by Bruce Weide and Katie Williams, Western Montana Climber’s Coalition
Do you fish, backpack off-trail, mountain bike, backcountry ski, ride a horse, or float waterways in the Bitterroot National Forest (BNF)? An intensive management plan and restrictions could be in your future. Right now, it’s happening to rock climbers.
Two years ago, the BNF supervisor shocked climbers by enacting a forest-wide ban of new rock-climbing routes until a climbing management plan (CMP) is completed. BNF officials have since held five online public meetings. Travis Williams, a Western Montana Climbers Coalition (WMTCC) member and Hamilton physical therapist, expresses many climbers’ concerns:
“I and many other climbers have spent hours participating in the CMP. It is difficult to not get defensive, as we feel singled out as a recreational group amongst all the different recreation that happens on the Bitterroot National Forest. We have agreed to follow through with this collaborative process in making a climbing management plan. This has been a painful process, though. It seems like we are making very slow or no progress.”
To be clear, the WMTCC, with over 300 paid members, would support a reasonable CMP and is collaborating with the BNF to develop one. We would like to let the public know what we hope to see in a CMP.
First, a CMP should promote opportunities and stewardship. To rock climbers, our public lands offer opportunities to meet challenges, deepen friendships, and establish connections with the natural world. Climbers, like all Americans, share ownership of national forests. With ownership comes responsibility. WMTCC board member and Bitterroot resident Ryan Bressler notes:
“Most climbers I’ve known care deeply about conservation and habitat preservation. Spending time challenging yourself in nature helps you develop a deep appreciation for it. All sports have impacts, but climbers have been super proactive about voluntary closures, habitat and cultural resources, erosion mitigation, trail work, and organizing stewardship days to clean up trash from other users.”
The WMTCC has a strong record of working with BNF officials to limit climbers’ impacts on nesting raptors. Also, last spring, Hamilton resident and WMTCC co-chair Katie Williams organized a Lost Horse Canyon trash clean-up during which 30 local climbers removed 400 pounds of trash. A successful CMP encourages climbing opportunities and stewardship.
Second, a successful CMP should promote cooperation and stewardship, rather than a list of restrictions. Val Phillips, small-business owner of Backroad Cider, comments: “I started my business here because of my love for all the recreation possibilities here. It is our right to use public property, and this could be the start of more restrictions for all types of recreation.”
The Bitterroot Backcountry Cyclists (BBC) agrees: “If COVID has taught us anything, it has taught us how essential outdoor recreation is to our mental and physical health. BBC supports the WMTCC in advancing sustainable climbing opportunities in the BNF.”
The WMTCC requests other recreationists to join us in asking BNF officials to create a plan that promotes sustainable recreation, not a list of prohibitions.
Third, the BNF need not reinvent the wheel. Over 50 national forests offer climbing opportunities, with reasonable restrictions for cultural sites, endangered species, and nesting raptors. Only three forests have fully developed CMPs. The most extensive, and the one proposed by WMTCC as a template, is Pike NF’s South Platte CMP. It addresses a Colorado climbing area with a long history of intensive use that contains over 3,000 documented climbs and is a short drive from over 5 million people in the Denver/Front Range megalopolis. The Bitterroot NF is over 3½ times larger and contains only 200 documented routes, a mere 6-percent of the South Platte, and draws on a local population that is 96 percent smaller. Tailoring the South Platte’s CMP makes sense as the foundation for an adaptive management plan, which can be revisited should climbing increase or decrease. If it works in an extremely populated area it should work in the Bitterroot.
Fourth, the WMTCC hopes that a CMP will use adaptive management to address climbing impacts. Brent Race, a native Ravalli County resident, extensive backpacker and non-climber, visited the Mill Creek climbing area:
“Based on how horrific some concerned individuals have made bolts sound, I expected them to be large, prominent features extruding from every fissure in the granite. This was not the case. I had to look hard to see the bolts… even with the help of a climber describing the ‘routes’, it was difficult to see many, if any bolts. They are not an eye-sore; they are not harming the rock. They are a necessary piece of equipment to provide a safe climbing experience to numerous users.”
As to the climbers’ trail and base area, Race commented, “This dead-end trail makes it unlikely to see many visitors other than recreational climbers. The tread is steep in sections, but most of the route is in very good condition. The few areas that may be prone to erosion could easily be mitigated with well-placed erosion bars.”
The Bitterroot Valley is a special place, and many choose to live here for the recreation our national forest offers. Our communities should support all types of historic and legitimate recreation. WMTCC appreciates the long hours BNF officials have put into this CMP process, which has brought considerable angst and some frustration to the climbing community. Nevertheless, we continue to be optimistic and look forward to cooperating with BNF officials as we work together to promote sustainable climbing recreation.
Bill laCroix says
I think Mr. Crews’ comment says it all. Let the rock drills and e-bikes in, and better get ready for the ORVs and jet skis. Our existing laws protecting what’s left of what everyone says they love here are fragile enough and getting more fragile every election cycle. The rec. groups mentioned in the letter are not advocating for a 20-30-50 year slog to replace the Wilderness Act with a better, stronger act. They’re just advocating for weakening that act ( which took a half-century) through exclusions for the benefit of their activity of choice. Think Climate Change. Yes, the Wilderness Act (and other laws) were successful by enlisting “user” groups but now, by default, those little pods of unbastardized lands are all that’s left for other critters and old-growth forests who absolutely depend on them, something climbers and bikers etc. definitively cannot claim. The authors mention responsibility, and I personally know that they are and appreciate that. But what the hell. Someon’s gotta say, given the sh..storm headed our way, now’s the time for those who really care about the Land to re-assess this sense of entitlement we American humans have for it. Simply put, and with an admittedly over broad paintbrush, I’d say consider selfishness, and quit being it.
Jim Crews says
I reckon this is no worse than the discriminatory practices of preventing recreational motor boaters on the Bitterroot and Clark Fork rivers where only trout fishermen and bird killers rights are protected. The rest of us do not matter.
Larry Campbell says
I hate to see this kind of scattershot fear mongering. We are a long way from needing stricter regulation, beyond what already exists, for off-trail backpacking or skiing, for example. But fear mongering seems to be the authors’ chosen tactic to recruit support.
The selective information in the inflammatory statement, “Two years ago, the BNF supervisor shocked climbers by enacting a forest-wide ban of new rock-climbing routes until a climbing management plan (CMP) is completed.”, makes it sound like the supervisor just woke up one day and made an arbitrary decision. In fact, the precipitating event was the shock of a small group of Missoula climbers deciding, without notice or authorization, to construct numerous closely spaced routes (now 60 routes with over 500 bolts) for what amounts to an outdoor climbing gym using motorized rock drills and expansion bolts with steel hangers in the middle of a Recommended Wilderness Area (RWA). They then advertised the availability of their “sport climbing” area in newspaper articles and far-reaching websites. Of course, this advertising attracted even more rock climbers from far afield to the area that had inadequate parking, and no engineered approach trails or facilities, but did have cliff nesting raptors and other ill-prepared neighbors, who were likely shocked by the sudden wave of climbers.
The sport climbing area construction crew were, no doubt, well-meaning, but, lacking any public notice or BNF authorization, they did not realize they were illegally constructing installations in a RWA. That inadvertent mistake could have been avoided had there been an authorization system for constructing new climbing routes.
I believe the same type of authorization should be needed to construct new trails or horse corrals or warming huts, etc on public land.
I should add that I am an old climber from the days before motorized rock drills and sport climbing areas. I worked professionally teaching climbing. I think rock climbing is a very fulfilling form of recreation. It just needs some rules on public land because we have seen what happens when it’s a free-for-all.