Don Pitts, PhD

This time we’ll let our Volunteer tell you his story:

“Hi! I'm Don Pitts, a volunteer who apparently will be a speaker, giving dark skies presentations to various audiences. Luckily, I've been passed Wayne Gosnell's slides and format, so perhaps this will be a successful plagiarism. My wife, CJ, and I have always loved the dark skies, and we are passionate about the mission.

My early roots are West Texas cowboy, working and living on ranches, many so remote they didn't have electricity. I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Range Animal Science from Sul Ross State University in 1969 and immediately was promised a government job. Yeah, they wanted to draft me. SoSo, I fooled them by signing up for Marine Corps OCS, (Officer Candidate School) and when we parted, the paperwork called me "Captain.". I mainly mentioned the Corps because they really emphasized "night vision,", the ability to maneuver and operate at night with no artificial lighting. Yeah, you didn't want to go looking for the bad guys in a jungle at night while carrying a flashlight.

When the Corps got smart and let me out, I relearned civilian life by getting a Master of Science back at Sul Ross, this time emphasizing wildlife. I eventually ended up with a PhD from the University of Illinois emphasizing natural ecosystems. Much of my wildlife and ecosystem field work was done in the dark of night, with no or very limited artificial lighting.

I retired from the Army Corps of Engineers with the job title: Wildlife Biologist, Senior Research Scientist. Throughout my career I was constantly emphasizing that artificial lighting was something native plants and wildlife all hated and should be avoided. The few times its it is necessary, keep it limited and brief.

My favorite recent lighting story was when my wife asked the guy across the street to please limit use or change their porch light that was very intrusive to all the neighbors. The owner refused and it still stayed on all night. SoSo, she tried another tactic, and asked if he'd sell, and immediately the rude dude and that light were gone and a new "night skies" porch light illuminated the porch and steps nicely while the neighbors once again enjoyed the night skies. In fact, we'd chosen Blanco and this street to build our retirement home because of the lack of street and other intrusive lights, and we're doing all we can to keep it that way.

In our opinion, artificial lighting helps the bad guys and impedes the law abiding. Yeah, we get it that some folks are afraid of the dark, something they should have outgrown by age 6, but itsit’s a phobia they can rather quickly overcome with a little effort and open-mindedness. We're proud to be involved in this effort to protect our world and our sanity.

I'm fine with public speaking, have made numerous presentations at scientific symposiums and public events, and in the 90's did numerous shows throughout the southwest as a cowboy standup comic. I also taught freshman college classes as a grad student and some students didn't drop out.”

WOW! What a story. Thanks Don! We appreciate you joining our Presentation Team to help BCFNS save the stars.