Bird Closures and climbing.

[Alasdair]

Hey folks, Next spring I am going to try to do a little work to to increase the amount of information out there about the various bird closures in WA. Right now I expect this work to include a central place where all of the bird closures can be placed and can be found easily by climbers. I also expect this work to include tracking down a few local climbers for some of the more remote crags to see if they would help me out by posting some signs at specific crags that have closures.

 

I am working with the Washington Climbers Coalition and with the WA Dept of Fish and Wildlife raptor biologist in order to try to get the concerns of both climbers and biologists and land managers met. In general the self policing by climbers of climbers has worked in the past and as long as it continues to work in the future it is likely to be the way it will stay.

 

That said, I would like to know from the climbing community what your concerns are about bird closures are, and get any constructive feedback on some of these issues.

 

What will make it easier for you to learn about bird closures and what makes it difficult?

 

I am not looking for any bird closures are BS comments, they are what they are. Keep in mind I am going to be working directly with the WDFW, NPS, and Army CoE as well as some private land owners all who have climbing with nests on land that they own/manage.

 

The one group who seems to not have any interest in this issue is the access fund who I tried to contact but got no replies from. Right now they are out of the picture. I would love to have them be a part of it so if any of you are affiliated let me know.

 

Thanks for any comments you have.

 

Feel free to contact me directly with any questions you dont wish to put up for public viewing.

 

Thanks,

 

Alasdair

[elaine]

I used to be an AFund Rep in Oregon. No luck with the Washington or OR volunteer reps, or no luck in contacting the main office in Colorado?

Jason Keith is a guy you can connect with - jason@accessfund.org or Amy Ansari - amy@accessfund.org. Both are at the main office in Colorado. The AF has a raptor management plan that you can get on line at their site, so they should / do want to be involved.

 

Back when I was a rep in 2008, there was a good discussion with WA State Parks and the USFS about Peregrines in particular. I hope you get the discussions and the results you want.

[stevetimetravlr]

Alasdair, just wonder the motivation behind such a ton of work and effort? Is this volunteer work or a job?

[Alasdair]

Alasdair, just wonder the motivation behind such a ton of work and effort? Is this volunteer work or a job?

I dont expect this to be a ton of work and effort, but I do expect it to be a little. It is purely a volunteer thing. The main motivation behind this stemmed from a fear that some biologists and land managers with birds at climbing areas have a real concern about climbers commitment to working with bird closures. I worked directly with Fish and Wildlife earlier this spring on some golden eagle nests and found that at least one washington nest has failed consistently for at least 5 years because of climbers in the area. If the climbers and the land managers had simply communicated a little better then this nest would probably have produced young. I am hoping to get a slightly better line of communication between the two groups so that some climbing areas dont get closed.

 

If anyone here lives in Spokane and would be willing to volunteer a day or two to post signs at a climbing area next spring please let me know.