Not long after sunset, visitors will find thousands of stars popping out of the heavens in the Galaxy Loop of the Dark Forest Trail in the Middle Park Forest Preserve. | Medill Illinois News Bureau photo by Julia Levy
The legislature in recent years has taken steps to limit light pollution
By Julia Levy and Medill Illinois News Bureau | Capitol News Illinois
When the sun is out at Middle Fork River Forest Preserve in Champaign County, visitors will find themselves surrounded by 1,700 acres of scattered ponds for fishing, a labyrinth of trails for exploring and picnic tables among the groves.
But when dusk arrives and the moon rises, that’s when visitors are surrounded by stars, and it’s time to look up.
Middle Fork River Forest Preserve is Illinois’ first and only International Dark Sky Place. To achieve such a certification from DarkSky International, a site must have a visual-band zenith luminance of 21.2 magnitudes per square arcsecond. In simple terms, this means that the Milky Way must be visible almost every clear night.
A winding road at sunset into a field of tall grasses will soon be greeted with the light of thousands of stars. | Medill Illinois News Bureau photo by Julia Levy
Middle Fork River Forest Preserve outshines those requirements. Some of the deepest night sky objects can be seen on the preserve’s Dark Sky Trail, with a half-mile “Galaxy Loop” in the middle of an open field.
In recent years, the state has taken action aimed at addressing light pollution. Beginning in 2025, the state’s Responsible Outdoor Lighting Control Act began prohibiting outdoor lighting purchased with state funds from exceeding certain brightness thresholds. The General Assembly sent another bill to Gov. JB Pritzker this year on the subject as well.
“I took the dark skies for granted because I lived on a rural farm,” Matt Kuntz, lifelong Illinois resident and site superintendent of the preserve, said in an interview. “In 2018, I realized we needed to take up the effort to make this location (a dark sky park), and that’s when it all started.”
Site Superintendent Matt Kuntz partnered with experts and enthusiasts across Illinois to delegate the Middle Park Forest Preserve as an International Dark Sky Park. | Medill Illinois News Bureau photo by Julia Levy
Kuntz, alongside his staff and astronomers throughout the state, undertook the effort to receive such a designation and were successful that year.
It’s what came next that surprised Kuntz.
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