Climbing in Tonto National Forest, ancestral lands of Pueblos and Hohokam, Photo courtesy of © Curt Shannon
Tonto National Forest in central Arizona, home of the Superstition Wilderness and other world-class climbing, just released a draft forest plan that is problematic for climbers.
As written, the draft plan essentially outlaws all fixed anchors across the forest, which could lead to the unjustified removal of existing fixed anchors and require a full-scale environmental analysis for every new bolt placement. Also, this language doesn’t provide allowances for emergencies or bolt replacement and maintenance.
This draft plan is far off the mark and sets a dangerous national precedent for the 30% of climbing areas in this country that are on U.S. Forest Service lands. We need climbers to speak up.
Please take 5 minutes to use our easy letter-writing tool to tell Tonto National Forest to more thoughtfully consider the language around fixed climbing anchors. Talking points are available to help you draft a letter.