Gilbert, Arkansas’ smallest incorporated town, is suffering from light pollution.
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Gilbert, located in Searcy County, has a population of 28 and a total of 16 streetlights. Most of the town’s streetlights are the high-pressure sodium variety with a glass globe covering, allowing light to go in all directions.
For a year and a half, Bruce McMath, chairman of the Arkansas chapter of the International Dark Sky Association, has been working with the Buffalo National River to make it the first Dark Sky Park in Arkansas. About 100 parks have the designation across the country.
Qualifying for the designation requires replacing about 240 light bulbs with low-wattage amber LED lights whenever possible and covering another 85 existing bulbs with amber-colored sleeves, according to Cassandra Johannsen, a park ranger at the Buffalo National River who has been working with McMath on the initiative.
Dark-sky efforts go beyond aesthetics and energy efficiency. Careless outdoor-lighting is altering the diurnal cycle of night and day in cities, towns and even countryside, with implications for human health, according to an online study at darkskyarkansas.com.
To help with the dark sky effort, Gilbert Mayor Mitch Mortvedt has asked Entergy if the town could switch to more energy-efficient light-emitting diodes that focus the light on the streets instead of the trees. Mortvedt wrote to the Arkansas Public Service Commission in early April asking Entergy provide more affordable LED options. He has yet to hear back.
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