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Abstract |
Rock climbing has grown to be a major recreational sport in the United States. Yet, resource degradation caused by recreational rock climbing has become a controversial issue throughout the United States (Access Fund 1999). Some resource agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management are struggling to establish functional management policies that allow appropriate rock climbing practices while protecting the natural resource (Devine 2001). Resource managers tend to favor restriction of climbing activities to protect the resource. Yet, without adequate understanding of rock climbing, this approach can become controversial. A less controversial approach toward rock climbing influences on natural resources can be to include the rock climbing community in management planning. The result can be increased protection of the resource while allowing recreational climbing to continue (Hynek 1999). In an effort to address both public recreational needs and to protect the natural resource of Shovel Point, a popular rock climbing site in Tettegouche State Park on the edge of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota, USA, a study was conducted during the summer of 1998 to identify types of recreational users, impacts from their use behaviors, and to survey climber attitudes toward a proposed management plan that would influence climbing on the site. The results of this study were implemented into a long range management plan that has resulted in modified climber impact on the environment and allows a rehabilitation of the site that is hoped to preserve the unique natural resource. Innovative vegetative rehabilitation of the climbing site has been successfully implemented. This is an excellent example of positive conflict resolution through research, management through public participation, and resource rehabilitation and protection. |
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