04/11/2010
Date: 4/12/2010
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued a climbing ban on 400 acres in the Castle Rocks Interagency Recreation Area, adjacent to
The BLM acted on the basis that a climbing ban is needed to protect historic cultural resources inventoried by a recent field survey. The Shoshone-Bannock and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, who have a rich history in this area, support the ban, expressing concern that climbing could negatively impact their cultural resources on the property. However the field study found these resources in two specific areas of the property and a subsequent environmental assessment failed to state why climbing could not continue where there are no conflicts with cultural resources.The
Other BLM offices across the country effectively managing climbing in areas where significant cultural resources have been identified, including Shelf Road in Colorado; Red Rocks in Nevada; and Indian Creek, Moab/Castle Valley, and San Rafael Swell in Utah. The standard at these locations is that climbing may occur within 50 feet of a specific cultural resource.
The BLM has a long history of maintaining resource protection standards and still allowing for legitimate recreational uses like climbing. The ban that the local BLM office has imposed for its Castles property is more restrictive than any other BLM climbing area in the country, and is an even higher standard than those imposed on wilderness areas or other highly protected land designations.
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History of the areaThe BLM property sits within a patchwork of public lands commonly known as the Castle Rocks Interagency Recreation Area, and is owned and managed by three different agencies—US Forest Service, BLM, and Idaho Parks and Recreation. Since 2003, the three agencies have been working together, in collaboration with the
Before also signing on to the climbing management plan, the BLM initiated an environmental assessment in order to survey historic and cultural resources that may be present on the property, and analyze the impact of climbing on those resources. The agency allowed climbing during the environment assessment process, but imposed a ban on overnight camping and bolting/fixed anchors (though a number of routes already had bolts that were placed before the BLM ban was issued).
During the environmental assessment process, the Twin Falls Resource Advisory Council and the
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