10/11/2006
Date: 10/12/2006
Access Fund Lawsuit Still Pending, Climbing Remains Closed
Over a year ago in mid-August of 2005 the Access Fund filed its most recent legal brief at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the on-going attempt to keep climbing open at Cave Rock, a popular and important climbing area on the shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada. For more background see www.accessfund.org/pdf/CRbackgrounder3-28.pdf
In January 2005 at the district court level in Reno a judge upheld the US Forest Service (USFS) decision to ban climbing at Cave Rock; however, the district court prevented the USFS from removing any climbing bolts pending the lawsuits result.
The AF Board subsequently voted to pursue an appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. For now, since all briefs have been filed, we continue to wait for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to schedule oral arguments or render a verdict. The USFS declined to pursue mediation despite the Access Fund's hope that the conflict may be resolved out of the courtroom.
The climbing ban remains in place at least for the duration of the lawsuit, and it's critical that climbers continue to respect the climbing closure at Cave Rock while we work our way through the courtsignoring the ban will only harm our case in court and reduce the chances that it will reopen.
For more information contact Access Fund Policy Director Jason Keith at [email protected].