I was heartened to see the Cowlitz Indian Tribe hailing Skamania County’s Kwoneesum Dam pending removal as an environmental win (“ ‘Welcome to our cathedral’: Cowlitz tribe, Columbia Land Trust hail dam’s pending removal,” The Columbian, May 14). However, for over a year I have been trying to get tribal leaders to address the environmentally unfriendly lighting on their casino hotel in Ridgefield.
The ilani hotel has bright blue/purple lights shining into the night sky, apparently for advertising purposes. These lights degrade our view of the night sky and disrupt the nocturnal migration of birds. The hotel’s proximity to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge makes this unnecessary lighting all the more egregious.
Last year, the Field Museum in Chicago discovered that nearly 1,000 birds died in a single night colliding with an illuminated building. A subsequent investigation found that by simply turning off unnecessary lights at this one downtown building, bird fatalities decreased by 80 percent.
I am calling on tribal Chair Patty Kinswa-Gaiser and tribal council members to step up to protect our night sky and wildlife by turning off those unnecessary lights.
