Spectacular, starry nights in the North East are becoming a little less bright over time, but there has been a call for Indigo Council to protect the night sky.
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Warrumbungle National Park in northern NSW near Coonabarabran was recognised as Australia's first "dark-sky park" in 2016, where low levels of light pollution mean people can get a better view of the Milky Way.
Beechworth resident and Indigo environment advisory committee member Peter Kenyon wants Indigo Shire to be the next region to have dark skies.
"We have the same opportunity here in our amazing riverine, sub-alpine and alpine region if we can limit the 'spill' of light pollution with guidelines like those developed by the NSW government," he said.
"North East Victoria is fortunate to enjoy large areas of high-quality night-time darkness, but satellite imagery shows that darkness is disappearing under a wave of light pollution all over the planet, putting our own night skies at risk."
He said while LED lighting has decreased energy consumption, it has also increased the volume and brightness of lighting.
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"One of the remarkable things that drew me to move to Indigo was the spectacular, starry nightscapes, but even in the past six years I've witnessed an erosion of our gentle night-time darkness," Mr Kenyon said.
"The failure of recent annual Bogong moth migrations is at least partly due to the moths' attraction to increased night light on the route between their winter homes in Queensland and the Australian Alps ... Mountain pygmy possums are highly dependent on Bogong moths in their diets.
"The failure of moth migrations adds to the relentless pressure on these little mammals' ability to survive."
Moves that can prevent light pollution include using bulbs with a warm colour and low temperature, and ensuring the light faces downwards rather than out.
"With most people on the planet now living in urban environments, wondering at the beauty of twinkling stars is mostly a thing of the past," Mr Kenyon said.
"I'd like to see Indigo Shire become the first local government in Victoria to adopt dark skies planning guidelines, leading the way to protecting our indigo heavens from light pollution."
Indigo mayor Jenny O'Connor said a dark skies policy sounded like a great idea that could be looked into and would provide tourism opportunities for the region.
It could not be done in certain areas because of safety concerns, but she said Indigo could start a partnership with other councils looking into creating a dark-sky park.
"You'd have to look at it as a region, rather than just one municipality - there'd be areas in Towong Shire, Alpine Shire and possibly even Wodonga where this kind of attraction could be," she said.
"It's really about accessing the night sky.
"People who live in metropolitan areas often never get to see it and they want to."