Access Fund’s Conservation Team is Restoring Worn Out Crags
This is about longevity.
A single conscientious climber has minimal impact on the land each time they visit the crag, but even minimal impacts compound over time. And as climbing grows in popularity, masses of users flock to concentrated areas and the byproduct of this use becomes apparent. Heavy foot-traffic accelerates erosion, exposing tree roots and lowering the grade of the earth along cliffsides. Trash abounds, vegetation is stomped out, and human waste litters the forest. Without intervention, increased human traffic naturally withers away at the landscape.
This is why Access Fund developed its Conservation Team in 2011: It was a way for the climbing community to have a positive impact on the land. The Conservation Team is composed of trail building and land restoration experts who travel the country and work on bringing climbing areas back to health.
“I can’t think of too many climbing areas that don’t need stewardship work,” said Ty Tyler, Access Fund stewardship director. “That was one of the reasons why we started the team.”
During its early years, the Conservation Team performed simple trash pick ups and graffiti removal at crags, but in the decade since its genesis, the team has evolved into a highly specialized crag rehabilitation machine.
“The infrastructure that we have to build at climbing areas is very different from basic trail work for a hiking or mountain biking trail,” said Andrea Hassler, Access Fund’s stewardship manager. “We understand climbing use patterns. We know that belayers on an overhanging climb might run back ten feet, or they might lower their climber twenty feet away from the cliffline and that climber needs to come back up to the cliffline.”
The goal of the Conservation Team is to build infrastructure that will allow climbers to interact with the landscape in sustainable ways—to build staircases up to a cliff, retaining walls in heavy runoff zones, belay pads where they will be useful, etc. And in the years since its inception, the Conservation Team has become adept at assessing the land and identifying these problems and solutions.
However, the Conservation Team cannot accomplish these goals on its own. It takes collaboration between Access Fund, land managers, environmental agencies, local climbing organizations, and a whole slew of volunteers.
“We largely rely on volunteers to get the work done,” Hassler said. “Everything from carrying materials to helping support the installation of the rocks to build staircases and retaining walls. … We need lots of hands to make these projects come to fruition.”
In 2022, for instance, the Conservation Team set their sights on Pictured Rocks County Park, a steep limestone cliff along the Maquoketa River in Eastern Iowa. Packed with over 100 sport routes, Pictured Rocks is an invaluable resource for the regional climbing community. The Conservation Team set out to rehabilitate the heavily-worn crag by building sustainable trails and belay platforms. They recruited the Iowa Climbing Coalition and volunteers from the local community to lend a hand, and the turnout was staggering.
“Over fourteen work days, we never once worked alone,” wrote Loryn Posladek and Kyle Leihsing, the Conservation Team members working on the project. “That’s never happened before. People took time off work and away from climbing to make sure we had people with us every day, whatever the day of the week or how hot the weather. We’ve never had so many repeat volunteers either.”
Their work at Pictured Rocks highlights Tyler’s statement that: “No climbing area is too big or too small, we care about Yosemite just as much as we care about Donation Rocks in Pennsylvania.”
Over the years, the Conservation Team has put in countless hours of work into Indian Creek, whose fragile desert ecosystem is easily subject to degradation. This is why the Conservation Team has put in so much time building trails and infrastructure to minimize climber impact on the land. They have also educated innumerable volunteers in that time.
A huge component of the Conservation Team’s work is to impart their knowledge of sustainable infrastructure to the local climbing community, so those locals can continue to maintain and improve these areas after the Conservation team is gone. “They’re not always nose to the ground trail builders,” said Hassler. “They are out there integrating themselves with the community and teaching these principles. … There are communities out there that have spent a lot of time with the conservation teams and now we’re seeing that they have their own programs and staff teams and volunteer force, so maybe those areas don’t need another conservation team visit because they’re moving and grooving on their own.”
“This is about longevity,” Tyler said. “By doing this work we’re ensuring that future generations of climbers can have a quality outdoor experience. So that the area that they’re climbing in isn’t dramatically different than when the first ascentionist went out there.”
Tyler notes that, in addition to mitigating climber impacts, the Conservation Team’s work has now started to restore areas affected by wildfires, flooding, or other effects of climate change. They focus not just on piecemeal crag health, but a comprehensive look at the health of the entire ecosystem.
“It’s easy to see the impact we have on the land, but we can also have a hugely positive impact on these places that give us so much,” said Hassler. “It’s really empowering for climbers to be a part of something that’s bigger and that’s contributing to these long term conservation goals that we have.”
This year the Conservation Team is going on tour, visiting eight climbing destinations across the country. If they are coming to your local crag, consider volunteering. And if you can’t offer your time, donations go a long way in helping facilitate these projects.
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