“Hello darkness, my old friend…”⁣ ⁣ National parks preserve some of the darkest skies in the country. Night skies at Canyonlands are so pristine that the International Dark Sky Association designated Canyonlands as a Gold-Tier International Dark Sky Park in 2015. Canyonlands is one of many parks in southern Utah with the International Dark Sky Park designation. ⁣ ⁣ Efforts to preserve natural darkness at Canyonlands began several years ago with a focused effort to revamp and replace park lighting with "night-sky friendly" bulbs and fixtures. Though thousands of lights create light pollution, this problem can be resolved one light at a time. When an outdoor light burns out, it becomes an opportunity to install a lower intensity bulb or replace the fixture with one that is more night-friendly. Shielding that directs light downward produces less glare and improves security. Today nearly 100 percent of the lights in Canyonlands National Park are "night-sky friendly."⁣ ⁣ Image: A starry nig...