront lighting.

When specifying beachfront lighting in turtle nesting habitats, choose  amber colored lighting of 570 nanometers or longer and shield the light to shine down, away from the ocean.

"Sea turtles have crawled onto beaches to nest for millions of years. It was once easy for hatchlings to find the ocean after emerging from nests because the brightest horizon was always the ocean, compared to the dark dune. Now, Florida’s coasts are lined with beachfront properties that can emit powerful, white light, which can cause sea turtles to crawl toward those lights (misorient) or crawl in circles on the beach (disorient). Based on consensus from a panel of sea turtle experts, around 100,000 sea turtle hatchlings are disoriented each year in Florida. They can end up in pools, decks, or even the road."  https://conserveturtles.org/project-overview-stc-beachfront-lighting-program/

myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/lighting/

Sea Turtle Lighting Guidelines 
http://myfwc.com/media/418417/SeaTurtle_LightingGuidelines.pdf

Sea Turtle Conservancy

Information About Sea Turtles: An Introduction

conserveturtles.org/

​STC’s Beachfront Lighting Program

Since 2010, Sea Turtle Conservancy has been retrofitting problem lights on beachfront properties in the Florida Panhandle. Learn more about the impact of artificial light on sea turtles, what you can do to help
conserveturtles.org/

Sources for Turtle Friendly Lighting

Sea Turtle friendly lighting - seaturtlelighting.net/lighting/

How to shield your Lighting?

The truth of the matter is that your existing light fixtures, may or may not be able to be shielded from the beach. This all depends on the style of fixture and design. If a light fixture mounted to the ceiling or wall emits light in every direction except the direction of the substrate or surface it is mounted to, then it is considered non-friendly, and energy wasteful. For instances where you can add either a metal or dark plastic cover on the beach side, and completely eliminate the light trespass, then your fixture can be shielded. This requires that from any vantage point on the beach, the light source can not be seen.
*Be careful, as you might shield the light on a 5th floor of a building, and it looks shielded standing in front of it, it might actually be seen from the beach. Additionally, the fixture will require a Sea Turtle Approved Light Bulb.
seaturtlelighting.net/shielding/ [1]

Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting

Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting
By Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore

While certain ecological problems associated with artificial night lighting are widely known-for instance, the disorientation of sea turtle hatchlings by beachfront lighting-the vast range of influences on all types of animals and plants is only beginning to be recognized. From nest choice and breeding success of birds to behavioral and physiological changes in salamanders, many organisms are seriously affected by human alterations in natural patterns of light and dark.
Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting is the first book to consider the environmental effects of the intentional illumination of the night. It brings together leading scientists from around the world to review the state of knowledge on the subject and to describe specific effects that have been observed across a full range of taxonomic groups, including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, fishes, invertebrates, and plants.
Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting provides a scientific basis to begin addressing the challenge of conserving the nighttime environment. It cogently demonstrates the vital importance of this until-now neglected topic and is an essential new work for conservation planners, researchers, and anyone concerned with human impacts on the natural world.

How to support Dark Sky?

International Dark Sky Organization www.darksky.org
Find a chapter near you and learn more.

Become a citizen-scientists to measure & submit their night sky brightness observations.

https://www.globeatnight.org/   In 2017 citizen scientists from around the world contributed 15,382  data points.   Globe at Night is a program of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the national center for ground-based nighttime astronomy in the United States, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
https://www.globeatnight.org/

When we use carefully aimed, dimmer lights - instead of excessively bright, glaring ones - we can see better, maybe even see the stars.  Balance and restraint is the key to most things in life, and restraint also applies to lighting, especially in our night sky.
Visit my Dark Sky page at TOlighting.com

Be sure to read the article about Davis LED Retrofit Zombie Lights, By James Benya

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Related Topics

Light Pollution, Light Trespass, Night Lighting Levels and Color Temperature, Sources, Astronomy, Circadian System

Footnotes

1. Beachside Shielding   seaturtlelighting.net/shielding/

Photo Credit

• Logo Sea Turtle Conservancy
• Illustration of nighttime beach - Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting, By Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore

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