Dear Neighbors,

 

A little piece of heaven! We bet you love living in the Capitol/Snowmass Creek Valleys

as much as we do! The Snowmass-Capitol Creek Caucus is an elected volunteer board of

Snowmass residents that has been working to preserve the natural beauty of our valley for

nearly 50 years. If you live or own property in our Caucus area, you are a member of the

Caucus. You can get involved in your neighborhood, and help us achieve our goals…one

of which is to preserve our dark skies.

 

We care very deeply about our dark starry night skies.

We are so lucky to be able to observe the Milky Way, planets, eclipses, comets, and phases of

the moon. More importantly, dark skies are needed for the proper functioning of natural ecosystems, including migration of birds, and safe passage of deer, elk, and other wildlife between pasture

and stream. Thus, in our Master Plan to guide the development in our valleys, we strongly

encourage minimal use of low-impact outdoor lighting. Lights that shine in all directions, the upward

lighting of trees, driveway lighting, and extended holiday lights are incompatible with Pitkin County’s

lighting code, as well as the Caucus Master Plan.

 

There are easy ways to achieve low-impact lighting. Please, take a moment to learn about the importance

of dark skies by visiting darksky.org. Also, please study Pitkin County’s lighting guidelines at: https://pitkincounty.com/DocumentCenter/View/28816/chapter-07 (County Code Chapter 7, Development Standards, 7-20-140, starting on page 101).

 

Turn off your lights, let your eyes adjust to the darkness, and enjoy the wondrous night skies of Snowmass!

 

Thank you! Your neighbors, The Snowmass-Capitol Creek Caucus Board