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FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS







5     
PLACEMENT OF PERMANENT CLIMBING ANCHORS IN CAVES





A joint meeting was sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to hear the concerns of both cavers and climbers regarding the practice of technical climbing in cave entrances.  The discussions included the practice of installing bolts for protection.  In response, western U.S. climbers and cavers adopted the following positions:


o  The Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988 prohibits anyone from knowingly destroying, disturbing, defacing, marring, altering, removing or harming any significant cave, or altering the free movement of any animal or plant life into or out of any significant cave located on federal lands.


o  In addition to climbing safety, the climbers and cavers were most concerned about resource protection.  They felt that any climbing activity (other than normal cave exploration), and especially activities involving placement of permanent hardware, is not appropriate to the use of "significant" caves.  The potential for damage to the fragile caves; plant and animal ecologies, and to archeological features existing in some of them, does not justify the use of permanent hardware.


The Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs supports the above recommendations regarding climbing in caves.  Where applicable, these climbing practices should be considered for adoption by climbers in comparable cave environments elsewhere in the U.S.


The FWOC recommends that the Members and Member Clubs of the Federation convey these recommendations to the National Parks Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and to the various state's Departments of Public Lands of the related western states, and also to their respective federal legislators of the related states.



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