Courtesy photos.
FLAGSTAFF — The City of Flagstaff has been awarded the prestigious Dark Sky Place of the Year award from DarkSky International. This recognition follows more than six decades of intentional stewardship of the City’s night skies, beginning when Flagstaff created the world’s first outdoor lighting ordinance in 1958. Following a proposal from the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition to create the program, Flagstaff was designated the world’s first International Dark Sky City on Oct. 24, 2001. Today, Flagstaff remains the largest such community by population and proves that cities can enjoy economic growth while conserving the nighttime environment for its residents and visitors.
The City’s Code Compliance section is tasked with implementing dark sky regulations around the City. The team regularly reviews outdoor lighting permit applications, conducts inspections, investigates complaints, and enforces compliance when necessary. The Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition supports the City’s efforts through education and community dark sky awareness events. Together, this work enables the preservation of Flagstaff’s dark skies to protect and enhance the quality of life for its residents. This also allows for important industries to operate in Flagstaff, including scientific research and astro-tourism at Lowell Observatory, research and critical military operations at two naval facilities, including the US Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station, and training operations at Camp Navajo. Through this work, the Code Compliance team works to improve the quality of the nighttime environment by mitigating light pollution in our community.
Building on its 1958 outdoor lighting ordinance, both the City of Flagstaff and surrounding Coconino County have led with innovative approaches to protecting the nocturnal environment. In 1989, Coconino County approved the world’s first lighting code to restrict both spectrum and lighting amounts, followed shortly by Flagstaff. The City’s most recent outdoor lighting code, adopted in 2023, addresses modern technologies like LEDs while continuing to restrict spectrum primarily to amber wavelengths, in alignment with current research on the adverse effects of blue light at night on humans, wildlife and plants. Additionally, the City and the Coalition actively mentor other communities pursuing Dark Sky certification and share their expertise and best practices to help other cities around the world restore the stars—and even the Milky Way—to their own skies.
DarkSky’s Annual Awards honor the people, places, and communities that are leading efforts to protect the night from the harmful impacts of light pollution. These awards highlight the inspiring work being done across the globe to preserve dark skies and the nighttime environment. To read more about the City of Flagstaff’s Dark Sky Place of the Year Award, please visit darksky.org/news/announcing-the-2025-darksky-award-winners/.
In 2026, the City of Flagstaff will celebrate 25 years as the world’s first International Dark Sky Place, with public events throughout the year hosted by the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition. To learn more about the City’s work in the protection of dark skies, please visit flagstaff.az.gov/4042/International-Dark-Sky. To learn more about the best practices for conservation of the night sky in Flagstaff and the 2026 anniversary celebrations, please visit flagstaffdarkskies.org
