Orange Smoothy Boulder Climbing

From Phillip Nyland, NFS, In the past I have reached out to many of you in regards to a peregrine falcon nest site at Lime Canyon (Eagle County, Colorado) on Aspen-Sopris Ranger District, White River NF.

It looks like there is another pair nesting at a different location where people like to climb; Coal Creek near Redstone, Pitkin County, Colorado located about a mile east of the Coal Creek Boulders area. Through monitoring, we have enough information to believe the site is being used for nesting. Because of this, we anticipate initiating a temporary closure of the immediate cliffs and steep terrain surrounding the nest site, which would run until August 1 or earlier if nesting ends earlier. The vicinity and forthcoming restricted area are on attached maps.

Some information that might be helpful to climbers: we are asking folks to avoid the cliffs and steep terrain at this time, in advance of a temporary area closure forthcoming in the immediate future. The area temporarily restricted is about one mile east of the climbing routes known as Coal Creek Boulders, and does not include Coal Creek Boulders. The area is approximately 2,000 feet of cliffs and steep rocky terrain north of Coal Basin Road (FSR 307) at and beyond the winter road closure gate, ending at the unnamed tributary west of the gate approximately 1.3 to 1.6 miles from CO Highway 133. Please avoid being on the cliff faces, top of the cliffs, climbing routes, and access routes in the indicated area. The top of the cliffs are included because we have seen peregrines perching on these. Closure information should be posted by the weekend on the road at the boundary of the restricted area. The closure will end when rescinded or August 1, whichever is earlier.

On the same token, we will be monitoring Lime Canyon for nesting peregrine falcons in the near future and I will reach out with a 2023 status.