Shield Ranch Barton Creek gets Dark Sky designation

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A western Travis County community was added to a growing list of designated International Dark Sky Places in Central Texas.

DarkSky International officially certified Shield Ranch Barton Creek as an Urban Night Sky Place (UNSP), making it the 20th dark sky-certified place in Texas, according to a release from the ranch.

Shield Ranch joins three neighboring designated International Dark Sky Places. Dripping Springs and Bee Cave are both International Dark Sky Communities, and Milton Reimers Ranch Park in Travis County is an International Dark Sky Park. Jonestown was the newest community on the list, added in January 2024.

Shield Ranch is located on the eastern edge of the Texas Hill Country in western Travis County, about 18 miles west of downtown Austin. It's a 6,800-acre, family ranch and a nationally designated historic district and protected wildland comprising 10% of the Barton Creek watershed, according to the Texas Land Trust Council.

According to the International Dark Sky Places website, one of the primary goals of a dark sky place is to "encourage communities and protected areas to become environmental leaders by communicating the importance of dark skies to the general public and providing an example of what is possible with proper stewardship."

The owners and managers of Shield Ranch said in a release they understand the ways well-managed rangelands benefit a rapidly growing region, and aim to further the mission of dark sky places.

“As advocates for wildlife conservation, we understand the importance of reducing outdoor lighting to reduce harmful impacts to wildlife including migrating birds, as well as moths and other insects that are active at night,” said Robert Ayres, co-owner of Shield Ranch.

According to the release, Shield Ranch signed a Dark Skies Pledge in response to a Hill Country Alliance initiative to promote dark skies. In the Shield Ranch 2018 Master Plan, dark sky-compliant fixtures were included in the design guidelines and performance metrics.

The release said Shield Ranch then conducted a thorough outdoor lighting inventory and staff worked to retrofit outdoor lighting, which resulted in 89% compliance at the time of application. The Ranch also installed a permanent night sky quality monitoring station.

The monitoring station participates in the Hays County Friends of the Night Sky “Sky Quality Meter Network,” taking nightly sky quality readings every 15 minutes. Measurements will contribute to the Globe at Night Monitoring and the Dark Sky Texas Sky Quality Monitoring networks.