Rural areas have a chronic need for good paying jobs to support the local economy and to keep the young people from migrating to find employment. Even though a significant portion of the economic activity of the counties of Catron, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Sierra, and Socorro in Southwest New Mexico involves tourism they lag far behind the rest of the state in attracting visitor's dollars.
Currently, 99% of the people in the continental USA and Europe live in light polluted areas which make it impossible for them to see the natural night sky.
Tourists from all over the world are coming to view the clear dark skies of southwestern New Mexico.
Of long term importance to rural communities is the education of their children. The Cosmic Campground continues to introduce rural students to the wonders of modern science and technology.
At the Cosmic Campground the full spectrum of night sky wonders are on display.
Our data proves that the Cosmic Campground is equal to the best professional observatory and national park sites for astronomical observing on planet Earth.
For a relatively small investment the Cosmic Campground will become a major tourist attraction providing a welcome cash fow into the area.
The Cosmic Campground is located near the Arizona - New Mexico state line in a huge tract of Gila and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest Land. It is more than 25 miles to the nearest National Forest Boundary in any direction from the observing area. It has the Gila Wilderness to the east, a roadless area to the north and the Blue Range Primitive Area in Arizona to the west. To the south the Gila National Forest land extends for 26 miles.
These natural barriers protect the Cosmic Campground from the introduction of artifcial light which could compromise the pristine natural night sky currently present.
Cosmic Campground's Relationship to Rural Economic Development
According to Tourism in New Mexico [2011 Analysis] visitors to the state of New Mexico spent $5.5 billion creating more than 85,000 jobs which generated $1.2 billion in taxes.
The same study shows the rural counties of Catron, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Sierra, and Socorro in Southwest New Mexico were in the lowest categories of visitor spending.
When tourists bring money from the outside economic world and buy gas, eat in restaurants, stay in motels, and purchase items from local businesses jobs are created in the local community. Every dollar they bring is worth three dollars to the local economy.
In 2011 Catron County, home of the Cosmic Campground, employed 124 people in tourism. This amounted to 22% of its labor income. The Cosmic Campground will improve these figures.
What will bring tourists to Southwest New Mexico? One answer is naturally dark night skies.
According to "The First World Atlas of the Artifcial Night Sky Brightness," a report on global light pollution published in volume 328, issue 3 (2001) of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, two-thirds of the U.S. population and more than one-half of the European population have already lost the ability to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. Moreover, 63% of the world population and 99% of the population of the European Union and the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) live in areas where the night sky is brighter than the threshold for light-polluted status set by the International Astronomical Union €”that is, the artifcial sky brightness is greater than 10% of the natural sky brightness above 45 ° of elevation.

Cosmic Campground's Relationship to Rural Economic Development
Union County New Mexico is the home of Clayton Lake State Park and is similar to Catron County which is the home of the Cosmic Campground. They are both small rural counties.
According to the 2010 US Census, Union County had a population of 4,297 and Catron County had a population of 3,536. This gives them population ranks in New Mexico of 30 and 31. Both are away from the heaviest traveled tourist paths. Both are in the bottom tier of New Mexico counties when it comes to visitor spending.
Interestingly, in 2010-2011 visitor spending in Union County increased by +15.6% while in Catron County it increased by only +1.9%.
What could possibly accomplish this increase in Union County's visitor spending.
The following is from a press release:
29 June 2010 - Tucson, AZ: The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) Board of Directors and Dark Sky Places Committee announced the designation of two International Dark Sky Parks at its 22nd Annual General Meeting and Conference in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Clayton Lake State Park in northeast New Mexico received Gold Tier recognition of their efforts to preserve and protect the nighttime environment while Goldendale Observatory State Park in southern Washington received provisional status for a Silver Tier designation.
Clayton Lake State Park, located in Union County, New Mexico hosts approximately 65,000 visitors per year, many of whom attend star parties at the park €™s observatory facility. Park staff and volunteers worked closely with the Town of Clayton and the New Mexico State Parks system to ensure quality lighting guidelines both within the park and in the surrounding community. In 2010 the park completed lighting retrofts to conform 100% with the shielding and spectral considerations for low- light areas. The Reach for the Stars program, initiated in 2004, promotes the night sky as a valuable educational and economic resource for New Mexico.
David J. Simon, director of New Mexico State Parks, states, €œWe are grateful for this recognition and hope that Clayton Lake State Park is merely the frst of many New Mexico State Parks to achieve this distinction. €
The Dark Sky Places Program was started by IDA in 2001 to encourage communities around the world to preserve and protect dark sites through responsible lighting polices and public education. As of late 2014, IDA has certifed 42 Dark Sky Places, extending protection of dark skies to 43,100 square kilometers (16,640 square miles) in nine countries on four continents.
Being Dark Skies Friendly is good for business. According to Tourism in New Mexico [2011 Analysis] , an increase in Catron County' visitor spending by 15.6% would amount to 1.8 million dollars per year. The same study indicates that a 15.6% increase in tourism employment will result in approximately 20 new jobs in Catron County. Tourism labor income there is likely to increase by $280,000.
Cosmic Campground's Relationship to Rural Economic Development
The Cosmic Campground's website cosmiccampground.org website has had more than 1,700 visitors despite of the fact that it has not been advertised in any tourist publication and that the Cosmic Campground is still in a primitive under-construction phase. Amazingly enough, 25% of the visitors to the Cosmic Campground website are from outside the USA.
Currently, the local economy has been adversely effected by the fact that a primary area attraction, The Catwalk, has been closed for several years due to fooding damage. The Cosmic Campground will help offset this loss.
From the very beginning, one of the primary goals of the Cosmic Campground has been to help support local businesses in an economically depressed rural community. This concern for the local economy has and will continue to be an integral part of the planning of this facility.
To this end on our website, cosmiccampground.org we include all of the local businesses that have requested to be on this website. The link below is to the current list:
https://sites.google.com/site/cosmiccampgroundinformation/fuel-food-lodging-supplies The current list includes:
Fuel:Alma Store, Glenwood Trading Post
Food and Beverages:The Adobe Cafe & Bakery, Alma Grill, Mario's Pizza, Golden Girls Cafe, The Purple Onion, Uncle Bill's Bar, Adobe Does BBQ, Bakery & Espresso Shoppe Coffee Shop
Lodging:Double TT Homestead, Hidden Springs Inn, The Lariat Motel,The Guest House, Frisco Lodging, Los Olmos Lodge, Whitewater Motel, D and D's Organic Haven B&B, Silver Creek Inn,Running Horse Inn
Specialty:Udder Delight- Natural goat milk soaps, lotions, & creams
Recreation:Whitewater Mesa Labyrinths, U-Trail Outftters, Horse Back Vacations, Glenwood Yoga
An important milestone is the decision by the owner, Jennifer Sweson, of the Hidden Springs Inn and the Adobe Cafe & Bakery to enthusiastically become the frst night sky friendly business in Reserve, New Mexico. She plans to have all of her outdoor lighting to conform to IDA standards and to advertise as a €œNight-Sky Friendly Business."
Cosmic Campground's Education and Public Outreach
The Cosmic Campground is an opportunity for tourists, students, and astronomers to use the natural night skies of the Gila National forest for recreation, research, education and observations. Even before it has been completed the Cosmic Campground has been used by school groups, the Silver City Astronomical Society, the Western Institute for Lifelong learning at WNMU in Silver City, NM, and members of the Astronomical Society of Las Cruces. Students from kindergarten to high school have visited the site. When the requested construction phase is completed many other Astronomy Groups will use these facilities.
Of long term importance to rural communities is the education of their children. The Cosmic Campground continues to introduce rural students to the wonders of modern science and technology. Currently, plans are under way to bring the Cliff Schools [Teacher Katie Skaggs] and Reserve Independent Schools [Teacher Roger Skaggs] to the Cosmic Campground during the 2015-2016 school year.
Be Night Sky Friendly: What You can do.
Night sky friendly lighting means putting light on the ground where humans need it and not into the sky where it wastes energy and obscures the wonders of the Universe.
Night at the Cosmic Campground
The Cosmic Campground display of our part of the Milky is visible from a fraction of a degree above the horizon across the entire dome of the sky.
After sunset, at the Cosmic Campground, on a moonless night, planets, then stars, then the Milky Way, and faint clusters of stars make their appearance. In twilight, the Milky Way can be seen, prominently stretching, across the sky.
After astronomical twilight, the 360 degree horizon with forever views is uniformly illuminated by the natural airglow. It is the same to the east where there are no cities for hundreds of miles as it is in the directions of Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe. Faint stars can be seen as they rise and are less than a fraction of a degree above the horizon.
No human made structure is visible except for the un-lighted two station Forest Service Vault toilet on site and an unlit Verizon tower on Glenwood Brushy Mountain more than 15 miles away. On clear nights, the only visual evidence of humanity is a very faint glow from the mines at Morenci, Arizona extending a few degrees above the horizon to the southwest. This barely visible glow is overwhelmed by the Milky Way when it sets there. Occasional headlights on Highway 180, more than a mile distant, are visible but in no way impact the pristine astronomical viewing.
In the spring and fall the zodiacal light is distinctly visible, extends to past the zenith, and remains prominently bright for hours after sunset.
As one's eyes become completely dark adapted many, many faint clusters are visible and attract viewers with binoculars. Previously unobserved wonders, including seeing your shadow on a white car by Milky Way light and Orion refected in the windshield grab your attention.
The planets Venus and Jupiter are so bright they seem to threaten a persons night vision. Without light from below when clouds drift by they appear as black holes in the dome of the sky.
On the Bortle scale the Cosmic Campground rates a 1 or a 2 as being in the range of excellent to a typical truly dark sky site.

Budget and Status of The Cosmic Campground
Phase I - Completed
A grant of $50,000 from the Resource Advisory Committee: Southern NM in accordance with the 2008 - 2013 Secure Rural Schools Public Law 112-141 Title II in 2010 funded the construction of an all weather road, RV parking, and observing area.
Phase II - Completed
A grant of $40,000 from the Resource Advisory Committee: Southern NM in accordance with the 2008 - 2013 Secure Rural Schools Public Law 112-141 Title II, in 2014, funded the purchase of a permanent CTX toilet.

Budget and Status of The Cosmic Campground
Phase III - Currently Funding is Being Sought
[Funding to be administered by the Gila National Forest according to its specifcations.]
This list, specifcations, designs and these fgures are very preliminary.
Telescope Pads: Six 10'X10'X6 € pad, 12 yards concrete, [Gila FS labor] -------> $2,400 Pavilion: This is very important to provide shade in the daytime.
40'X60' all steel Summerset Pavilion Style requires footers for posts ------------------------- $85,000
Possible Vendor: Mike Donaldson 888-293-2239 Fifthroom.com
Alternate is a Pavilion Constructed by
Gila Forest Personnel using native materials.
Slab 40'X60'X6 € under the Pavilion requires 44 yards of concrete ----------------- $ 9,000 [Gila FS labor] ------------------
CTX Toilet
to replace the additional, temporary, partially constructed toilet, at observing site ------------- $40,000
Hardware for 6 RV Pull through Campsites --------------------------------------------- $24,000
Fence and cattle guards to control cattle access.
These will be used by the grazing permit holder to limit cattle access to certain periods of time. >$ 14,000
Total preliminary estimate for Phase III [with FS & volunteer labor]---------------------$174,400

Phase IV - Envisioned As Funding Becomes Available
Amphitheater built into hillside. Will be used for educational talks, Forest Service ranger
fauna show and tell, and activities supportive of events. solar power station for telescopes and educational purposes WiFi via verizon tower on Glenwood Brushy Mountain. Remote access weather station and security cameras.
Friends of the Cosmic Campground alsannie@mac.com
Dr. Al Grauer
algrauer@mac.com