Dear HCN,
One climbing bolt the
size of my finger, left on a rock face, is not the problem. One
load of lead pellets, shot over a marsh, is not the problem. The
problem is the cumulative debris of climbing bolts (and lead shot),
and of over-use which permanently and cumulatively scars the
landscape (HCN, 8/17/98). Hunters have long accepted restrictions
on what they do, recognizing that without strict and substantial
seasonal limitations, without limitations on their weapons and
methods, they would lose forever what they enjoy
most.
Other recreational users of our public
lands need to come to terms with the same reality. I don’t like it
any more than the next person; but there are so many of us that our
uses need to be restricted. Certain streams need to be closed to
certain methods of fishing, but not all of them. Certain ecosystems
need to be largely closed to some types of hunting, but not all of
them. Some trails need to be off limits to ATVs and to mountain
bikes and similar high-impact forms of travel, but not all of them.
Now it seems that some rock faces need to be off limits to certain
styles of climbing, but not all of them.
This is
all about balance. We must balance and limit our activities, both
voluntarily and by regulation, in such a way that we do not
overwhelm and destroy the limited resources which make our activity
possible. As someone once said, the national parks are for
everyone, but not for everyone all at once. The same can be said of
other aspects of our natural world.
We need a
“voluntary inefficiency,” someone else said, in the way we go about
things. Taking fish with a poison applied to the water is certainly
more efficient than with a hook and line. Traveling a trail on an
ATV is more efficient than on foot. Climbing a rock face with bolts
and plates and whatever else we can invent is certainly more
efficient than without them. But just because it is faster, or more
economical, or more efficient, does not make it
better.
Let’s do
better.
David L.
Rasmussen
Salt Lake City,
Utah
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Climbing bolts are a symptom.
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