Willamette Week The need for strong, independent local journalism is more urgent than ever. Please support the city we love by joining Friends of Willamette Week. Oregon Now Has its First “Dark Sky Park” Securing a Dark Sky Park designation is a rigorous process that requires minimal light pollution. Crooked River near Prineville Resevoir. (Shannon Gormley) Updated 12:34 AM Oregon has a new destination for stargazers and amateur astronomers. Prineville Reservoir State Park is now Oregon’s first Dark Sky Park, a designation awarded by the International Dark Sky Association to locations with minimal light pollution. “The park offers a genuine night-sky experience for those coming from light polluted cities,” Bill Kowalik, chair of the Oregon chapter of the International Dark Sky Association, said in a press release. “Formal recognition of this International Dark Sky Park, located in rapidly growing Central Oregon, will help to educate the public and decision makers about Iight pollution and the value of the night sky to people and to our greater wild ecosystem.”