Planned Seasonal Closure of Clear Creek Canyon (formerly "Clear Creek Bolting Ban?")
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Tzilla Rapdrilla wrote:Here's more from the 2007 Bald Eagle Management Guidelines from the US Fish and Wildlife Service: ... If the activity will be visible or highly audible from the nest, maintain a 330-foot buffer during the breeding season, particularly where eagles are unaccustomed to such activity." ...If anyone is trying to put together some factual statements as a reply to proposals for excessive closures (1/2 mile or 1 mile has been mentioned earlier in this thread, but I don't know what they are actually proposing), Eldo is a local example of where this 330ft rule (referred to by Tzilla) appears to be applied and working. Every year the "upper pitches between Naked Edge and Anthill Direct" are closed (5-6 routes or so). I guess there's a nest back in the Redguard corner. Occasionally Shirttail is closed, but in this case they still keep the Rincon area open. I (and I guess most climbers) can happily live with such limited closures applied to Clear Creek. |
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Patrik wrote: If anyone is trying to put together some factual statements as a reply to proposals for excessive closures (1/2 mile or 1 mile has been mentioned earlier in this thread, but I don't know what they are actually proposing), Eldo is a local example of where this 330ft rule (referred to by Tzilla) appears to be applied and working. Every year the "upper pitches between Naked Edge and Anthill Direct" are closed (5-6 routes or so). I guess there's a nest back in the Redguard corner. Occasionally Shirttail is closed, but in this case they still keep the Rincon area open. I (and I guess most climbers) can happily live with such limited closures applied to Clear Creek.Eldo is falcons, not Eagles. There are eagles on USFS land in Bocan and a few roving pairs in the Flatirons/OSMP. The closures there are variable. The BCC and Access Fund have requested to meet with JCOS staff with regards to this point. One JCOS staff member has said in writing that the actual closures will be much smaller that that "potential closure" map. We will see what they come up with next week. I'm going to put together an information/feedback/concerns/gripe session to be hosted by the BCC and Access Fund on the evening of the 8th or 9th, depending on venue availability. We can let you know how our first meeting went with the county by then, I hope. I'll post here as soon as I get more details put together. |
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From JCOS: |
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I have to strongly agree with Mark Anderson's (monomaniac) last post. I will comment on the ridiculous guideline requiring rappelling to descend a route. List under Fixed Hardware Guidelines "Rappel from fixed anchors in place of being lowered. Lowering on fixed hardware induces unnecessary wear and tear, requiring more frequent replacement of gear. Reference regulation: C17. Hazardous activity." |
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OK, some developing news. |
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Leo Paik wrote:From JCOS: "In order to clear up misconceptions around seasonal closures in Clear Creek Canyon in 2016, JCOS staff has been working to refine the information we are making available to the climbing community. The Jefferson County Open Space system and Clear Creek Canyon maps that were displayed at Thursday’s meeting included information that was not conveyed properly. The maps showed areas of potential seasonal closures and included both active raptor nests and inactive (alternate) nests. According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), an active nest is “any nest that is frequented or occupied by a raptor during the breeding season, or which has been active in any of the five previous breeding seasons” (Recommended Buffer Zones and Seasonal Restrictions for Colorado Raptors). In preparing for potential seasonal closures in 2016, we first looked at the location of all known nests, both active and inactive, in relation to climbing in Clear Creek and across the Jeffco Open Space system. The maps shown at Thursday’s meeting represent that first level of analysis. Based on the confusion around seasonal closures in Clear Creek Canyon, we’ve been working diligently to refine the closure maps so that we may provide the climbing community with more accurate information as to what Clear Creek Canyon park areas, and subsequently rock climbing areas, we intend to close to protect raptor habitat. We’ve refined the closure maps based on applicable Federal, State, and Local laws and guidelines and institutional knowledge of our current pairs of nesting eagles to determine the spatial extent of the 2016 seasonal closures in Clear Creek Canyon. We still need to conduct similar analyses for all other raptor nests across the JCOS system in order to refine the spatial extent of all seasonal closures. We are aware of two pairs of Golden Eagles that nest on JCOS property in Clear Creek Canyon, and we intend to close areas around the active nests during the 2016 breeding season. CPW recommends “No surface occupancy (beyond that which historically occurred in the area) within ¼ mile radius of active nests” and “seasonal restriction to human encroachment within ½ mile radius of active nests....” Our staff used GPS data, Lidar Data, and ArcGIS spatial analyses to determine the bounds of the closed areas. The preliminary map shown on Thursday, November 19th highlighted a number of potential seasonal closures around both active and inactive nests; we’ve reduced the spatial extent of those areas to include only a polygon around the active nesting sites in the canyon. Our seasonal closure areas now cover an area that includes a ¼ mile radius around the active nests and portions of the viewshed that fall within a ½ mile radius of the active nests. The two areas we intend to close in Clear Creek Canyon, shown on the attached maps, encompass the active eagle nests. If the Clear Creek eagles continue to nest in the active nests, these areas will remain closed from February 1 through July 31. If the eagles choose different nesting sites in 2016, the closures will be adjusted accordingly to protect those eagles during their breeding season. Currently, rock climbing areas that fall inside of the seasonal raptor closures include: Blonde Formation Bumbling Stock Evil Area Ghost Crag Highlander Merlin New River Wall Point Break Rapids Rock Skinny Legs Stumbling Block Tetanus Garden Twitch Rock"Thanks for sharing Leo. It's good to hear that the closure has been presented in writing. May I ask who wrote this? It doesn't appear on JeffCo's website. Perhaps you could forward the email to Tony B so he can share it with the Access Fund's bird specialists. Unfortunately the new closure is worse in some ways. Yesterday we were under the impression Highlander, New River Wall, etc would only be closed for the month of February. Now it seems they will be closed for half the year. I believe our work is not done on this issue. In particular there are crags on this list that are quite short, sheltered from the view-shed, or virtually below road level that should be excluded from closure (I'm thinking specifically of Twitch, Rapids Rock and New River Wall, but there may be others). For example, it's hard to imagine how a climber on Sonic Youth would interfere with the eagles nest' when s/he is 10 feet lower and several hundred yards further away than a gravel truck jake-braking down Hwy 6. |
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Thanks y'all for staying on this. If we are getting some kind of Jeffco climbers group together please count me in. |
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Another factor that should be mentioned is that literally tens of millions of dollars are being spent on the Peaks to Plains bike trail through CCC that would also run right through the same piece of real estate slated for closure. It would seem to be an egregious waste of tax dollars to construct a bike/pedestrian trail that would then have to be closed. Sounds like a bridge to nowhere to me. Parts of the trail could be closed, but most of the utility of the trail would be defeated if one couldn't ride from say Golden to Georgetown. Personally, I would like to see the trail built as it will facilitate access to some crags and I'd like to ride the trail, but if the trail's open then the crags need to be too. |
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I have always viewed the Peaks to Plains trails in the canyon as creating significant impacts & forever changing rarely visited, untrampeled areas along the river corridor. I have always viewed climbers as creating minimal impacts & none to many spots that the trail will go. Regardless of how you feel about the Peaks to Plains Trail, it contradicts the concerns of JCOS has about the impacts of new route development. As a user group, climbers become the scapegoat for addressing impacts. We get singled out & targeted by land managers, for creating serious impacts that need heavy handed regulations to mitigate. I am not saying we don't create impacts, but they will be minor compared to the construction of the trail. Consider all the crags & new routes developed over the past 25 years, that are rarely visited. These areas are very low impact. The need for a fixed hardware review process is a knee jerk reaction to the growth of our sport & the impacts JCOS sees at the most popular crags. |
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After reviewing the CMP, I have lost the positive attitude I left last Thursday's meeting with. JCOS assured us of a fixed hardware review process that would not be as cumbersome as in the Flatirons or Eldorado. A process that could possibly be streamlined & more flexible. |
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Mark (Mono) A., I got this raptor closure update from JeffCo OS by signing up to be on their climbing email list. You can (and I encourage all interested folks to do so) to contact them (as I did) by emailing climbing@jeffco.us and asking to be put on the list. The info came as 2 .pdf files which I basically copied and pasted onto this forum in my last post. The map I asked my friend Ron Keller to convert into a .jpg file so I could post it on mp.com. I don't know who exactly wrote this, but I suspect it was a collaborative effort by the folks at JeffCo OS. |
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Tzilla Rapdrilla wrote:Another factor that should be mentioned is that literally tens of millions of dollars are being spent on the Peaks to Plains bike trail through CCC that would also run right through the same piece of real estate slated for closure. It would seem to be an egregious waste of tax dollars to construct a bike/pedestrian trail that would then have to be closed. Sounds like a bridge to nowhere to me. Parts of the trail could be closed, but most of the utility of the trail would be defeated if one couldn't ride from say Golden to Georgetown. Personally, I would like to see the trail built as it will facilitate access to some crags and I'd like to ride the trail, but if the trail's open then the crags need to be too.It is likely that certain crags will be closed when this trail is being constructed & possibly afterwards. As Leo Paik points out, the trail is bigger than Jeffco, but it has some input into the trail on JCOS lands. I think climbers should be concerned. Check out Fiscal Cliff in Clear Creek, on this site. The crag has been closed for the construction of the trail that runs directly under the crag. Heavy rock scaling was done of rocks that weren't unstable, according to Derek Peavey. Removing the rocks caused a lot of dirt to wash down over the crag. This crag will probably be permanently closed, because the bike trail is directly below it. The Fiscal Cliff is in Clear Creek County, so Jeffco has nothing to do with it. It makes me wonder what will be the fate of other crags down the canyon like the River Wall. |
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Always a bummer, but these sort of things do happen. One of my Glenwood Canyon FA's saw some serious retro-drilling in the form of an I-70 tunnel entrance... |
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Betcha the trail is never closed. |
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....That's why I am gonna name my new climb up there.....Josey Wales. You would think the motives for all this nonsense would be to cordially limit impacts on our precious earth....the birds will adapt, just like wildlife does for the game commissions.....closing cliffs for birds vs anchor and fixed hardware concerns? I believe the system was working fine without any closures or committee s.....wouldn't y'all rather be out climbing? Do we have some bored ,washed up climbers looking for something to do or what? Micro managing? |
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mike c wrote:...the birds will adapt...How convenient of you to think so. |
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Hopefully more climbers are reading this thread. JCOS is reading this thread & thus it serves as climber input into their Climbing Management Plan. Everyone should take notice of Monitoring & Compliance in the draft CMP. "Unpermitted fixed hardware will be removed immediately". This is one way JCOS intends to enforce its ban on unregulated bolting (bolting without a permit). |
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Mark Rolofson wrote:Hopefully more climbers are reading this thread. JCOS is reading this thread & thus it serves as climber input into their Climbing Management Plan.If you really want to provide input you can simply email climbing@jeffco.us so they don't have to sift through the rants on MP. Definitely a better use of our tax money ;) Mark Rolofson wrote:"Unpermitted fixed hardware will be removed immediately". This is one way JCOS intends to enforce its ban on unregulated bolting (bolting without a permit). This is a waste of public monetary resources. Hiring rangers to remove bolts it is waste of taxpayer money that fund JCOS through sales tax revenue. I think anyone who lives or climbs in Jeffco needs to understand how public funds will be spent. When bolts are removed by rangers it will likely receive negative mass media attention.Then don't put in hardware without a permit. The last thing they want to do is chop rogue bolts, so don't waste your time and money and they won't have to waste theirs. Honestly, if your willing to labor for hours on a rogue route, I think you have some bigger personal problems to sort out. If the route is worth bolting, it is worth making sure that there is a sustainable approach to it. That is the whole point of the process; get ahead of the impact. Yes that requires resources, but rehabbing a climber designed fall line trail takes a lot more resources. At some point in time, someone is going to get paid to lay out a trail to that cliff, so it may as well be now. Mark Rolofson wrote:JCOS has decided in order to mitigate the impacts of climbing that a fixed hardware review committee is necessary. A review process will also take time & money to implement. Sending rangers out to look to every proposed new crag development & doing pre-mitigation on untraveled areas is no small task. I have to look at numerous climbing areas, I have visited to see how impacts have been well mitigated in far more sensitive & erosion prone areas. Amazing trails & staging areas exists at many popular crags throughout the west. Areas that have no fixed hardware ban or hardware review process. No regulations on leaving quickdraws or rappelling. For example look at Smith Rock State Park in Oregon, the birth place of sport climbing in the USA. Public resources would be better spent building trails, improving staging areas at the base of the crags & putting in a few solar composting toilets, than to waste time micro managing individual climbers.Areas like Smith and Shelf are much easier resources to manage as they are essentially long cliff lines. When new routes go in, they generally can be accessed by the established trail system that follows the base of the main cliff line. Places like Clear Creek are much more challenging to manage as there multiple parking pullouts, and no central trail system that accesses the majority of the cliffs. I think it is perfectly reasonable to require the permit process as it will slow down the amount of new crags being developed allowing Jeffco to focus on rehabbing what is already there. Think about if we applied this same idea to tackle urban sprawl. It'd be great if there was a building moratorium put in place that forced developers to focus on rehabbing what is all ready in place. If an area is worth developing, it will be done in a sustainable, thought out manner. This really doesn't sound that bad right? I agree that resources need to be spent on improving staging areas, and rehabbing the existing trail systems, but currently they are chasing a moving target and it must be daunting. I believe that Jeffco has already hired the front range climbing stewards for improvement projects in CCC next summer. Hopefully the "rappelling" and "fixed draw" guidelines will be nixed after the public comments are in. PLEASE SEND IN YOUR COMMENTS! I know it's not the wild west we are use to, but I really don't think the bolting regulations are as bad as many folks are making them out to be. There have been a lot of arguments made that their are greater impacts in the canyon that need to be addressed, and I agree, but that doesn't mean we don't need to manage our impacts too. |
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Monty, it isn't just a question of whether I agree to follow the new bolting regulations. I feel that not everyone will. Resources can be better spent than trying to stop the long tradition of unregulated bolting. I am sure there are other climbers who won't follow the new regulation. |
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......so I see the focus is back on fixed hardware. The birds are not gonna be pleased:) |