What I learned about the astronomical task of preserving our night skies
This is the Trail Report, a weekly email newsletter from reporter Maura Fox about hikes and San Diego County's outdoors. Sign up to get it in your inbox first, every Friday.
I'd say I have a pretty strong baseline appreciation for the sky.
As someone who loves the outdoors, a lot of my time is spent looking up at soaring birds and unique cloud formations - and even watching the sky for signs of weather shifts that might scuttle my hiking plans.
I also count the night sky as one of the best parts of camping, when I've settled into my camp chair after dinner and have the chance to gaze up at the stars, sometimes with the haze of campfire smoke veering into view.
But I was glad to learn even more about the sky - specifically the night sky - through my reporting for a recent story on International Dark Sky Week. It's a global event that has included programming across San Diego County over the last week and continuing through Saturday.
It's a dedicated time to celebrate the night skies, but as one advocate told me, "It's not just about the stars." The events also focus on the effects of light pollution on communities and wildlife.
You know the millions of birds that are migrating over San Diego County along the Pacific Flyway this spring? Light pollution can disorient them on their flight.
And that light from across the street that shines right into your bedroom window at night, keeping you from falling asleep? Local advocates want better lighting practices to prevent that.
The efforts to preserve night skies are fascinating to me, since the issue of light pollution can affect both humans and the environment and wildlife around us. And the International Dark Sky Week couldn't have come at a more opportune time, just on the tails of NASA's Artemis II mission, when all eyes were on the sky.
You can still catch a few more International Dark Sky Week events in San Diego County today and tomorrow - including stargazing at Mission Trail Regional Park's West Sycamore, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the Santa Ysabel Nature Center.
Elsewhere in San Diego, residents are taking in Mayor Todd Gloria's proposed budget, released Wednesday, which includes major cuts to the Department of Parks and Recreation, including slashing money for recreation center hours by $5.4 million, along with cutting park rangers and closing restrooms in some parks.
The budget also makes sweeping cuts to the city's annual arts funding and the Library Department. My colleague David Garrick writes that it's the "bleakest" budget in 15 years.
In some positive news, two major wildlife organizations in San Diego are taking steps to work together. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance have recently partnered to develop conservation solutions and to help create the next generation of conservationists. The goal is to be able to respond to conservation concerns more quickly, especially as biodiversity loss is now happening at an increasingly faster rate than in the past.
And lastly, check out the Lakeside Linkage County Preserve for this week's hike. It's a short one, but with enough elevation gain that it feels like a workout. Expect views of El Cajon Mountain and East County neighborhoods.
Until next week,
-Maura
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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 4:18 PM.