Canyon Lake Library Wins ‘Night Sky’ Award for Fighting Light Pollution

The Rotary Club of Canyon Lake and the Comal County Friends of the Night Sky presented a Sky Friendly Certificate to Tye Preston Memorial Library on Tuesday for keeping the night lights low around its building and grounds.

The library also received a copy of Cassandra and the Night Sky, a children’s book published by a member of Friends of the Night Sky.

Rotarian Maureen Schein said her organization will continue to partner with Friends of the Night Sky to recognize area businesses that avoid needless lighting at night.

Larry Wells, founder of Friends of the Night Sky, told MyCanyonLake.com last year that one of his group’s sayings is “one light at a time, and we’ve turned out some lights.”

The organization advocates for outdoor lighting fixture and practices and follow updated guidelines and use available technologies for efficient, non-intrusive lighting.

Wells said one of the reasons Canyon Lake residents don’t see many fireflies is that it’s too bright for the insects — they can’t see each other in the glow of artificial lights.

“Austin is coming from the east and San Antonio from the south,” according to Blanco County’s Friends of the Night Sky group. “We can still see the stars, for now, but the day is coming when that no longer may be the case. Unless we act. This is why we’re here…development is inevitable, but development with an eye on the heavens can give us all good lives enriched even further by being able to look up and see the stars.”