Because the area surrounding the Dark Sky Sanctuary has two wildlife refuges, the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, and the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, expanding the Dark Sky area in the Southeast part of Oregon seems like a logical next step.

The wildlife areas already have a very low level of artificial light and aren’t places where a lot of development is likely to occur in the near future, making them prime spots for a Dark Sky Sanctuary.

Since ecologists have been studying the effects of artificial light on wildlife, they have discovered that it can harm a wide range of diurnal and nocturnal animals, so mitigating that within the wildlife sanctuaries will have a positive effect, overall.