2016 D.C. Lobby Day

In February 2016, a group of board members, partners and AAC member Conrad Anker, climbed Capitol Hill to talk with policymakers and advocate for the places we climb. We found that there is a high regard among many of our elected officials and their staffs—as well as from agency representatives—about the AAC and its members. We focused on the following issues:

• Land Water Conservation Fund: A bipartisan effort to protect natural treasures and outdoor recreation. For more than 50 years, LWCF has protected  5 million acres of land and supported more than 41,000 state and local park projects. We want to ensure LWCF is permanently reauthorized and fully funded in the long-term.

• Centennial Act: An effort to address critical maintenance and improvement projects in our national parks as the National Park Service prepares to celebrate its centennial next year. We want to see a bipartisan bill that builds on recent funding increases and ensures our climbing landscapes remain healthy and supported for the next 100 years.

• Recreation Economic Contribution Act (Rec Act): A bill that would require the government to officially measure the impact of outdoor recreation on the U.S. economy. We believe that the Rec Act will raise the policy profile of the outdoor community and emphasize the importance of protecting public lands.

• Bears Ears: An effort to permanently protect valuable climbing areas in southeastern Utah (includes Indian Creek, Valley of the Gods and Lockhart Basin to name a few). Whether protection is done through a national monument designation or through legislation, we are working to ensure that rock climbing is acknowledged as an acceptable activity.

• Director’s Order 41: A National Park Service order that states that climbing is a legitimate activity in Wilderness, and that fixed anchors are necessary for climbing. We are working to ensure this precedent will also be adopted by other agencies including the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.

“Meeting with staffers, leaders and decision makers on the hill makes a difference. If we don’t, who will? I’ve seen time and again where the simple act of spending time talking about what you are passionate about makes a difference.”

— Paul Gagner, former AAC Board Member

A Shared Love for Southeast Utah

May 23rd, 2016: Climbers and tribal representatives gathered together to discuss the future management of southeast Utah. Photocredit: EcoFlight 

The climbing in southeast Utah is some of the best in the country, beckoning rock climbers from around the world. It tests our physical and mental boundaries and provides adventure, fulfillment and personal growth. The Bears Ears area of southeast Utah is particularly important. It’s a 1.9-million-acre region north of the San Juan River and east of the Colorado River that includes Native American archeological and cultural sites and exceptional climbing such as Indian Creek, Lockhart Basin, Arch Canyon, Comb Ridge, and Valley of the Gods.

Climbers aren’t the only ones with a profound love of southeast Utah. Its sacredness runs deep. Home to more than 100,000 cultural and archaeological sites, the Bears Ears area is the most significant unprotected archeological area in the country. Tribal leaders and medicine people continue to conduct ceremonies, collect herbs for medicinal purposes, and practice healing rituals there. In a recent meeting with representatives from the Bears-Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, the AAC and Access Fund had the opportunity to connect with them over our shared love and respect for the land.

These treasures—climbing areas and spiritual sites—may be at risk. With two land management proposals on the table, the stakes are complicated. Congressmen Bishop and Chaffetz’s Public Lands Initiative (PLI) could—among other things—open the land to resource extraction. Not good for the tribes or for climbers. Here’s where it gets tricky: if instead, the Bears Ears area becomes a national monument, cultural resources will be protected, but it’s possible that there could be new restrictions on recreational uses. We’re working with the Access Fund and the Inter-Tribal Coalition to keep climbing open in the Bears Ears region while ensuring much-needed protections for cultural resources. 

Partnering with local Native American tribes is critical in protecting the breathtaking beauty of the Bears Ears area and ensuring that we can continue to enjoy its world-class climbing. On May 23rd, AAC and Access Fund joined with representative from the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition to discuss the proposed monument and do a fly-over with EcoFlight. We spoke about how respectful climbing practices are compatible with natural and cultural resource protection and shared information about the ways in which climbers serve as stewards of public lands. Tribal representatives explained their grave concerns about resource extraction, the proposed PLI and emphasized the lands’ sacredness. We shared our report on a joint AAC/Access Fund letter writing campaign to President Obama which captures how much climbers value southeast Utah. They were impressed and encouraged to hear that 1,135 climbers wrote in response to our call to action.

It is clear that climbers and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition share similar feelings about this area: both groups have reverence for the land and want it to be protected. We don’t support resource extraction in places with such extraordinary cultural and recreation value as Bears Ears. As policy decisions unfold, the AAC and Access Fund will continue to do everything we can to ensure that land management policies protect Native American cultural and archaeological sites while recognizing climbing as an appropriate activity in southeast Utah. 

Climbers Speak up to Protect Climbing in Southeast Utah

Can you imagine the splitter cracks of Indian Creek, the stunning towers of Valley of the Gods, and the sandstone sculptures of Arch Canyon surrounded by oil rigs or off limits to climbers?

Right now, two initiatives are under consideration that may impact access to Indian Creek, Castle Valley, Fischer Towers, San Rafael Swell, Valley of the Gods, Comb Ridge, and countless remote climbing objectives both known and yet to be discovered.

1. The Public Lands Initiative (PLI) outlines an extensive plan to manage state and federal lands in southeastern Utah. It threatens designated Wilderness, supports the transfer of federal land to the state, and for the majority of the lands in question it prioritizes resource extraction over both recreation and conservation.

2. Unhappy with the PLI, an Inter-Tribal Coalition proposed the Bears Ears National Monument to the Obama administration, with a focus on preserving Native American traditional values. If the President proclaims Bears Ears National Monument, the climbing community needs to ensure that the proclamation acknowledges and protects the world-class climbing in the area along with the other important values in the Bears Ears region.

Together, the American Alpine Club and Access Fund rallied climbers everywhere to protect this area. Climbers shared their experiences in southeastern Utah so that as these initiatives are considered, it is clear that outdoor recreation is important and needs to be protected.

We received 1,135 thoughtful letters about the importance of protecting climbing southeast Utah. Eight AAC and AF staff read every single letter. We are thrilled with what came over the wire. Our team put together a report based on your letters that we shared with policymakers and partners in Washington, DC. The response we got in DC proves again that your voice matters and makes a difference.

Sustainable Summits Conference 2016

“We must continue to persevere, to protect, and restore public lands, provide stewardship of the places that inspire us and guarantee responsible access to public lands and water.”

— Peter Metcalf, CEO/President of Black Diamond Equipment

What does the Sustainable Summits Conference address?

• Practical solutions to sustaining our mountain environments

• Features talks, workshops, panel discussions, poster presentations, field trips and social events

• Outstanding international presenters from Alaska, Austria, France, Nepal and New Zealand

• Optional final day field trip exploring the Hooker Valley or glacier skiing in Aoraki/Mount Cook National park.

The 2016 conference follows two successful conferences in the USA in 2010 and 2014, organized and hosted by the New Zealand Alpine Club. The NZ conference is celebrating 125 years of NZ mountaineering in association with the New Zealand Department of Conservation and with the support of Ngāi Tahu, the Māori people of the southern islands of New Zealand.

For More Information Visit: 

• www.sustainable-summits.com

• https://www.facebook.com/SustainableSummits/timeline

Register for email updates Enquiries: [email protected]

The Value of Public Lands - A climber's perspective

 Andrew Forkes-Gudmundson

AAC Conservation and Advocacy Team

As climbers, we have a unique connection to public lands. According to research by Access Fund, more than 70% of climbing in the west happens on publicly owned lands. Can you imagine if the splitter cracks in Indian Creek, the bloodthirsty off-widths of Vedauwoo, or the bold, big walls of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison were suddenly off limits to climbers?

As you read this, all these climbing resources and many more across the west are in danger. Members of Congress, state legislators, and various presidential candidates are promising to transfer these public lands to state governments, sometimes with the express purposes of selling them off. Even worse, last year it went beyond promises: the United States Senate passed a budget amendment that would pave the way for large scale transfers to the states. [1]

What does it mean to transfer public lands to states?

By their very nature, federal lands are owned by the public. We all have a right to be on them and to have a say in how they are managed. The transfer of public lands from the federal government to state governments is being promoted as a way to make land management more local. This narrative is fundamentally incorrect, for a very important reason. Federal lands are held in trust for all the people of America, while state lands are merely a source of revenue for the state that owns them. State lands can be sold by the state to anyone, largely without citizen input. Transferring public lands to the states would actually reduce the amount of say the public has in management of the land. [2] 

People fear the specter of distant bureaucrats controlling the lands in their backyard. The reality is that management of federally owned lands is incredibly decentralized. More than 80% of federal land management staff for the Department of the Interior are already based in local places out west. The AAC works diligently to provide both national policy makers and regional land managers with public input, bringing the voices of climbers to the management discussion.

At the AAC, we believe that public lands, including all the climbing resources located on them, belong to us all, and we are part of a coalition of nonprofits and outdoor businesses who believe the same.[3] Together, we are tracking state legislation and speaking up when damaging public lands bills are introduced.

In the last 18 months, nearly 50 bills in 11 Western states have been introduced in state legislatures demanding transfer or sell off.

We need you to help stop this from happening.

Until people who love to recreate outdoors speak out, policymakers will continue to entertain bills that give away our lands. Our public lands need defending. If you believe that public lands belong to everyone, not a few private interests, please let your legislators know. Sign the petition now. This petition is the first and most important step, and will keep you updated with what is happening in your state. So far, we have 15,000 signatures. Let’s get 15,000 more.

Sources

[1] http://www.outdooralliance.org/blog/2016/2/24/house-bills-threaten-to-sell-off-national-forests

[2] http://www.protectourpublicland.org/news-collection/2015/7/28/7-differences-between-state-lands-and-public-lands

[3] http://www.protectourpublicland.org/#supporters-sectio