PRESIDIO — The stars will shine a little brighter in Presidio after next week, when local power supplier AEP will wrap up an initiative to swap out the city’s street lights for dark sky-compliant bulbs. A few municipal and residential stragglers remain, but the bulk of the work has been completed.
In December 2021, Presidio’s City Council unanimously approved a measure to swap out the city’s streetlights — leading the regional pack of municipalities. With the combined efforts of tri-county residents, the Big Bend region was named the world’s first International Dark Sky Reserve, a testament to the area’s pristine night skies.
The Big Bend Conservation Alliance (BBCA) has been helping local communities coordinate their lighting upgrades. In Presidio, that has entailed a universal swap-out of municipal streetlights and working with local homeowners to educate them about the benefits of changing out their lighting.
To make lighting “dark sky compliant,” lights must be shielded and pointed down. Warmer, lower-intensity bulbs on timers are the ideal dark sky streetlights, but communities can make a lot of headway just by shielding their bulbs.
The BBCA’s educational program —pioneered by former McDonald Observatory dark skies specialist Bill Wren — emphasized that adopting dark sky friendly lighting shouldn’t sacrifice safety. In fact, shielding the light from the top can actually make it easier to see in the dark.
Presidio senior Socorro Franco was initially concerned that her new light might make it difficult to see her front stoop. Instead, she discovered that —though the new light is dimmer —it has the opposite effect. “It lights up my front door better,” she said.
Nora Ortiz, manager at the Big Bend Apartments — a subsidized housing complex in Presidio — worked with BBCA to change out eight lights in front of the units. She appreciated that the new lights would be cheaper and more energy efficient — and also noticed an unexpected benefit. “I haven’t noticed that many bugs — with the other lights, I did,” she said.
City Manager Pablo Rodriguez took over where his predecessor, Brad Newton, left off on the project. He’s enjoyed wrapping up the project with the help of AEP. “From the city’s side, we’re very pleased,” he said.
Like Franco and Ortiz, he also noticed a difference with the new lighting. Coming home from Ojinaga early one evening, he noticed that the view from the bridge seemed a little different. Presidio is typically overshadowed by its bigger sister city — but with the new streetlights, everything seemed brighter. “I could actually see downtown,” he said.
The project will wrap up just in time to launch the BBCA’s next “Serious Starlight” fundraiser, featuring artwork by Marfa artist Julie Speed. Prints and T-shirts of Speed’s work will go to benefit local communities and homeowners who haven’t yet made the switch — but want to.
BBCA Executive Director Shelley Bernstein was grateful for the outpouring of support. “Now that light swaps have been completed in Presidio, we are ready to move on to Alpine with AEP’s help,” she said — noting that the two-year anniversary of Alpine City Council’s vote to change their lighting was coming up. “We’re excited to get going.”
More information about the Serious Starlight fundraiser can be found at seriousstarlight.org.