Lacrosse Lives

STICKS AND STONES IN AUSTIN

When Austin’s weather is fair, weekend athletes come out in force. Grassy fi elds fi ll up with soccer players, lights shine on baseball diamonds, shirtless guys toss around Frisbees or footballs. At some of these gatherings, the players are wearing helmets, with no football in sight, and the sticks aren’t bats but instead have pockets on the end, and every player carries one.

That would be lacrosse, which fans boast is the fastest game on two feet, a sort of combination of basketball, soccer and hockey, but more exciting than any of those. The game has been catching on in area high schools and colleges and, as more players graduate from those schools, and others move here from lacrosse hot spots, more opportunities are available for adults to play as well.

History
The first Europeans to arrive in North America found Native Americans playing a fast-paced field game with wooden sticks. They believed the game was a gift from the creator, and played to show their gratitude, honor members of their nation or settle disputes. Communities had individual styles of play, basic equipment, attire, and related ceremonies. Teams could include hundreds of players, goals might be miles apart, balls might be stones, and games could last for days. One game played over rights to a beaver pond exploded into violence between Creeks and Choctaws, and once an Oklahoma tribe slipped lead weights onto their sticks, the better to bonk opponents on the head. Fortunately, the modern game is a bit tamer, thanks to those early settlers who established basic rules. Today, the game is the national sport of Canada and the fastest growing sport in the United States, perhaps nowhere more so than in Texas. Scores of teams have formed at area middle and high schools, recreational leagues and colleges. Naturally, adults are getting in on the action, too.

Men’s Teams
“Love of the sport is the only reason we play,” says Michael Cohen, coach of Capital Crossfire, a Division Two men’s team in the Southwest Lacrosse Association (SWLA). “There is no other reason.” Cohen started young in New York and played on college and club teams before joining Crossfire in 2002. His players range in age from eighteen to the north side of fifty. Most have high school experience; about three-quarters played in college. Technically, anyone can be on the team, but candidates face pretty stiff competition, Cohen adds, and weaker players usually end up quitting. Practices are irregular and games are held in the spring, which is the traditional lacrosse season. The schedule takes into account that many of the players also coach area high school teams (Cohen, for example, at McNeil High School).

The Austin Lacrosse Club, in SWLA’s morecompetitive Division One, has been around roughly thirty years, says president Greaven Graham, another upstate New York transplant and former club-level college player. Team members are predominantly former college players.

“We seem to attract a lot of guys who played for UT and Texas Tech, and a smattering of those from outside of Texas,” Graham says. “There’s nothing formal about this. A lot of us coach at high school or college, and we all work. This is just a sport we enjoyed and want to continue.” Austin Lacrosse Club plays ten regular season games in spring, and playoffs in May or June.

“We generally have some practices before the start of the season, and we try to scrimmage
college teams on off-weekends to keep our skills sharp” says Graham. Team dues cover the cost of fi elds at Williamson County Regional Park and a jersey, but players provide their own stick, shoulder and elbow pads, gloves and helmets. The head gear generally reflects previous team associations, resulting in an impressive array of colors on the field.

“Once you’re a lacrosse player, you want to continue,” says Rick Foerster, Dallas-based
SWLA president. “The great thing about lacrosse is that it kind of has the best of all sports, a little football, soccer with the positions, offense like in basketball. It is just a fun sport—fun to play, fun to watch.” Any reasonably athletic person can pick up basic lacrosse skills quickly, and players don’t have to be big or buff, although agility, coordination and speed are essential.

Adult players do need some level of experience, Cohen says. “We’re out mainly to have fun, but we can’t have people who don’t know how to play the game.”

Instead of joining a team right off the bat, or stick, determined newcomers can try a league that stages short games between teams of three players each. This adult league is held year-round at Austin’s A-Train Sports. “We’ve had a few brand new players and they’ve done just fine. Most have some kind of sports experience, but one-on-one coaching is available,” says A-Train’s director of lacrosse training Scott Aubin, who played four years of lacrosse at Anderson High School and coached the McCallum High School team for ten. One three-v-three session is free, then sixty dollars covers six more. Players bring their own equipment.

This past summer, South Swell Sports Austin sponsored Friday Night Lights, lacrosse open to men age eighteen and up, all levels of experience. Games were on Fridays, naturally, at University of Texas Whitaker Fields at Fifty-first and Guadalupe streets. “We had about eight teams and one hundred men, and drafted all players. You definitely didn’t have to be All-American to play,” says organizer Noah Fink, head coach for men’s lacrosse at UT.


Women’s Team
There are no restrictions or tryouts for female athletes who want to play with the Austin Armadillos, says Johanna Owens, Westlake High School girl’s lacrosse coach. “Whoever wants to come out and play can, even if they don’t have experience. Many of us on the team are coaches, so people can be taught.” Basketball or soccer experience do help, she adds. “We’re very informal and don’t really have a season. We practice, scrimmage with local colleges or higher division high school teams, and enter collegiate club tournaments.”

The women are mostly in it for fun. “It’s a great outlet for exercise instead of going to the gym,” says Owens. “Everyone is always looking for something like that. Being on the team is also a reason to work a little harder, to run a little more before you go out to play.”

Owens coordinates a summer lacrosse league, too, and may “throw together” a fall league. “We usually have more than one hundred participants in the summer. There’s no coaching, just scrimmages. It is just for fun, we don’t even keep score. It’s just to get out there and meet people in the lacrosse community in a more friendly environment.”

Foerster recommends that wannabe players watch high school or college games to get a feel for the sport. Then, pick up a stick and learn how to throw and catch. “Work on skills on your own time, then you can jump in at a team level. A great thing about lacrosse is that, like baseball, you can grab a buddy and go play catch. Only it’s faster moving and more exciting.” Not to mention everybody gets a big stick.


LACROSSE RESOURCES

A-Train Sports—Provides lacrosse training and an adult indoor league that plays “three-vthree”
games, short match-ups between teams of three players each, with players rotating in
and out of games. A-Train has locations in Austin at 12611 Hymeadow Drive and 425 Woodward
St., and a location in Cedar Park at 1220 Toro Grande. For more information call 512-345-
5547 or visit www.atrainsports.com.

Austin Armadillos Women’s Lacrosse Club—This team is open to players age eighteen
and up, any level of experience. Contact Johanna Owens at 512-589-4416.

Austin Lacrosse Club—This is a Division One men’s team for ages eighteen and up. E-mail
coach Greaven Graham at austinlaxclub@ aol.com or visit www.texaslacrosse.com

Capital Crossfire—This is a Division Two adult men’s team. E-mail coach Michael Cohen at
coach@ pillarcustom.com or visit www.texaslacrosse.com

South Swell Sports Austin sells lacrosse gear and runs leagues, including summer adult
men’s games. Located at 3636 Bee Caves Road. For more information call 512-732-0002 or visit
southswellsports.com.

Southwest Lacrosse Association—Consists of ten adult men’s teams in Austin, San Antonio
and Dallas in two divisions. For information e-mail President Rick Foerster at rickfoerster@
yahoo.com or visit www.texaslacrosse.com and click on Club.

GAME BASICS

Men’s lacrosse is played on a one-hundred-ten-yard fi eld; each end has a forty-yard box and six-by-six-foot net goal, surrounded by a circle (called a crease). Teams include one goalie and three men each on defense,
midfi eld, and attack-offense for a total of ten players.

Play begins with a face-off at midfi eld. Players can’t touch the ball with their hands, but kicking it is legal, even into the goal. When balls go out of bounds, possession goes to the team that did not touch it last, except
on a shot at the goal, where possession goes to the player closest to the ball when it leaves the fi eld.

During play, each team must keep any four players in its defensive half of the fi eld and three in the offensive half. Offensive players may not step into the crease on their offensive half of the field. Defensive players may step in the crease, but not carry the ball into it.

Players can check, with their body or stick, the player with the ball and any player within five yards of a loose ball. Body checks cannot make contact above the shoulders, below the waist or from the rear, and the player must have both hands on his own stick. Stick checks must be on the opponent’s stick or gloves, although checks on the arms and sides are not called penalties if the offensive player moved his stick or spun so the check landed elsewhere. Players may never cross-check, which means using the part of the stick held between the gloves.

Games are divided into quarters, with breaks between quarters, and a half-time. Teamschange sides between each quarter.

There are two kinds of penalties: personal and technical fouls. Personal fouls result in one to three minutes in the penalty box and possession to the team fouled. Technical fouls result in thirty seconds in the penalty box if the team had possession when the infraction occurred, or, if no one had possession, awarding of possession to the team fouled.

Women’s lacrosse teams fi eld eleven players: fi ve attack, fi ve defenders and a goalie. The only legal checks are stick to stick, away from the player with the ball. No body checks are allowed; the only protective gear required are goggles and a mouth guard, and gloves for goalies. Fouls are major or minor, and fouled players receive a free position, which means that opposing players are moved away from the fouled player before play resumes.

Find more information and complete rules at www.lacrosse.org.

Melissa Gaskill is co-author of 'Lacrosse: Guide for Parents and Players' (Mansion Grove House, 2006) along with Noah Fink, University of Texas Mens Lacrosse Head Coach. While she is an avid fan of lacrosse, she finds it a bit too dangerous to play herself.

Credit: Article by Melissa Gaskill reproduced with permission from The Good Life Magazine.

Bad Sports

Winning has become more important than the kids having fun, more important than the kids themselves.

My first glimpse of the problem came when I walked to the neighborhood Little League field to watch a friend’s son play baseball. Prominently attached to the fences were signs stating, in essence, that anyone yelling at the umpires would be asked to leave. Things hit closer to home at one of my oldest daughter’s kickball games a year or so later, when the game screeched to a halt while the grown-ups huddled around a thick rule book, trying to decide whether to call a player out for some minor infraction I can’t even recall, like taking 5 seconds too long to step up to bat. I didn’t remember kickball having so many rules when I was 10.

After a couple of years of fairly low-key recreational soccer, my son made a “select” team. Not every kid gets on these teams. The coaches are paid professionals, the rules strict. It’s costly, upwards of $1,000, plus uniforms and travel, which can be extensive. The first indication that the ante had been upped was when the team mom handed out lollipops to keep the parents quiet.

There were teams with matching bags precisely lined up on the sidelines, games where parents berated officials the entire time (obviously, they hadn’t brought lollipops), coaches who positioned parents at intervals along the sidelines to yell at their players. When my youngest daughter made one of these teams, she sometimes came home from practices and games in tears, devastated by the comments of a teammate or because she’d disappointed her coach. A particularly rainy fall left the team of sixth graders trying to make up games well into December. I asked if we couldn’t just let those games go (hello, it’s almost Christmas!), and was told that would mess up season statistics.

I think we are taking youth sports way too seriously. Programs like Little League and Pop Warner Football were originally founded on the principles of letting every kid play and having fun, but many youth leagues now resemble miniature versions of professional sports. The frightening “do whatever it takes to win” mentality includes yelling at children, playing through pain, and even trying to injure other players.Winning has become more important than the kids having fun, more important than the kids themselves.

Maybe we need to be reminded that these are just kids. Our kids. I remember T-ball—my son and his teammates spent their time in the outfield pulling up dandelions or digging in the dirt. The grown-ups often hollered at these 5- and 6-year-olds to pay attention. Now I wonder why. We shouldn’t have cared who won, just that the kids were outside and having fun.

I figured I was alone in my alarm until I read Why Johnny Hates Sports by Fred Engh. Engh says 70 percent of all youngsters drop out of organized sports by age 13 because of unpleasant experiences. Seventy percent. By age 13! Frankly, that seems to me about the age kids should start team sports, not already be burned out and quitting.

Sports, and team sports in particular, have a lot to teach children—when they’re ready. Let’s face it, 11-year-olds can get distracted or tired. So can 15-year-olds, but they usually have the developmental ability and maturity to push through it and give that extra effort. That feels like a real accomplishment, and teaches perseverance. But pushing an 11-year-old to act 15 won’t make her develop or mature anyfaster. It might, however, make her drop out of sports.

Fortunately, my youngest has decided to move on to another sport rather than quit. My dandelion-picking son seems to have let all that yelling go in one ear and out the other (an annoying skill in so many arenas), going on from baseball to soccer, basketball, football and, finally, lacrosse. My oldest daughter has dabbled in a variety of sports as well (her favorite: Ultimate Frisbee, a game that defies rules and organization).

I’m glad about this. I’m not against sports or competition, just against taking them too seriously.Too much competition sucks the fun out. An undue emphasis on winning and losing—and not on teamwork, self-improvement and good sportsmanship— takes away from the benefits sports can offer, like cooperation, respect for teammates and opponents, even compassion for the loser. I want my children—and their future coworkers, neighbors and spouses—to have exposure to those things, too.

Finally, I don’t think we should sacrifice the fun of childhood. No one should know better than my successoriented generation that you only get to be young once. I don’t think my kids will look back from that vaunted front-porch rocking chair and say, “Gee, I wish I’d won more soccer games when I was 11.” I know I won’t.

In addition to the emotional and psychological consequences of our overzealous attitudes, there are potential physical ones. Stress fractures, growth plate disorders, cracked kneecaps, frayed heel tendons and back problems were previously seen only in adults. Now injuries like these are reaching epidemic proportions in young teens, as more kids play one sport year-round and focus on single skills like kicking or throwing. Their still-growing bodies simply can’t take it. Some parents justify pushing their kids for scholarships, but a kid with injuries probably won’t be able to play, scholarship or no.

The American Academy of Pediatrics even issued a formal statement: “Those who participate in a variety of sports and specialize only after reaching the age of puberty tend to be more consistent performers, have fewer injuries, and adhere to sports play longer than those who specialize early.”

Kids won’t acquire skills faster just because they start younger. A lot of skill and ability is a function of age and development, not more practice. Former NBA player Bob Bigelow, who wrote Just Let the Kids Play, didn’t even play basketball until high school. World Cup star Mia Hamm didn’t focus on soccer until age 16.That gawky 10-year-old who can hardly run and breathe at the same time could grow up to be the next Mia if given a chance. A lot of kids never discover their talent because they’re told at age 9 or 10 that they aren’t good enough.

Remember that old saw about variety being the spice of life? I don’t want my children to spend their youth hammering away at one thing, no matter what it is. This is the time of life (maybe the only time) they can and should try many things—a variety of sports, musical instruments, dance, horseback riding, camping, biking, scouts. I don’t know about you, but I’m just darned bored watching yet another soccer game. I could go for a little softball for a change, or a picnic, a game of cards, or a hike in the woods.

In short, let’s lighten up and let our kids be kids while they still can. We’ll all have more fun.

Melissa Gaskill is co-author of Lacrosse: Guide for Parents and Players (Mansion Grove House, 2006). Her most recent contribution to Texas Co-op Power was the May 2005 cover article,“Rhinos at Fossil Rim.”

Review in The Alcalde, March/April 2007

Lacrosse: Guide for Parents and Players by Noah Fink and Melissa Gaskill, MA '80, Lacrosse is America's fastest-growing team sport. Action-packed and fun, lacrosse is a game that anyone can play - big or small, boy or girl. Lacrosse offers a positive outlet, a place to fit in at school, motivation to excel and opportunities to travel. Lacrosse can potentially even mean money for college. Whether your kid is 8 or 18, experienced or just starting, this book is the complete guide to all that lacrosse has to offer. Empower yourself with practical answers and unique ideas from Noah Fink, a former college lacrosse player and current head coach at The University of Texas, and Melissa Gaskill, parent of three active children, who has coached, volunteered, and cheered at innumerable youth sporting events.

Melissa Gaskill is a professional writer of 15 years, and has been actively involved in her childrens sporting events. She has contributed to numerous publications, and she is available for speaking engagements on a variety of youth sporting topics. Find out more about Lacrosse: Guide for Parents and Players (Mansion Grove House, 2006) and add this to your library of sports guide books.

Trail Mix: Top Texas Hikes

Take a hike. Rather than a brush-off, to me this sounds like an invitation to have a great time. Hiking offers one of the most accessible and versatile ways to enjoy the outdoors. Naturally, Texas boasts an amazing array of hikes for every taste and ability—from strolls of less than a mile to treks longer than 100 miles, through thick woods or open country, on high mountain slopes or smooth, flat shores. Here’s a look into a few of my favorites.

Hill Country State Natural Area

Just outside of Bandera, the 5,369-acre Hill Country State Natural Area (photo on opening spread) offers classic hikes on 40 miles of multi-use trails. My favorite combines Routes 1 and 6 to loop out to the Wilderness Camp Area and back, going 5.8 miles through open stretches where tall grass undulates in the breeze, into shady groves of oak and juniper covered in berries, over rocky hills and down canyons, and even across a wide swath of ankle-scratching but wickedly beautiful sotol. A must is the detour on Route 5B, up a steep, rocky staircase to 1,760-foot-high Twin Peaks for a stunning, panoramic view of the almost unblemished countryside. There is no drinking water or supplies in the park, so bring everything you think you’ll need. Not that you’ll need much, with scenery like this.
Hill Country State Natural Area, 830/796-4413

Sam Houston National Forest

East Texas’ Lone Star Hiking Trail runs for 128 miles through the Sam Houston National Forest, but that’s too much hiking for me. I can handle, though, the challenging 27-mile section between Evergreen and Cleveland, which is a designated National Recreation Trail. Tree tags 25 to 50 yards apart mark the narrow path, but I suggest picking up a map from the Sam Houston National Forest district ranger’s office in New Waverly. Pines and magnolias shade the trail, which also blazes through thick brush and swampy areas, and crosses several creeks and the East Fork of the San Jacinto River (twice). You might also see white-tailed deer, turkey, quail, and rabbits. Foxes and bobcats live here, too, though you’re unlikely to see them. Old stumps covered in shades of green moss, strange fungi growing on fallen logs, and a variety of mushrooms lend an otherworldly, untamed feel to the landscape.
USDA Forest Service, Sam Houston Natl. Forest, 936/344-6205

Lake Georgetown Good Water Trail

A rugged, 23.8-mile trail circumnavigating scenic Lake Georgetown traverses dense juniper stands, hardwood bottomlands, limestone cliffs, and wide-open prairie grasslands. You’ll even ford a few streams. My favorite spot on this hike, Knight Spring, creates a small stream above a lush, serpentine waterfall. Nearby is an old corral left by early settlers, and elsewhere on the trail are remnants of stone walls and fences. Armadillos rustle in the grass, and hikers may startle an occasional deer in the brush. During deer season (check with the office for dates), stay on the trail and wear bright clothing; the trail crosses Hunt Hollow Wildlife Management Area, which allows hunting. Multiple trailheads and several campgrounds make it easy to choose your distance; if your party has two cars, you can even leave one at your destination before driving to the starting point—then you won’t have to backtrack.
Georgetown Lake Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 512/930-5253

Melissa Gaskill, co-author of Lacrosse: A Guide for Parents and Players (Mansion Grove House, 2006) resides in Austin, Texas and has been writing professionally for 15 years. She enjoys an active lifestyle and takes part in her kids activities, as she has served as coach, volunteer and fan for various youth sports, including lacrosse, kickball, soccer, softball, and football. Full article on Top Texas Hikes can be found in the May 2007 issue of Texas Highways magazine.

Hatching Hope

A record 51 Kemp’s ridley turtle nests were found along the Texas coast last year, but the species still faces an uphill climb

In front of a knot of early risers gathered on Padre Island National Seashore, park rangers carefully lifted dozens of baby sea turtles from boxes and set them down on the sand, facing the surf. Using the rising sun as a beacon, the inch-long hatchlings scuttled to catch a wave, flippers churning like tiny propellers when they did.

This scene was repeated 51 times last summer, as a total of 3,501 Kemp’s ridley turtle hatchlings made their carefully supervised journey into the Gulf. That’s impressive considering that in 1978, the species was down to fewer than 800 females nesting primarily on Playa de Rancho Nuevo, a 16-mile stretch of sand in northern Mexico. Biologists recognized that additional nesting sites would improve the critically endangered species’ chances, and so launched the multiagency, binational Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Restoration and Enhancement Program. For the next 10 years, roughly 2,000 eggs were collected each year from Rancho Nuevo and incubated in boxes of sand from North Padre Island, where the turtles were known to have nested decades before, reports Donna Shaver, chief of the division of sea turtle science and recovery at the national seashore. Hatchlings were released each year on the seashore’s beaches, in hopes they would imprint on the location and then raised in captivity for another year before final release in waters off Texas and Florida. In 1996, two of those island-born turtles returned to lay eggs. Shaver says it’s possible that others returned earlier, but couldn’t be positively identified because their metal flipper tags had fallen off. In 1983, the project switched to more durable “living tags,” small plugs of lighter bottom shell implanted into the upper shell.

Kemp’s ridleys take 10 to 15 years to mature, and even in natural conditions, their odds of reaching adulthood may be only 1 in 1,000. “We hope we improve those odds by finding the nests and protecting the hatchlings,” Shaver says, at least until they reach the sea. Eggs are still incubated in protected areas, but now untagged hatchlings are released immediately.

The 51 nests found along the Texas coast in 2005 marked a record high that broke previous records of 42 nests in 2004 and 38 in 2002. At Rancho Nuevo, where an estimated 40,000 turtles nested in a single day in 1947, the count has risen from a low of 702 in 1985 to 10,099 in 2005. Some 15,000 adult Kemp’s ridleys and an unknown number of juveniles now roam the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. It is an impressive recovery, but the species still faces an uphill climb. Development on nesting beaches, harvesting of the eggs, slaughter of mature turtles for food and incidental capture by commercial fishing operations continue to threaten the turtles.

Ridleys come ashore to nest from April through July, usually during the day. Beachgoers can help recovery efforts by watching for nesting females and calling the turtle hotline, at 1-866-TURTLE5, immediately when one is spotted. Observers should stay back until the mother has finished laying her eggs and covered the nest, which can take 45 minutes. Hatchling releases at the National Seashore, between June and August, are free and open to the public. Call the hatchling hotline at (361) 949-7163. Purchase of a $10 Adopt a Turtle packet financially supports restoration efforts. Properly disposing of trash and picking up litter on the beach also helps the turtles. For more information, visit .

Melissa Gaskill is a professional writer, and is co-author of Lacrosse: Guide for Parents and Players (Mansion Grove House, 2006). This excerpt was taken from Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, and she contributes to numerous other publications such as Family Fun, The Nature Conservancy, American Way and The Austin American Statesman.

Bright Nights

From fireflies to ocelots, many species are adversely affected by ever-increasing levels of artificial lighting

As the sun fades from the sky, porch lights across Texas cast circles of illumination that welcome visitors, guide children home and help pizza-delivery drivers read addresses. The light also attracts insects, which beckon spiders and, in recent years, house geckos. The humble porch light is part of mounting evidence that artificial light creates opportunities for invasive species like geckos. John Davis, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department urban wildlife biologist, suspects this is only one way that light changes the natural world. Biologists are just beginning to shed light, pun intended, on exactly what those changes might mean.

The insects clearly pay a dear price, in the form of increased predation by the opportunistic spiders and geckos. That may seem like a good thing, until you consider the importance of bugs as food for animals and pollinators for plants. For example, says Mike Salmon, a biologist at Florida Atlantic University, reduced insect populations force many birds to work much harder to find enough insects to feed their young.

And bugs don’t have to die to be affected. On summer evenings, when male fireflies start flashing, they’re doing so in hopes that a female in the vegetation below will blink back and, well, nature will take its course. In today’s typical suburban yard, the poor fellows compete not only with porch lights, but also with street lights and the glow from illuminated malls and car lots to get noticed by the ladies, whose responses may be drowned out as well.

“Some people may not give a [darn] about fireflies,” says Jim Lloyd, professor emeritus in the entomology department at the University of Florida and author of a chapter on the bioluminescent creatures in Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting, edited by Travis Longcore and Catherine Rich. “But these are clues to what could happen with other species.” Even when sharp-eyed fireflies manage to mate, Lloyd adds, additional troubles await. “Highways, buildings and a lower water table have all combined to reduce the habitat available. When females go to lay eggs, they use signals from other fireflies to choose a spot.” A bright night makes that more difficult, and artificial light could become the last straw. And, not just for fireflies. More and more, evidence indicates that light creates changes in every aspect of the natural world, from animal orientation to navigation, reproduction, interspecies communication, competition for food among related species and predator-prey relationships.

Birds

The effects on birds, perhaps the best documented of any species so far, include disruption of annual migrations and ongoing orientation. On clear nights, migrating birds typically use stars for navigation. Under a cloudy sky, they switch to an alternate method that their species developed for just such a contingency, explains Bill Evans, an ornithologist and director of Old Bird, a nonprofit organization that monitors nocturnal bird migration.

One alternative is the earth’s magnetic field, but recent research has shown that certain wavelengths of artificial light can disrupt a bird’s sensitivity to that field. Birds may also switch to visual navigation, which they use during the day, in lighted areas at night. But this can make them reluctant to fly back into the dark, since their eyes need time to adjust when going from light to dark, just as ours do. That results in birds congregating in an urban area when normally they would have moved on, and an area ends up with more birds than it would normally have, or with birds not typically in that area. Birds in both cases are more vulnerable to predation and have difficulty foraging.

John Arvin, research coordinator for Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, cites ongoing studies that show birds are also in danger of collision around lighted structures at night, particularly isolated ones. In what are known as circular events, similar to the trapping effect that gets insects, birds are drawn to the light, then fly around and around in it, where they may eventually strike guy wires, the lighted object or each other — or drop to the ground exhausted. Flocks of birds have died this way. At South Padre Island Convention Center, large numbers died during a spring migration in the 1990s, Evans says. Some 450 migrating species are potentially vulnerable to collisions with lighted structures, with as many as 100 million deaths in North America every year. Since Texas lies directly in major migratory corridors, many of those deaths occur here.

Turtles

Late at night on Padre Island National Seashore, the black silhouettes of sand dunes rise behind the beach, the expanse of flat water opening in front of it. Hatching sea turtles instinctively use visual orientation to turn away from the former and dash toward the latter, just as they have done for millennia. But on many beaches, turtles no longer encounter that natural order of dark dunes and open, brighter water. Street lights, lighting on houses and condominiums, even a glow in the sky from distant urban areas, can disorient hatchlings. They wander for hours, dying of dehydration or exhaustion, falling victim to predators or being run over. In Florida, thousands of annual hatchling deaths have been documented due to this disorientation.

Thanks to Padre Island’s remoteness, turtles on Texas beaches aren’t directly affected. “But it is safe to say that what happens on any nesting area affects the general turtle population,” says Salmon. “The most heavily used nesting beaches in many places are threatened by development and lights. Everything that interacts with the animal is also affected by the problem.” Fewer turtles means decreased nutrient content on beaches and less healthy sea grass beds.

Bats

All 986 species of bats in the world are nocturnal, equipped to do best in low light. Populations in rural areas like Devil’s Sinkhole or Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area still enjoy those conditions, and lights may actually be beneficial for urban populations, attracting insects for the bats to eat. But bright lights have been known to stop emergence of the bats under Congress Avenue bridge in Austin, says Barbara French, a scientist with Bat Conservation International. And faster-flying bat species that congregate around lights to take advantage of the insect buffet may displace slower-flying species that avoid lights and the increased predation danger they represent.

Ocelots

An estimated 60 ocelots — likely the entire U.S. population — live in the Rio Grande Valley area on the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and protected corridors of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. (See also “Trapping Ocelots with a Camera” in the June 2005 issue.) “They are strictly nocturnal animals,” says Linda Laack, a former refuge biologist. “Their prey is strictly nocturnal. If you think about how they live, you would suspect that lighting would be bad for them.” There are so few of the animals, and they are so reclusive, that specifics are difficult to document. But Melissa Grigione and Robert Mrykalo at the University of South Florida reviewed literature on how artificial light affects nocturnal rodents, the cat’s primary prey. Light sends rodents scurrying for cover, in your kitchen and the wild, and in conditions as bright as the full moon, rodent activity tends to cease.

Frogs

Nocturnal frogs suspend normal feeding and reproductive behavior when exposed to light, and individual hoppers may remain motionless long after the light is turned off. Female frogs of at least one species are less selective about a mate in increased levels of light — call it the closing time effect — presumably balancing the need to be choosy against the equally important need to survive. Male tree frogs have been known to stop calling in areas with bright lights, and no calling means no mating, which eventually means no frogs.

Lights Out

Fortunately, this is one problem we have the ability to solve. Some light can simply be eliminated, if not altogether then at least during peak bird migrations or turtle nesting. In Florida’s 2001 season, standard streetlights were replaced with light-emitting diode, or LED, markers in roadways and sodium lamps low on roadsides, and not one hatchling became disoriented due to light sources. White strobe lights on towers do not induce as much congregating of birds as red lights and have not been implicated in mass mortalities.

Lighting’s effect on the environment can be considered in new construction or improvements, already the case at state parks, says Steve Whiston, director of TPWD’s infrastructure division. Efforts include reducing lighting — at Davis Mountains State Park, for example, project manager Laura David determined existing lighting could be reduced by three-fourths — indirect lighting, and simply hitting the off switch. At Government Canyon, a new park outside San Antonio, David says, timers turn lights off when the park closes.

When lighting can’t be eliminated, it can be more thoughtfully designed. Along the Rio Grande, the U.S. Border Patrol greatly increased use of bright lights for Operation Rio Grande, a push in the late 1990s that significantly decreased area illegal crossings and drug trafficking. But in response to concerns about the effect of all that light on brush-loving ocelots and other critters, the agency reduced and redirected lights onto roads and open fields. According to Ernesto Reyes, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist, all parties are pretty satisfied with the compromise.

Fort Bend County, home of Brazos Bend State Park’s George Observatory, passed a low-light ordinance that requires, for example, focused beams that minimize stray light reaching the sky and shielding for some outdoor lighting.

The International Dark Sky Association estimates that one-third of all outdoor lighting illuminates the atmosphere, wasting more than $1 billion in electricity, and creating night skies so bright that some 40 percent of Americans never even adjust to night vision. The TPWD Infrastructure Division follows Dark Sky Association criteria for new buildings and lighting renovations in parks. TPWD also uses low lighting levels and nonpolluting lights with shades and cutoffs to prevent casting light upwards. The stars, long a source of wonder and enjoyment, are often virtually invisible; two-thirds of our population can no longer see the Milky Way. With more thoughtful use of lighting, and the occasional flip of the porch light switch, we can not only protect the wonder of the night sky, but also help protect all the creatures that live under it, too.

Save the Dark
Turn off unnecessary lights
Reduce wattage to the minimum required for function
Redirect and focus lighting so it reaches the ground or areas where needed
(proper shielding can redirect lights, for example, onto signage and not up into the sky)
Eliminate all upward-directed decorative lighting
Use alternative light sources where possible and practical
Incorporate latest technology in new construction

Melissa Gaskill is the co-author of Lacrosse: Guide for Parents and Players (Mansion Grove House, 2006). She has been writing professionally for 15 years and also is available for speaking engagements, as she will cover topics such as how to have a positive experience with youth sports, avoiding burn-out and injuries in youth sports, balancing family life and activities, hiking, and more.