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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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this one keeps me awake at night. but worry about GMOs being planted wholesale by industrial farmers and affecting the worldwide environment? sleep tight!
My sentiments exactly. Climbing almost certainly has negative impacts. But to ban or restrict climbing while logging/mining/subdividing/paving goes on uninterrupted just below seems pretty stupid.
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sempervirens
climber
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Tony and Ghost, some comparisons to other environmental and ecological issues can be useful. But IMO your comparisons to GMO's,logging and mining are not. They really are separate issues and policy makers would see your comments as a weak attempt to obfuscate (IMO again). They'd file your comments without bothering to laugh.
What would be your (or our) objective here? To find a way to deal with the issue or to find a reason to dismiss it. I doubt the National Park Service will dismiss the issue. How do you suppose a judge would consider your argument..."mining and logging are so bad that climbing is benign". The connection just isn't there.
No lack of information with Ed Hartouni around here. Thanks Ed.
Everything we do has an impact, often negative and positive at the same time. Ecological restoration has negative impacts; even conserving rare plants has an impact. Imagine you conduct an underburn to enhance the habitat, you might kill a few plants; or you collect some seeds to plant a new population but that reduces reproduction at the original site; or you might have to remove some trees to give a rare plant more light. I think you're getting my point. Which has been said above, "knowledge is power".
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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healyje's OP got me started on a bibliography project I've been intending to execute for a while: creating a list of references from the scientific literature on cliff ecosystems. The set I'm posting here relate to climbing, but I'll expand it to include other studies not related to climber impact.
My idea was to start to understand the environment that we are a part of when we climb, and to begin the process of getting climbers to think about those places as special, unique biomes. I'm not advocating for a ban of climbing by law, but for an increased understanding leading to more appropriate conduct by the participants of our sport.
There are few things we can do to make things better by our individual action. Understanding the cliff ecosystems and modifying our behaviors just might be one of them.
An example of think globally and act locally.
Not considering how we could improve our own use of precious resources certainly raises serious questions about the legitimacy of our other environmental concerns.
More references to come later...
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Brandon-
climber
Done With Tobacco
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Thanks, Ed. That's a lot of selfless work.
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Branscomb
Trad climber
Lander, WY
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Apogee has a very good point about gov agencies using these reports as a pretext for more regulation of climbing.
I bet the people who have the attitude of 'so the f*#k what' about tiny plants on cliffs probably get totally worked about the disappearance of rain forests, like there isn't any equivalence when you stomp out a group of plants that have very specific ecological requirements living on cliffs vs chopping down a rain forest.
In view of these points, a possible tool for government to regulate as well as that ever-nebulous set of ideas about human responsibility to all the other critters that are here with us, it's a good idea to leave things as much as possible untouched.
Another point is that there are probably plants and little animals living on cliffs that have not been formally observed in a scientific manner. Kristi identified a rock plant on the dolomite in Sinks Canyon a few years ago that was not known to grow in this area. So, it's possible that by just ripping those things out wholesale, you're not only destroying these little micro-environments, but also taking away from knowledge about the habits of these little things.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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But IMO your comparisons to GMO's,logging and mining are not. They really are separate issues and policy makers would see your comments as a weak attempt to obfuscate (IMO again). They'd file your comments without bothering to laugh.
I think you missed the point. I wasn't saying anything about arguing in front of judges, and I certainly wasn't obfuscating. What I was doing (and I expect this is true for Tony as well), was expressing frustration.
Why you thought I was presenting this as an argument to be put in front of policy makers is not clear.
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Branscomb
Trad climber
Lander, WY
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That's an interesting value judgement, that somehow the 'few' plants on a rock face are somehow not as important as the plants in a rain forest.
None of it is right, whether the egotistical gain of climbing or the economic gain of logging, but to somehow say that one is more important than the other, only leads to a rationalization that the destruction of what is considered of lesser importance is okay.
It's an easy way out of reponsibility. It's a common logical process used extensively in our civilization to rationalize the elimination of whatever is not convenient to our gratification.
And I'm not some f*#king saint myself, I have certainly wiped out one hell of a lot plants and animals cleaning new routes. I'm just saying that we need to analyze our thoughts on this and be more mindful in our actions in the future.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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It doesn't necessarily matter whether we think it's important, or not. Others do, or are at least sometimes able to persuade decision-makers that it's important.
Identifying and managing environmental impacts from climbing is going to be increasingly important, whether on vegetation, birds, from waste disposal, or otherwise. And managing expectations too.
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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SOme of the studies out there are bad science.
Land managers often use bad science to keep the public off the land so they have less recreation to manage.
Case in point - the rare daisy that keeps part of Beacon Rock closed. We asked for information about the range of the daisy. Answer - unknown. We asked to get a picture/description and survey other formation in the Gorge to see if it was truly as rare as they thought. Answer - no. SO we don't know what it looks like and no one has looked at other formations to see if it is rare or quite common iin the Gorge.
There is also research that shows bolt anchors preserve cliff top vegetation. However, there is great reluctance for many land managers to use this as a tool for preserving the ancient junipers and other trees on cliffs.
I have no problem conserving the environment. I have a big problem with red herrings designed to keep me indoors.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Bolt anchors as a tool for preserving ancient junipers... can you help me out here? I am having some difficulty envisioning how bolts can be used this way. Can you perhaps outline a scenario?
A tool primarily used on relatively short cliffs, which are fairly common. Those that are mostly one pitch climbs. The shrubberies are at or near the edge at the top of the cliff. The belay/rappel/lower anchors are placed a bit below that level, so that climbers don't disturb vegetation, rocks, soils etc at the top.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Bolt anchors as a tool for preserving ancient junipers... can you help me out here?
The juniper may not need bolts to protect it, but the trail from the juniper across the cliff-top, and back down to the base may.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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http://www.geo.wvu.edu/~pclark/Articles/nuzzo1995_Effects%20of%20Rock%20Climbing%20on%20Cliff%20Goldenrod.pdf
Effects of Rock Climbing on Cliff Goldenrod (Solidago sciaphila Steele) in Northwest Illinois
VICTORIA A. NUZZO
American Midland Naturalist 133:229-241 (1995)
ABSTRACT.-Solidago sciaphila is an endemic goldenrod, restricted to dolomite or sandstone cliffs in and near the driftless region of the upper Midwest. A demographic study of 544 genets on currently climbed, previously climbed and unclimbed dolomitic cliffs in NW Illinois indicated that position on the cliff face was the most significant factor affecting growth. Seventy percent of all plants grew within 3 m of the cliff top, an area that comprised only 18% of the cliff face. Within the upper cliff zone, rock climbing significantly reduced Solidago density. Cliffs that were actively climbed had few genets in the upper 3 m, averaging 3.2/m², while unclimbed cliffs and cliffs not climbed for 2 yr supported 14.2/m² and 12.0/m², respectively. Basal area/m² and flowering ramet production/m² were significantly lower, and inflorescence length nonsignificantly lower, on currently climbed cliffs, due to the lower genet density. In the lower cliff zone (>3 m from the top) genet density was low (0.2-2.1/m²) on all cliffs, regardless of climbing intensity. On climbed cliffs > 50% of flowering ramets were broken, significantly more than the 15% broken on unclimbed cliffs. Broken flowering ramets produced 22% of total inflorescence length on the currently climbed cliffs (compared to <5% on unclimbed and previously climbed cliffs), resulting in total inflorescence production statistically similar to, but lower than, that on unclimbed and previously climbed cliffs. Two years after cessation of climbing, Solidago in the upper zone of the previously climbed cliffs had similarly high density, basal area, ramet production and inflorescence production as on unclimbed cliffs. Climbing appeared to skew the population structure, favoring survival of large flowering genets and inhibiting survival of smaller nonflowering genets. This difference largely disappeared on cliffs unclimbed for 2 yr. To protect Solidago sciaphila, it is necessary to protect the entire cliff face, with highest priority given to the upper 3 m.
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R.B.
Big Wall climber
Land of the Lahar
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Studies are great, but don't compare them without all the facts.
One fact with vegetation is ... the direction or aspect of the cliff to the sun. Obviously a plant species that has an intolerance to shade will not do well in the shade and visa ve.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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http://sev.lternet.edu/~jnekola/nekola%20pdf/jb-27-319-331.pdf
Evidence for the widespread occurrence of ancient forests on cliffs
D. W. Larson, U. Matthes, A. Gerrath, N. W. K. Larson, M. Gerrath, J. C. Nekola, G. L. Walker, S. Porembski and A. Charlton
Journal of Biogeography, 27, 319-331, 2000
Introduction
The conversion of natural self-regenerating forest into sites that provide goods and services for people (Vitousek, 1994) has been relentless over the past century. A high priority for ecologists and conservationists has been to find and protect sites that represent the best examples of ancient refuge ecological systems under natural controls (Whitney, 1987; Hunter, 1989). In North America work has been done to locate and protect the remaining stands of old-growth forest (Findley, 1990; Davis, 1996), especially ones with a very wide spectrum of age classes, and a consistent assemblage of associated understorey species. Similar projects have been carried out in Europe (Spencer & Kirby, 1992; Peterken, 1996; Wulf, 1997) and recent work using radiocarbon-dating methods have identified the location of ancient woodland in Amazonia (Chambers et al., 1998). One of the problems in the identification and protection of such forest is that the current search image for old-growth (or virgin) forest is dominated by visions of large diameter tall trees with a complex multilayered understorey (Stahle, 1996a, 1996b). Such forests exist in large tracts in the western parts of temperate North America (Findley, 1990), in many parts of tropical Central and South America (Villalba, 1990; Stahle & Cleaveland, 1993), and elsewhere as a small number of isolated stands (Peterken, 1996), but there is no ecological reason why ancient woodland or forest should necessarily have this form. For example, it is well known from the work of Edmund Schulman (Schulman, 1954) that stunted and widely space bristlecone pine (Pinus tongaeva Bailey) occurs as a forest type at high altitudes in California & Nevada, U.S.A. and Stahle & Chaney (1994) have shown that ancient stunted oak woodland in Arkansas (U.S.A.) only occurs in remote or rocky areas that deterred commercial exploitation of trees by people.
Recently it has been shown that some of the least disturbed and most temporally stable refuge woodlands in all of North America occur as stunted forests on vertical limestone cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, southern Ontario, Canada (Larson & Kelly, 1991; Kelly et al., 1994; Larson & Melville, 1996; Kelly & Larson, 1997). As with other remnant stands of ancient forest, these areas were not exploited commercially by people. The cliff forests are dominated by Thuja occidentalis L. (eastern white cedar) that can reach 1890 years of age. The coarse woody debris in these cliff forests can persist for 4000 years or more (Larson & Melville, 1996). When trees are randomly sampled over large geographical scales smooth negative exponential age distributions typical of undisturbed old-growth forests have been found (Larson & Kelly, 1991; Kelly & Larson, 1997). Disturbance from humans is absent or very site specific despite the proximity of a densely populated industrial/agricultural landscape. Sporadic rockfall is the main natural disturbance but much of the rock is Silurian-aged dolomitic limestone and very stable. The understorey of such cliff forests has a disturbance-intolerant vegetation and faunal community that displays a large number of species that are either highly restricted to the cliffs, or completely endemic to them (Larson et al., 1989; Nuzzo, 1995; Matthes-Sears et al., 1997; Nekola, 1999). While these results confirm the prediction by Stahle & Chaney (1994) and Therrell & Stahle (1998) that unproductive rocky landscapes will support the best local examples of ancient forest, there have been few larger-scale tests of the hypothesis as it applies to cliffs. Larson et al. (1999) have recently presented evidence that age and growth rate frequency distributions were the same for trees on North American to European cliffs, but few additional details were provided in that work.
Here we present the results of an investigation that addresses the question 'To what degree do partly wooded cliffs in the temperate zone support ancient forest, and what habitat variables such as cliff height, rock type, aspect, and exposure influence the age and growth rate structures?'. To answer these questions, cliffs were visited and trees sampled in five countries. A cursory examination was also made of the local flora, the presence of seedling recruitment, coarse woody debris, and disturbance from human and livestock activities. The results were then compared with those already obtained for the cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment. We predicted that if cliffs generally support ancient woodland, then such sampling would reveal the same right-hand side of the negative exponential age distribution previously described for cliff forests of the Niagara Escarpment. We also predicted that such cliffs would support seedlings, saplings, and coarse woody debris of the same trees forming the forest.
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The extent of ancient forests on cliffs
The results of the present research show that conventional ideas about the magnitude of remaining old-growth forest need to be modified. Despite the limited, nonrandom, and broad-scale sampling involved here when compared with the intensive sampling that we have done on the cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment (Larson & Kelly, 1991; Kelly et al., 1992, 1994; Kelly & Larson, 1997), the present results show features that are similar to what we have described before and very different from the surrounding level-ground forests that are commonly plantations in western Europe and second growth conifer or deciduous forest in North America. Old, exceptionally slow-growing, deformed, and widely spaced trees are found growing from cracks, crevices and solution pockets on most of the cliffs sampled. There is a common perception that aspect and shading have a large impact on the ecology of organisms that live on rock, but from these results we must conclude that cliff height, aspect, rock-type, and shading may have little influence on the age and growth-rate structure of these ancient woodlands. We must conclude that the ecologically important factor that governs the appearance of such forests is simply the presence of vertical rock that restricts fire and limits access by humans and their livestock. In the landscapes surrounding all of the cliffs sampled, intense human use, livestock grazing, and fire were evident and coarse woody debris was largely absent. In contrast, the cliffs showed no signs of human or animal use other than recreational rock climbing, no sign of fire, and an abundance of in situ coarse woody debris. In addition the vegetation community on the cliffs in different regions contains plants in many of the same genera, and even some individual species consistently recurred at many sites. We conclude that cliffs are refuge sites that support ancient forests in many temperate locations on the earth and this conclusion is consistent with the ideas of Davis (1951). Wardle (1991) and Ellenberg (1988) have observed that between 40 and 60% of the remaining endemic taxa in New Zealand and central Europe, respectively, are restricted to refuge sites on steep slopes or cliffs, and our results add significantly to these conclusions by showing precisely how old and undisturbed some of these sites can be.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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R.B. did you read what was posted? I think most of these studies take into account various factors, e.g. the last post above...
"...There is a common perception that aspect and shading have a large impact on the ecology of organisms that live on rock, but from these results we must conclude that cliff height, aspect, rock-type, and shading may have little influence on the age and growth-rate structure of these ancient woodlands. We must conclude that the ecologically important factor that governs the appearance of such forests is simply the presence of vertical rock that restricts fire and limits access by humans and their livestock..."
I know it is a lot to ask of you all to actually read the whole thing...
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1997.96248.x/abstract
Effects of Rock Climbing on Populations of Presettlement Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) on Cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, Canada
P. E. Kelly, D. W. Larson
Conservation Biology Volume 11, Issue 5, pages 1125–1132, October 1997
Cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment support a self-sustaining presettlement forest of eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis L.) in which some trees are over 1000 years old. Many of the cliffs are also popular locations for recreational rock climbing. Our study employed a stratified random sampling design to assess the impact of rock climbing on populations of cliff-face and cliff-edge trees. Tree density and age structure were compared between four climbed and three unclimbed sites in the vicinity of Milton, Ontario. Signs of physical damage were also recorded for the trees sampled at each site. The results showed that living tree density on the cliff face was lower in climbed areas. The age structures of these forests showed that the numbers of older and younger age classes have been reduced on climbed cliff faces compared with unclimbed areas. A high percentage of trees on climbed cliff faces showed evidence of damage by humans. These trends were not as apparent on cliff edges where other disturbances have affected age structure. We recommend that cliff faces be explored for the presence of presettlement forest and that recreation managers of lands with exposed cliff faces incorporate rock climbing considerations into their management plans. Monitoring programs would help track levels of disturbance. Education of the climbing community would be the most effective long-term solution to limiting disturbance in sensitive areas.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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http://www.geo.wvu.edu/~pclark/Articles/farris%20et%20al%201998%20part1.pdf
The effects of rock climbing on the vegetation of three Minnesota cliff systems
Michael A. Farris
Canadian Journal of Botany 76, 1981 (1998)
Abstract: I quantified the distribution and abundance of major plant taxa on three distinct cliff systems in Minnesota and examined the effects of recreational rock climbing on that vegetation. The three cliff systems differed significantly in the amount and type of vegetation present in undisturbed plots. Frequencies of most taxa were lower in climbed areas, although the differences were generally not significant. Total plant cover was significantly lower in climbed plots al all three locations. Fragile forms, such as umbilicate and fruticose lichens, were especially sensitive to human disturbance. The microtopography of the rock substrate had a significant impact on both the amount of vegetation present and the use of a cliff area by climbers. Cracks in the rock were significantly more common in climbed areas while ledges were less common. Microtopography also varied with the technical difficulty of the climbing route. While human impact decreased vegetation frequency and cover on these cliffs. identification of causal links between human disturbance and vegetation structure must include a careful assessment of the geological and environmental factors that strongly influence both human use and vegetation dynamics.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/20083180212.html;jsessionid=6791388C5F2F086AE34F5CF178D734B8
Effects of anthropogenic disturbance on the vegetation of granitic and gneissic rock outcrops ('inselbergs') in West Africa.
Porembski, S.
Nova Hedwigia, Beiheft 2007 No. 131 pp. 237-246
Abstract
Inselbergs are isolated rock outcrops frequently consisting of granite or gneiss, and are widespread on the old crystalline continental shields. Due to harsh environmental conditions (i.e. lack of soil and water, high temperatures) their vegetation is markedly different from that of their surroundings. Typical is a specific set of habitat types such as cryptogamic crusts, monocotyledonous mats, rock pools, ephemeral flush vegetation and these are characterized by a distinct species inventory. Throughout the tropical and temperate zones, negative human impacts on inselbergs have increased dramatically over the past decades. Of particular importance have been fire, quarrying and tourism, all of which have led to the complete destruction of numerous inselbergs in many parts of the world. In order to assess the consequences of human activities, a specific habitat (Afrotrilepis pilosa-mats) was compared on disturbed and relatively undisturbed inselbergs situated in the savanna zone of Ivory Coast over a period of 10 years. The data show considerable differences in both species and life-form composition of the flora. Disturbed inselbergs were characterized by higher species numbers and diversity, as well as by a larger percentage of annuals, whereas inselbergs-specific species became locally extinct. Increased species richness on disturbed inselbergs was due to weedy species which were able to become established following anthropogenic fires. Observations from other tropical regions indicate that most inselbergs-specific vegetation types are also highly sensitive to human disturbance and are particularly susceptible to weedy species.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Ed, have you sent this information to the Access Fund? Probably no news to them, but perhaps you've found something new, and in any case they might appreciate having it.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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we humans have a very short life span compared to a tree that might have grown on some cliff for hundreds or maybe even a thousand years... for the most part we are unaware of this. Our actions with regard to the trees are different, I think, if we know the possibility that we are in the presence of an ancient being, then if we think that weedy pine is only 10 years old.
The trees are actually charismatic compared to the duff, and "weeds" that seem to grow around, or the lichen and moss... we don't think it so special, but we don't know.
All I do here is to start the process of thinking of the consequences of our actions, like cutting trees down. Squamish may be a unique place in that the old growth forests still exist, and the cliffs are not yet the last refuge of a long passed flora and fauna that they are in so many other places of the world. But in one sense, everywhere was like Squamish at some time in the past... what you have to ask is will it change?
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