Climbing Advocacy with Access Fund and Outdoor Alliance

This article was written in collaboration with Access Fund.

Founded in 1991, Access Fund is the only national advocacy nonprofit focused on keeping climbing areas open and accessible, and conserving the climbing environment. Access Fund supports a powerful grassroots network of over 150 local climbing organizations, putting boots on the ground to protect climbing areas and develop climbing advocates in every corner of the nation. It was a founding member of Outdoor Alliance, and Outdoor Alliance’s first board chair was Access Fund’s then-Executive Director, Brady Robinson.

With deep expertise and decades of climbing and public lands policy experience, Access Fund, in partnership with Outdoor Alliance, has been able to achieve landscape-level protections for more than 4 million acres of public land across the country that will last for generations to come.

The John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act

The first-ever protections for Wilderness climbing in federal law came courtesy of the Dingell Act in 2019. Outdoor Alliance and Access Fund secured these protections via the Emery County Public Land Management Act, which was a centerpiece of the bill. Years of targeted advocacy by Access Fund resulted in the first piece of federal legislation to explicitly protect the use, placement and maintenance of fixed anchors in a designated Wilderness area.

The final law comprised more than 100 individual bills that were introduced by 50 Senators and several House members. It created five new national monuments and expanded several national parks. It also designated nearly 2 million acres of new recreation, conservation, and Wilderness areas, and over 600 miles of Wild and Scenic River. And, it protected the Methow Headwaters—home to extensive climbing in the North Cascades—from mining.

Great American Outdoors Act

Access Fund is the country’s only certified land trust focused on protecting climbing areas in the United States. And one of the most important tools in a land trust’s toolbox is the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

One of Access Fund’s and Outdoor Alliance’s biggest national wins was the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), which passed in the summer of 2020, thanks to support from outdoor recreationists around the country. It invests up to $2.8 billion per year to expand, maintain, and improve public lands, and requires full and permanent funding of LWCF at $900 million per year, funded by offshore oil and natural gas royalties. LWCF funding has helped protect places such as Sam’s Throne in Arkansas, Castle Crags in California, Rumney’s Northwest Crags in New Hampshire, and Leavenworth’s Alphabet Rock and Icehouse Boulders in Washington. Further, GAOA provides $9.5 billion over five years to address the national park maintenance backlog, fixing roads, bridges, trails and other user facilities to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience.

Bears Ears National Monument

The Bears Ears region is home to thousands of cultural resource sites and is sacred to Native American Tribes. However, the exceptional landscape has weathered ongoing impacts from resource extraction and irresponsible public use – especially the looting of cultural sites. Southeastern Utah is also an iconic destination for human-powered recreation. In addition to being home to several destination national parks, such as Arches and Canyonlands, Bears Ears boasts world-class rock climbing, hiking, canyoneering, whitewater paddling, and skiing.

Access Fund and Outdoor Alliance worked for many years to secure stronger protections for Bears Ears, ultimately resulting in Bears Ears National Monument. The monument’s presidential proclamation is the first to acknowledge rock climbing as a valuable form of recreation. While advocating for Bears Ears protections at the White House and on Capitol Hill, Access Fund also developed an effective collaboration with the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and served as the point organization on Bears Ears tribal relations for the Outdoor Alliance membership network. In 2017, Access Fund sued the Trump administration for illegally rolling back protections on Bears Ears. In 2021, President Biden restored and expanded protections for Bears Ears—and was joined by Access Fund and Outdoor Alliance at the proclamation signing.

The outdoor community played a key role in standing behind Tribes to protect Bears Ears, writing and delivering thousands of letters to the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations in support of the monument, and tirelessly speaking out for protections of this landscape. At the same time, Access Fund has been advocating strongly for climbers - to protect the ability to replace existing fixed anchors, and pushing for a more feasible new anchor process with the BLM. The current draft proposal is not yet workable, so Access Fund will remain at the table, leading this conversation for climbers with its partners at Friends of Indian Creek.

The Protecting America’s Rock Climbing Act

With sustainable Wilderness climbing at risk, Access Fund worked with Representatives John Curtis (R-UT) and Joe Neguse (D-CO) to draft and introduce the Protecting America’s Rock Climbing Act (PARC) in March, 2023. The bill would protect sustainable Wilderness climbing and the use, hand placement and maintenance of fixed anchors (e.g., bolts, slings, and pitons) in Wilderness areas—just like the Wilderness Act has allowed since it passed in 1964. In the Senate, Access Fund worked with Senator Hickenlooper (D-CO), Senator Manchin (D-WV) and Senator Barraso (R-WY) to introduce similar legislation to protect wilderness climbing.

The legislation was introduced in response to proposed guidance from the National Park Service and US Forest Service, which would undo 60 years of precedent and prohibit fixed anchors in Wilderness areas, subject to onerous administrative exceptions. Access Fund’s marquee initiative is the first ever standalone climbing bill that provides national-level protections for sustainable Wilderness climbing activities.

This summer, Access Fund’s tireless behind-the-scenes work also resulted in a bipartisan group of 14 U.S. Senators issuing a joint letter to the departments of Interior and Agriculture, urging them to halt the draft prohibition of fixed anchors in Wilderness areas, and requesting an update on the administration’s progress in revising regulations governing Wilderness climbing access, highlighting their commitment to preserving access while ensuring responsible management.

For the Access Fund team, these efforts built on more than three decades of work as the nation’s leading voice for climbers in Washington, D.C., and beyond, and have benefited from great support and collaboration with Outdoor Alliance and its member organizations, such as the American Alpine Club, The Mountaineers, Mazamas, and Colorado Mountain Club.

Get Involved with Access Fund

Nearly 60% of climbing areas in the United States are located on federally managed public lands. In recent years, a growing contingent of special interest groups have launched a sustained attack on these lands—eroding environmental protections and trying to transfer public lands to state governments. Access Fund represents the collective voice and interests of American climbers, working to protect the land and develop smart climbing management policy that ensures sustainable access for climbers. With a sustained presence in Washington, D.C., and boots on the ground at parks and forests across the country, Access Fund works with lawmakers, policy makers, and land managers to protect these incredible landscapes.

Sign up, donate, or get involved at accessfund.org