The climbing community has stepped up in the fight for America’s public lands, home to nearly 60% of our climbing areas. You have written letters to lawmakers, given generous donations, signed petitions, attended rallies, and made a lot of noise in support of the lands you love. We are so very grateful for every one of those actions. With a new incoming Congress and a shifting Administration, the threats to public lands are evolving almost daily, and we remain vigilant in our efforts to protect these spectacular places.

But...in the heat of this very high-profile public lands battle, another insidious threat to climbing has been going mostly unnoticed. Yet it grows larger and more overwhelming every day: Our climbing areas are falling apart. I expect you’ve heard us making noise on this topic over the last few months, and perhaps you’ve read the articles: America’s Deteriorating Climbing Areas, 10 Climbing Areas in Crisis, Climbing Areas Loved to Death.

Make no mistake, this climbing stewardship crisis is real. And it’s big. If you love public lands, here’s why you need to care:

1. Our public lands aren’t just at risk from lawmakers in DC. In many places around the country, we are loving our climbing areas to death. And land managers are taking notice. Every year, Access Fund sees public climbing areas restricted or closed due to unmanageable impacts from the climbing community. Take Hueco Tanks in Texas: the State Park closed much of the park to bouldering and restricted access because the everyday impacts from climbers grew to be more than the land and cultural resources could handle. It was simply our love and over-use of this area that overwhelmed it to the point that the land manager had to restrict access to protect the environment.
2. True “protection” of public lands is not a fight that is won in the Capitol. Keeping public lands public is only part of the battle. As climbing advocates, we must take the fight from the steps of the capitol all the way to our local crags and boulders. True protection of these places means making sure that they are well cared for and can sustainably handle our recreation activities. Our job is not over once we’ve secured access. The other half of the battle lies in restoring and preparing these climbing areas so they don’t buckle under the impacts of our growing climbing community.
3. We own these public lands—their care is our shared responsibility. You own a piece of all public lands in this country, and we are fighting to protect that American birthright. But with that right comes responsibility. We all need to chip in to preserve these amazing places—especially when climbers are impacting a place.

The fight in DC is all for naught if we don’t care for and protect the integrity of our climbing environments. And this is a fight that impacts more than just public lands—it impacts every single climbing area in the country, including those located on private lands. Access Fund and local climbing organizations all across the country are working to restore our climbing areas. But we need more resources.

Blog by Erik Murdock, Access Fund Policy Director. Erik leads the Access Fund's policy and advocacy program, working with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and with land managers around the country to protect climbing on our public lands.