The AAC Conservation Committee 2007 Annual Report
January 2008An AAC volunteer braves the snow at the Central Rockies Section's annual Lumpy Trails Day.
This report was prepared with contributions by Adam French, Ellen Lapham, Alton Byers, Jim McCarthy, Linda McMillan, and other members of the AAC Conservation Committee
AAC Conservation Mission
Adopted in 2007 by the AAC Conservation Committee:
The AAC's conservation mission is to advance the conservation, preservation, and sustainable exploration of the Earth's alpine environments and vertical landscapes.
To achieve these goals we will promote and disseminate critical research and education; we will craft strategic and diverse partnerships that build upon our unique relationships and experience; and we will foster a commitment to responsible stewardship and action by the members and friends of the American Alpine Club.
AAC Conservation Resources
In 2007 the AAC appointed it first Conservation Coordinator, Adam French. Reflecting the club's growing conservation agenda, Adam coordinates communication between the Conservation Committee, the staff, and external partners, and will work to strengthen existing partnerships and build new ones. He'll also be promoting awareness of the AAC's conservation initiatives and helping to design a long-range conservation plan for the club. French, an AAC member who has worked on conservation projects in Peru, is a Ph.D. student in Environmental Studies at the University of California–Santa Cruz.
International Conservation Initiatives
THE ALPINE CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP: NEPAL and PERU
The year 2007 brought important gains in the development of the Alpine Conservation Partnership (ACP), a unique collaboration founded in 2006 by the American Alpine Club and the Mountain Institute (www.mountain.org), and supported by a generous start-up grant from the Argosy Foundation. Focused on the conservation and restoration of critical alpine ecosystems around the world, the ACP combines good science, impact-oriented field approaches, and the participation and capacity-building of local peoples to protect some of our most iconic and threatened mountain environments.
In Nepal, in both Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park and Makalu-Barun (Mera Peak) National Park, the ACP worked closely with residents, local NGOs, and government officials to improve local stewardship and livelihood opportunities, and to protect highland watersheds and forests from intensifying human impacts.
In the Peruvian Andes, the ACP’s initial reconnaissance and planning efforts yielded a critical partnership with Huascarán National Park, which encompasses most of the Cordillera Blanca. Preliminary work in this region also laid the foundation for a pilot conservation and restoration project in the popular Ishinca Valley that will combine improved pasture management strategies with ongoing sanitation and watershed protection efforts in this heavily impacted area. Read more about this project here.
For more detailed information on ACP activities and ongoing progress reports please click here.
LOS GLACIARES NATIONAL PARK, ARGENTINA
In a related stewardship initiative in Los Glaciares National Park (the home of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre), the AAC, with critical leadership from climber and conservationist Rolando Garibotti and generous support from Patagonia Inc., has undertaken a project to improve trail and base camp infrastructure in order to protect and restore this spectacular area’s increasingly impacted ecosystems.
Domestic Stewardship and Conservation Actions
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
On July 4, 2007, AAC member Greg Sievers was climbing at Lumpy Ridge, Rocky Mountain National Park, to celebrate the new human-waste disposal bag-dispenser box (that he designed - see the design here) that the NPS installed at this popular climbing trailhead. Under his leadership, the Central Rockies Section of the AAC designed a simple system and provided two cases of Restop bags for this pilot program. Jim Dougan, Wilderness Program Specialist, and Mark Magnuson, Chief Park Ranger at RMNP, approved Greg’s proposal in May to supply and install this unit for climber use at Lumpy Ridge. In August they installed a second dispenser box on the Chasm Meadows Patrol Cabin for climbers headed to Longs Peak and Mt. Meeker.
GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK PARTNERSHIP
The first human-waste project in GTNP was initiated by Jim McCarthy, past AAC president, with a $10,000 grant from the American Alpine Club. This grant was substantially leveraged by local funding from a $10,000 Teton Conservation District grant (they are responsible for the health of the watershed) and a further $10,000 donation from 1% for the Tetons (a local business organization). The Grand Teton National Park Foundation, under president Leslie Mattson-Emerson, is an additional partner and will be the local vehicle for collecting donations. Key help came from former Grand Teton Superintendent and AAC member Ralph Tingey The GTNP human-waste program will be in operation starting in the summer 2008 season.
Initially we selected on the Lupine Meadows trailhead, which leads to the Garnet Canyon and Amphitheater Lake areas—the major trailhead for climbing the Grand—and also is the parking area for Mt. Teewinot. An estimated 15,000 climbers and hikers use this trailhead each season, and we can serve them with a with a trailhead kiosk. The Jenny Lake rangers will build the trailhead kiosk(s) in spring 2008, and the park will provide trash bins, and stock and then pick up the waste bags. Donations to help cover costs will be requested. The program was leveraged when Doug Colonel, owner of Jenny Lake Boating, heard about it. Doug transports at least 150,000 people across Jenny Lake to the west shore to popular day hiking and climbing trailheads, where there are no sanitary facilities. Doug has volunteered to distribute waste bags to his passengers along with a brief educational talk as they cross the lake. In addition, his boat people will pick up and dispose of the waste bags as the passengers return.
CASTLETON TOWER
In partnership with Petzl America, the AAC has committed to five years of funding for stewardship of the Castleton Tower trailhead and campsite in Utah. The AAC and Petzl America each will donate $750 a year to Utah Open Lands to support campsite upkeep and human-waste management strategies at Castleton, the most popular sandstone tower on the Colorado Plateau.
YOSEMITE FACELIFT
Over five days in September, local climbers, Sierra Nevada Section members, and park visitors—nearly 3,000 volunteers in all—helped collect debris including old cars, concrete, and garbage from Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley. Facelift founder Ken Yager wrote, “In all over 42,330 pounds were collected, and everything that could be was recycled. About 32,000 pounds of the weight was from special projects we took on, helping rid the park of old infrastructure that NPS does not have the funding for removal.” Volunteers were given Restop human-waste bag samples and free coffee by the Sierra Nevada Section.
BISHOP BOULDERING TRAILS
BLM ranger Scott Justham organized a trails work day to coincide with the Sierra Nevada Section’s annual Fall High-Ball near Bishop, California. The main access trail to the Happy Boulders was cleaned up by climber volunteers, who also removed a lot of used tape from the sand under the main problems. The project expanded during the day, as many local and out-of-town climbers who arrived at the boulders offered to help clean up their climbing areas.
Knowledge and Awareness-Building
AAC CLIMATE CHANGE SYMPOSIUM
At the AAC’s annual meeting in Bend, Oregon, we presented a set of experts in our first symposium on this topic. Speakers included Dr. Henry Vaux Jr., who introduced the topic and showed us the change that has occurred on the Vaux Glacier, and Dr. Maynard M. Miller, who addressed alterations in Alaska's glaciers. Tamotsu Nakamura from Japan discussed the Eastern Himalaya and his photographic record of the region from his many years of exploration there. Mark Bowen, author of Thin Ice, covered the scientific outlook looking forward. The symposium was moderated by Dr. John All, the AAC's representative to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
CLIMATE CHANGE AS SEEN BY CLIMBERS
Dr. John All, the AAC’s representative to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), hosted a seminar and press conference on “Climate Change and the World’s Mountains” at the AAAS annual meeting. A great success, the seminar featured presentations from world-renowned climate experts including Lonnie Thompson and Henry Diaz, as well as AAC member and conservationist Linda McMillan. During the past year, Dr. All has also been actively building awareness of and relationships for the AAC in the academic and development sectors.
GLACIAL RECESSION DOCUMENTATION
In an effort to document and raise awareness of the impacts of climate change on the world’s mountain environments, AAC member and ACP Director Dr. Alton Byers spent a month last fall in Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, replicating a series of historical panoramic photographs from the 1950s and conducting informal interviews with local residents. His results indicate significant glacial recession and landscape change in the region, emphasizing the need for additional field-based research into the impacts of climate change on the ecosystems and cultures of the Himalaya. Click here for more information.
Alton’s photos will form the basis of the Climbatology event scheduled for February 22 in Golden, Colorado. At this fund-raiser for the ACP, Alton and Dawa Sherpa will present “50 Years of Climate, Culture, and Landscape Change in the Mt. Everest Region of Nepal.” Afterward, Kitty Calhoun will present “Last Ascents,” a look at alpine routes that may never have another ascent because of global warming. This special event, beginning at 6 p.m. at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden, is presented by the AAC and Patagonia. Donations to the ACP accepted at the door. Click here to learn more about this event.
UIAA GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESENTATION
Roger Robinson presented an overview to world leaders at the UIAA General Assembly in Matsumoto, Japan, on what Denali mountaineering has accomplished with its Clean Climbing program over the past 40 years, with the culmination of the Clean Mountain Cans project. After the assembly he joined human-waste specialists and hiked out to inspect some human-waste operating systems in the Japanese Alps. Roger continued on to Mount Fuji, the most climbed mountain in the world, with 12,000 a climbers day on just four routes, to see how they handle the waste challenge.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK ENVIRONMENTAL INVENTORY PROJECT
In 2007, AAC member Linda McMillan arranged for climbers to help the NPS inventory lichens across the park in a variety of environments, including the alpine zone. This effort, to be continued in 2008, will greatly enhance the researchers’ efforts by allowing the exploration of microhabitats far off the ground. The project documents and discovers what lichens occur in the park. Climbers around the world are volunteering their climbing skills to help scientists preserve and protect parks.
Conservation Recognition
The AAC gives accolades and support to climbers for their leadership, initiative, and actions taken to further conservation of the mountain environment.
DAVID R. BROWER AWARD FOR CONSERVATION
In 2007 the prestigious Brower award was given to Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia Inc. Yvon is an accomplished climber who has had a profound impact upon the conservation of our mountain regions. An AAC member since 1963, he has long pushed the organization to deepen its commitment to conservation. Through his personal actions, corporate environmental responsibility, and leadership, Yvon has inspired countless others to take action. Chouinard broke ground in the 1970s by acknowledging that pitons, his best-selling product, damaged the rock. To reduce the harm caused by his pitons, he introduced aluminum chocks, the removable protection that started the “clean climbing” revolution. He has written that Patagonia, a company he founded, is now a role model for sustainable business. The company’s practice of allocating one percent of sales to support the environment has grown into the One Percent for the Planet organization, which Yvon co-founded. Today, more than 350 companies are active participants of One Percent for the Planet.