Minnesota Voyageurs National Park Named 2026 Dark Sky Place of the Year: Sky Brightness Averages 21.45, Second U.S. National Park So Honored
Minnesota — Voyageurs National Park, about a five-hour drive from Minneapolis in northern Minnesota, on November 10 received DarkSky International's 2026 Dark Sky Place of the Year award, the organization's top annual conservation honor.
Voyageurs is only the second American national park to receive the award. The first was Grand Canyon National Park in 2019. The park was certified as an International Dark Sky Park in 2020.
A National Park Service report says 80 percent of Americans cannot see the Milky Way from their homes. Park staff regularly measure darkness at five locations with a sky quality meter, and on a scale where 22.0 is the darkest natural night sky, Voyageurs averages 21.45.
In April, Congress passed and the President signed a resolution that reversed a 20-year mining ban covering roughly 350 square miles of Superior National Forest near the neighboring Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a development noted alongside the award coverage.
Source: National Park Service
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：明尼苏达州航海家国家公园的水域与林岸景观。维基共享资源公共领域图片。 / Photo: Waters and forested shoreline at Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.
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