Staunton State Park Releases New Management Plan

Working in collaboration with active local climbers, the BCC helped to significantly improve the new Management Plan for Staunton State Park. Last summer, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) circulated a draft plan for Staunton that contained several climbing-related provisions that were not consistent with current science and would have been overly restrictive if implemented as drafted. The BCC's measured and informed input to CPW in this process is an example of how our advocacy program seeks to further the interests of climbers through building constructive relationships with land managers and encouraging balanced, evidence-based decision-making.

In its draft form, the Plan proposed a complete ban on new trails and climbs in and around raptor nesting locations.  The BCC submitted its own comments and facilitated the submission of commentary from one of our raptor experts, who helps run the golden eagle monitoring program in Boulder Canyon.  We explained that the draft Plan's approach was contrary to the seasonal closures CPW has used elsewhere and that have become a widely accepted, evidence-based method for protecting nesting raptors.  The Final Plan, issued this week, is much more consistent with our comments and best practices by supporting seasonal closures and supporting collaboration on raptor issues between CPW’s team and the climbers' Fixed Hardware Review Group at Staunton. Likewise, the draft’s restrictive approach to climbs near potential populations of rare plants was revised to focus on routes that actually would have a detrimental impact on such plants. We applaud cases where effective protections for rare and sensitive species and ecosystems can be targeted without unnecessarily impeding the vital access that so many of us rely on for outdoor climbing.

In addition to BCC comments, climbers accounted for roughly 40% of all public comments submitted on the draft Plan. This productive engagement from the climbing community is an important force in keeping land managers aware of climber concerns and persuading them to adopt policies that reflect best practices in climbing management.

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