ACT NOW: Bitterroot National Forest Bans New Bolts

https://www.accessfund.org/news-and-events/news/bitterroot-national-forest-bans-new-bolts

"We need climbers across the country to mobilize on a national-level threat. In an unprecedented move, Bitterroot National Forest in Montana banned new bolts and first ascents earlier this month, without any public process or opportunity to comment." --Access Fund

As someone who climbs in the Bitterroot frequently, this is highly concerning. If you will, please follow the link in the article and write a quick letter telling the Bitterroot National Forest to work with climbers and stakeholders.

Dallin Carey wrote: accessfund.org/news-and-eve…

"We need climbers across the country to mobilize on a national-level threat. In an unprecedented move, Bitterroot National Forest in Montana banned new bolts and first ascents earlier this month, without any public process or opportunity to comment." --Access Fund

As someone who climbs in the Bitterroot frequently, this is highly concerning. If you will, please follow the link in the article and write a quick letter telling the Bitterroot National Forest to work with climbers and stakeholders.

Is this possibly related to the Ten Sleep debacle and the subsequent bolting ban in Big Horn NF?  Concerning to say the least as these actions could become precedent for other NF districts. 

If you look into the specifics of this situations, it's truly fucked up and could be bad precedent going forward. Whether you live in MT or not, PLEASE SUBMIT A LETTER for the love of climbing!

Access Fund has made it super easy (like 2 minutes or less) for you to do this

Submitted and bump

Matt Simon wrote: If you look into the specifics of this situations, it's truly fucked up and could be bad precedent going forward. Whether you live in MT or not, PLEASE SUBMIT A LETTER for the love of climbing!

Access Fund has made it super easy (like 2 minutes or less) for you to do this

What are the specifics?  The Access Fund gives no link or even quotes from the order.  I've google searched, but to no avail.  How can we comment without knowing the details of the order, i.e. the actual verbiage and the justification or concerns about bolting?

Copy of the USFS directive:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd701760.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2tYifoE6VSJdz-ZgPgURDZnEq_RMlX2OAldHnbpjieagNrWaC6bLIA8Zc

Thanks Matt, that helps a lot.  Note that they are developing a climbing management plan, and the person to contact is Steve Brown, Stevensville District Ranger, 406-777-5461.

Matt Z wrote: Copy of the USFS directive:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd701760.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2tYifoE6VSJdz-ZgPgURDZnEq_RMlX2OAldHnbpjieagNrWaC6bLIA8Zc

I encourage everyone to read this, it only takes 2 minutes.  The summary is that there is a temporary ban on all route creation, maintenance, or destruction (chopping, de-chossing) untill a management plan can be established.

I find it to be very reasonable.  If you're a local, get involved in the drafting of the management plan.  Make sure to put in a section around preserving trad ethics and discouraging grid bolting ;)

Thanks for the links. I added a bit about the ban on not allowing replacement of bad bolts as that is particularly egregious. Access Fund makes it very easy to have your voice heard.

Eric Roe wrote:

I encourage everyone to read this, it only takes 2 minutes.  The summary is that there is a temporary ban on all route creation, maintenance, or destruction (chopping, de-chossing) untill a management plan can be established.

I find it to be very reasonable.  If you're a local, get involved in the drafting of the management plan.  Make sure to put in a section around preserving trad ethics and discouraging grid bolting ;)

Get involved!  But more importantly get your kids and grandkids involved too.

The Red  Rocks (rainbow mountain wilderness), Mt Charleston Wilderness and Red River Gorge (Daniel Boone National Forest) management plans are all 15-25  years overdue.  

A memo from an aggressive administrator has shut down all new route development in the Daniel Boone National Forest (over 700,000 acres; the vast majority of which is not in a wilderness area) for about 25 years now.  

Is that reasonable?  I think not.  The promise of a management plan does not equal an actual management plan.  It has proven to be an effective and permanent delay tactic.

We need to get our elected officials involved (even those we disagree with on other topics!) to reel in these local administrators who overstep their bounds.  We (and the access fund) have been relatively ineffective at motivating change from the inside at the USFS.  We need to step up a rung and get our elected officials to put pressure on these people to do their jobs and either repeal the bans (preferable in most cases) or actually move forward with reasonable management plans.   

If the access fund is not open to taking such strong action and working with elected officials to force change, then maybe it is time for an additional climbing lobbying organization (a climbing PAC?) that will take this action and openly and financially back politicians that will support our goals of maintaining and expanding climbing access.

The access fund wants us to write to administrative government employees who have no reason to listen to us!   What we need to do is get our elected officials to call those mother $&@-‘s and tell them to stick to doing just their jobs and that job is not banning climbing development in non wilderness areas!

When it comes to the USFS, the access fund has an ineffective strategy!  After 25 years of banging our heads against the wall, its time to move up the chain. 

Matt Simon wrote: If you look into the specifics of this situations, it's truly fucked up and could be bad precedent going forward. Whether you live in MT or not, PLEASE SUBMIT A LETTER for the love of climbing!

Access Fund has made it super easy (like 2 minutes or less) for you to do this

Done and bump

Michael Miletich wrote: Maybe people are starting to realize that climbers are not low impact.   Time to start conserving rock...I support the ban.

So if you ban climbing in national forests, where will you go climbing?  Oh, and things like horses, mountain bikes, hunting, wood cutting, and ATVs are low impact and fine and dandy? Should we just shut down the forests to everyone?

Michael Miletich wrote: Maybe people are starting to realize that climbers are not low impact.   Time to start conserving rock...I support the ban.

Boooooo.

edit to add: I just sent a letter, took 30 seconds

Michael Miletich wrote: Maybe people are starting to realize that climbers are not low impact.   Time to start conserving rock...I support the ban.

What about the ban on replacing existing, but dangerous, hardware. Do you agree with that as well? A good climbing management plan (informed by climbers working together with land managers) will help decrease the impact and conserve the rock. Wholesale bans are ineffective and, on our public lands that BELONG TO US, should be illegal.

Mike Mu. wrote: I’m planning on running for president as a write in this year. So write me in and all these climbing bans will be gone forever. Oh and free college for everyone

What about the wall?

Michael Miletich wrote: Maybe people are starting to realize that climbers are not low impact.   Time to start conserving rock...I support the ban.

There aren't enough Montanans to make an impact anywhere unless it's the Bozeman crew mobbing Ten Sleep all summer long.

Michael Miletich wrote: Maybe people are starting to realize that climbers are not low impact.   Time to start conserving rock...I support the ban.

Bans in some areas are okay. Creating a ban without public process is dangerous going forward. As is not including exceptions for maintaining current hardware which is a huge safety concern.  

Good info and background in https://missoulian.com/news/local/sticks-and-stone-mill-creek-conflict-continues-public-input-process/article_d1373022-3eb1-557f-9ea8-59ba8aaef584.html by way of
 https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/118547009/here-we-go-again

(IE, I didn't find this. I'm just cross-posting)

Before this thread gets to long here are the facts as I see them.  I have climb for over 45 years and have put in routes in Montana since the late 70's.  I am a retired FS researcher.  My faith of the FS management is not good - based on being a volunteer FS union steward.  I did my first evaluation of recreational climbing in grad school for Devil's Lake in the 70's.  I've written some of my opinions in Climbing Magazine in the 80's (but what you will get here is not edited - I'm to old to spend the time doing that). I also worked on the last 2 climbing guide books for Butte.  Most of the Montana guides started around 1990 (+ or -).  For Butte - In the 90's Dwight and I agreed not to list all the areas in the guide.

This started 6 years ago with local upset about the sport routes at North Rim of Mill Creek.  About 25 sport routes (of which I did some) and then a "cooling off" moratorium for new routes.  Then that District Range left (retired - which I knew since I worked with his wife).  Then the moratorium keep being extended.  The FS 2017 management plan never was done (the last 1987).  The are was proposed wilderness.  The boundary was not clear.  My GIS friend looked at the FS coverage and all we could figure out was the they were roadless.  Proposed wilderness can't harm the attributes that would make it wilderness (wildlife, plants, etc.).  I asked the FS for the attributes and they couldn't produce them.  I think we improved the area since we pulled the weeds will we were resting.  The plan is now push back to 2022.  The FS said they would work on a management plan then.  Thing kept getting push back.

When the bottom bolts were vandalize (poorly) the route developers could tell but new climber may not.  Dave and I replaced some of them with glue ins which have been vandalize again.  As well as other similar issues.  The FS did nothing.  The FS would go a year without meeting with the climbing coalition (WMCC).  I mainly left the WMCC board because I felt we weren't getting anywhere).  They was mainly because of my union/FS experience.

This is what I'm working on to send to the FS and most likely to my Senator Tester contacts that I did union work.  Also likely to Region headquarters staff that I have also met with over the years??

Dear BNF-            
You  have made a policy that is full of holes.  Here are a few.
How do you manage climbing routes when you have no idea of what and where the routes are.  Helping Dwight do the last 2 editions (90’s and 2005) of the Butte guide we agree not to put all the areas in them.  Why?  Think about it.  I have routes with no gear on them.  The routes are not recorded.  I’ve had out of state climbers as guest (good for the economy) and they have put up trad FA routes.   Who knows how many other climbers have passed thru and put up routes.  Even with the few guide books they don’t cover everything (see Randall’s state guide).  I’ve also done routes I didn’t report and others climbers did the route later and did report it and took the credit for the FA.  I have routes in half a dozen areas not recorded anywhere.
How does the FS know if it’s a new route or an old route?  Or when does a route end.  I have 2 pitch routes done in the 80’s that should have 2 more pitches.  Climbers some come down and leave the top of the route for others who can do it in a “better style”.  What if I start a route where I see a sling 100 feet up.  I continue past it heading to the right.   50 feet up the hand holds start breaking off and I look left and see gear.  I’m in the middle of a first ascent without knowing it.  The BNF order doesn’t cover this.  The order doesn’t cover maintaining routes.   Since the FS doesn’t have the expertise in BNF climbing routes how can they make any rules?
Gear will get stuck in cracks and some climbers can’t get it out.  People have to retreat using gear because they aren’t able to climb the last 50 feet of a 600 foot route.  Climbers have to be rescued.  I’ve left 8 anchors lowering a climber 600 feet.  Rain or weather can stop upward progress on a FA that would be possible to climb to the top (and leave no gear).  Surprise this could happen on a FA or an established route.
Mr. Brown stated to me the climbers haven’t reach out to other user groups to see if what we are doing is OK with them.  I haven’t had any other user groups reach out to me to see if what they do is OK with me.I guess I could be against hunting if I was a vegetarian.  But if climbers are restricted from going into new areas – I assume hikers, hunters and skiers will be required to stay on the BNF trails are won’t be allowed into “new areas”.

--------
This is not everything but I hope this gives you some idea of what's going on.  One of my main issue has always been setting president for the country (this info wasn't always forth coming from the DR but there was some contacts from FS in Wyoming - I think there would have been others).

Dan Locks wrote: Good info and background in https://missoulian.com/news/local/sticks-and-stone-mill-creek-conflict-continues-public-input-process/article_d1373022-3eb1-557f-9ea8-59ba8aaef584.html

Sounds like a climbing management plan is needed, but we shouldn't underestimate the amount of work that requires. Also, don't bolt if you're not supposed to bolt. Trad is rad, man.

I live walking distance from Mill Creek and my wife child and I are up there hiking,  frequently trail running and skiing etc.  The sport crag has very little impact especially compared to the heavy traffic the area sees from all other user groups. It also effects only a tiny fraction of the cliff side habitat in mill creek.

And i'm saying this as a staunch environmentalist.

We don't climb up there (or haven't in 5+ years) because there is so much other good climbing on the forest*. And thats the biggest problem with this order. It covers a massive area including several other major/popular/well know areas including the thousand foot big wall free routes of Blodgett Canyon and the numerous boulders and crags of Lost Horse Creek. And endless other undocumented crags and alpine and backcountry granite peaks, wall and domes like these:
http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201212661/Mystery-Dome-Southwest-Arte
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web19s/newswire-super-ultra-mega

So this ban is equivalent to the Forest Service taking one small crag that a couple of NIMBY locals complained about and banning all new routes in an area bigger then the Enchantments or Tetons.

I support good climbing management and will eagerly cooperate with closures to protect raptors, reduce erosion etc but this is ridiculous. And the national outcry over this is going to put the Bitterroot on more climbers radar and actually increase climber traffic. And I guess i'm for that if it means the area gets the recognition it needs to preserve access.

* We mostly Boulder in Lost Horse Creek Canyon (guide at http://bitterrootbeta.org) and do some ground up trad FAs on small domes.