A congressman from Utah is pushing legislation that would allow fixed climbing anchors to be used in official wilderness in the National Park System and on national forest lands/NPS file

A dozen years after the National Park Service found itself defending its position on the placement of climbing anchors in official wilderness, the issue has returned, this time with a congressman from Utah pushing legislation that would take the agency out of the conversation.

Back in 2011, the Park Service was updating its approach to wilderness management and called for, and eventually settled on, a general ban on fixed anchors in official wilderness, and potential wilderness, found in the parks.

The establishment of bolt-intensive face climbs is considered incompatible with wilderness preservation and management due to the concentration of human activity which they support, and the types and levels of impacts associated with such routes. Climbing management strategies will address ways to control, and in some cases reduce, the number of fixed anchors to protect the park’s wilderness resources or to preserve the “untrammeled,” “undeveloped,” and “outstanding opportunities for solitude” qualities of the park’s wilderness character. -- Director's Order 41, adopted May 2013.

Opposition to that change came from The Access Fund, a national advocacy organization for the climbing community. Drawing the organization's ire was a requirement that a permit be obtained before a fixed anchor was placed along a climbing route in official or potential wilderness. At the same time, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility thought the Park Service's approach was confusing, for while the agency stated that officially designated wilderness was to be left "untrammeled" by humans, DO41 would allow climbers to affix permanent anchors in climbing areas under select instances.

The issue has resurfaced with legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, that would allow permanent climbing anchors to be used in designated wilderness areas in the National Park System as well as on national forest lands.

In speaking against the legislation last week during a hearing before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands, Mike Reynolds, the Park Service's deputy director for Congressional and external relations, voiced concerns that the "Protecting America's Rock Climbing Act" could dilute the Wilderness Act.

"...mandating particular uses in designated wilderness, as H.R. 1380 would do, has the practical effect of amending the Wilderness Act, which is not only unnecessary but could potentially have serious deleterious consequences," Reynolds said in his prepared testimony. "The [Interior] Department feels it has sufficient authorities under the Wilderness Act to fully support recreational climbing opportunities in designated wilderness in a manner that balances tribal, recreational, environmental, and wilderness preservation values and interests and therefore does not believe legislation is necessary."

The deputy director also said the "Department is concerned that H.R. 1380, as drafted, may be interpreted to require public notice and comment for every action the Department undertakes, including the placement and replacement of individual fixed anchors in addition to actions necessary to fulfill its broader mandate to administer the designated wilderness under its jurisdiction and preserve wilderness character while allowing recreation where appropriate in accordance with the Wilderness Act."

The issue continues to surface in the park system as individual parks develop climbing management plans. Last year, for example, Joshua Tree National Park staff in California questioned whether fixed climbing anchors were appropriate in official wilderness in the park.

During the public comment period on what the plan should include, "78 percent of the 4,184 correspondences had a comment on law and/or policy related to fixed anchors in wilderness," the park noted. "Comments ranged from concerns that in wilderness: all fixed anchors should be removed, all fixed anchors should be allowed, allow adding more fixed anchors, and everything in between."

The plan has not yet been completed.

At Arches National Park in Utah, regulations state that "[A]ny new installation of fixed gear requires a permit. If an existing item or fixed anchor is judged unsafe, it may be replaced, in kind, without a permit. Bolts, hangers and chains must be painted the color of the rock surface. ... Protection may not be placed with the use of a hammer except to replace existing belay and rappel anchors and bolts on existing routes, or for emergency self-rescue. The use of motorized power drills is prohibited."