Lighting at Parks

My pet peeve has always been lighting at campgrounds. It’s bad enough when campers think they are being ‘cool’ by stringing up plastic lighted owls around the awning or that keeping their outdoor lights on will somehow keep them safe. But it’s the parks themselves that waste so much energy with lighting along with destroying the view of the skies.

RV Parks are ridiculous. Many of them put bright lights at each campsite near the hook-ups. That light then shines into the RV all night even with shades down. We have to put up extra foil pieces to keep the lights out at night.

State parks seem to be a bit better with no lights at the sites but they will keep bright white lights on all night at the bathrooms.

This time we are visiting a Gulf Power campground. No lights at the site. There are lights at the bathrooms, but they are all on motion sensors (except a few outside near the doors). Besides helping save energy and reduce light pollution, it made a MAJOR difference in the amount of bugs in the bathroom. These were probably the cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever seen in a campground. Unfortunately, the lights in the laundry didn’t turn off at night. The laundry had wasp nests and all kinds of bugs.

I know motion sensors and new lights like either T8 or LED’s cost money, but they really do save energy. I’ve done a lot of cost justifications for new lighting, but I’ve never considered the improvement in the amount of bugs.

Morning at Blanton Creek park.