As many of you will recall, I've expressed my frustrations regarding observing from Mt Pinos during periods of peak usage in the summer months. After missing each others calls regrading the concerns expressed in my initial letter to the forest service district park ranger, I asked for and finally received a written response today.
First my initial letter to the acting district park ranger:
As one of many amateur astonomers uitlizing the parking lot atop Mt Pinos during new moon weekends , it has become quite evident, especially during the summer months, that the larger crowds and greater level of ultilization of the site demands a greater degree of management from the park service. In decades past, one had to obtain a "permit to setup a telescope" on the parking lot with designated dates of attendance in the form of a letter, signed by the district park ranger. Overnight camping was otherwise prohibited, with RVs and campers relegated to the Mt Pinos and McGill campgrounds. I'm not sure when the previous policy was rescinded or if it simply isn't being enforced, but it appears the time has come to revisit it.
At present, amateur astronomers frequent the site because of the relatively dark skies and a stable atmosphere concurrent with the higher elevation afford viewing celestial objects with greater clarity and resolution. The park service website information on its Chula Vista campground notes the site is used for stargazing activities and to avoid driving in and out of the lot, disturbing such activities. Unfortunately, this is not being enforced and the incessant movement of vehicles with their bright headlights makes the observations of faint celestial objects extremely difficult, if not impossible. Additionally, a most unfortunate source of light pollution is from fellow amateurs known as "imagers" who set up bright laptops and attach CCD cameras to their scopes, taking pictures of one or two objects per evening without really observing anything. Many of these imagers arrive in large RVs with noisy and smelly generators in tow, and essentially, for all practical purposes, "take over" the parking lot. A numbers of these imagers walk around or sit in front of their laptops with bright LED red lights on their foreheads in order to see their laptop settings, and even though the lights are red, they're so bright they hinder observing by visual astronomers.
Attendant with the new moon weekends, throngs of "looki Lu's" come upon the parking lot at virtually any hour, disturbing star gazing activities with their headlights and leave in a willy-nilly manner, illuminating the lot with more light pollution.
At various times, cooking fires appear to be left unattended, and these take the form of propane stoves, charcoal burning hibashis and, less commonly, a ring of stones surrounding whatever fuel exists to burn. God forbid there should ever be a fire that breaks out as a result but the resulting stampede out of the one entrance/exit of the lot wouldn't be pretty.
My appeal to you is a request for a greater degree of management during periods of peak use along with distribution of flyers/ pamphlets by forest service personnel, discouraging the use of led lights/laptops/generators and the constant in and out of vehicular traffic during viewing periods occuring around the dates of new moon. Additionally, signs warning against unattended cooking fires would be prudent. It would be nice to see some level of traffic control, particularly with respect to the large RVs that tend to take over the area.
Thank you for your consideration of this request,
Next, my follow-up letter:
Dear Sir,
As a follow-up to my previous letter regarding a number of concerns relative to the peak amount of usage of the parking lot by fellow amateur astronomers during the summer months, I am requesting your consideration and written response to the following suggestions designed to mitigate difficulties encountered on-site.
First, please consider the need for additional management by the forest service would consist of eight days out of the year. This would require Friday/Saturday evening supervision during the new moon weekends of June, July, August and September. Cold weather conditions before and after this peak period essentially "thins the herd" and prevents many of the problems associated with peak usage of the Mt Pinos parking area, as previously detailed in my initial letter on the matter.
My suggestion for a simple solution to many of the problems encountered with overcrowding at nightime during peak periods would be to station one forest service person at the snowgate at nightfall, preventing incoming traffic from going up the mountain thereby eliminating late arrivals that habitually occur to ruin the stargazing/observing already in operation at the parking lot. Any exiting traffic coming down from the mountain would be allowed to leave as usual. I believe the forest service personnel would be needed at the gate from about 8:00 PM thru 12:00 midnight at which time the ranger would travel up the mountain to the lot, providing a "once-over" to ensure that no glaring examples of light pollution and or cooking fires occur without a suitable response. In general, most of the serious observers stay up throughout the night and perhaps retire to a sleeping bag at 2:00 am or after while so-called "lookie-lu's" are either long gone or prevented from entering at the snow gate after night fall. Again, we're only talking eight days out of a year.
I ask for your written response to my concerns and suggested remedy. I've tried to contact you by phone to no avail and your email address does not appear on the forest service website.
Now to the response from the acting district park ranger, I don't have expressed permission to reproduce the letter so I will summarize the gist of the letter. First, the ranger kindly thanked me for my correspondence and suggested remedy but he didn't think the service would be able to provided the requested manpower at the gate. Second, he provided his own cell phone number so we could discuss other options directly, including alternate sites. I will certainly follow up and speak to the acting district park ranger regarding the options mentioned in his response, including clarification of the use of the word "astrological" in his letter.
First my initial letter to the acting district park ranger:
As one of many amateur astonomers uitlizing the parking lot atop Mt Pinos during new moon weekends , it has become quite evident, especially during the summer months, that the larger crowds and greater level of ultilization of the site demands a greater degree of management from the park service. In decades past, one had to obtain a "permit to setup a telescope" on the parking lot with designated dates of attendance in the form of a letter, signed by the district park ranger. Overnight camping was otherwise prohibited, with RVs and campers relegated to the Mt Pinos and McGill campgrounds. I'm not sure when the previous policy was rescinded or if it simply isn't being enforced, but it appears the time has come to revisit it.
At present, amateur astronomers frequent the site because of the relatively dark skies and a stable atmosphere concurrent with the higher elevation afford viewing celestial objects with greater clarity and resolution. The park service website information on its Chula Vista campground notes the site is used for stargazing activities and to avoid driving in and out of the lot, disturbing such activities. Unfortunately, this is not being enforced and the incessant movement of vehicles with their bright headlights makes the observations of faint celestial objects extremely difficult, if not impossible. Additionally, a most unfortunate source of light pollution is from fellow amateurs known as "imagers" who set up bright laptops and attach CCD cameras to their scopes, taking pictures of one or two objects per evening without really observing anything. Many of these imagers arrive in large RVs with noisy and smelly generators in tow, and essentially, for all practical purposes, "take over" the parking lot. A numbers of these imagers walk around or sit in front of their laptops with bright LED red lights on their foreheads in order to see their laptop settings, and even though the lights are red, they're so bright they hinder observing by visual astronomers.
Attendant with the new moon weekends, throngs of "looki Lu's" come upon the parking lot at virtually any hour, disturbing star gazing activities with their headlights and leave in a willy-nilly manner, illuminating the lot with more light pollution.
At various times, cooking fires appear to be left unattended, and these take the form of propane stoves, charcoal burning hibashis and, less commonly, a ring of stones surrounding whatever fuel exists to burn. God forbid there should ever be a fire that breaks out as a result but the resulting stampede out of the one entrance/exit of the lot wouldn't be pretty.
My appeal to you is a request for a greater degree of management during periods of peak use along with distribution of flyers/ pamphlets by forest service personnel, discouraging the use of led lights/laptops/generators and the constant in and out of vehicular traffic during viewing periods occuring around the dates of new moon. Additionally, signs warning against unattended cooking fires would be prudent. It would be nice to see some level of traffic control, particularly with respect to the large RVs that tend to take over the area.
Thank you for your consideration of this request,
Next, my follow-up letter:
Dear Sir,
As a follow-up to my previous letter regarding a number of concerns relative to the peak amount of usage of the parking lot by fellow amateur astronomers during the summer months, I am requesting your consideration and written response to the following suggestions designed to mitigate difficulties encountered on-site.
First, please consider the need for additional management by the forest service would consist of eight days out of the year. This would require Friday/Saturday evening supervision during the new moon weekends of June, July, August and September. Cold weather conditions before and after this peak period essentially "thins the herd" and prevents many of the problems associated with peak usage of the Mt Pinos parking area, as previously detailed in my initial letter on the matter.
My suggestion for a simple solution to many of the problems encountered with overcrowding at nightime during peak periods would be to station one forest service person at the snowgate at nightfall, preventing incoming traffic from going up the mountain thereby eliminating late arrivals that habitually occur to ruin the stargazing/observing already in operation at the parking lot. Any exiting traffic coming down from the mountain would be allowed to leave as usual. I believe the forest service personnel would be needed at the gate from about 8:00 PM thru 12:00 midnight at which time the ranger would travel up the mountain to the lot, providing a "once-over" to ensure that no glaring examples of light pollution and or cooking fires occur without a suitable response. In general, most of the serious observers stay up throughout the night and perhaps retire to a sleeping bag at 2:00 am or after while so-called "lookie-lu's" are either long gone or prevented from entering at the snow gate after night fall. Again, we're only talking eight days out of a year.
I ask for your written response to my concerns and suggested remedy. I've tried to contact you by phone to no avail and your email address does not appear on the forest service website.
Now to the response from the acting district park ranger, I don't have expressed permission to reproduce the letter so I will summarize the gist of the letter. First, the ranger kindly thanked me for my correspondence and suggested remedy but he didn't think the service would be able to provided the requested manpower at the gate. Second, he provided his own cell phone number so we could discuss other options directly, including alternate sites. I will certainly follow up and speak to the acting district park ranger regarding the options mentioned in his response, including clarification of the use of the word "astrological" in his letter.
