Rule change proposed for Black Canyon

Focusing on backcountry experience

The National Park Service is considering a rule change in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Curecanti National Recreation Area that would limit guide assisted access to parts of the canyon’s inner core and restrict or require more planning for rock climbing in areas that require man-made objects, like bolts, to be left behind.

Park managers got into the Wilderness and Backcountry Management Plan and Environmental Assessment (EA) process more than two years ago to find a way of preserving the integrity of the parks’ backcountry and the backcountry experience of visitors. A final version of the EA was released to the public in August.
At the heart of the proposal is an emphasis on the “wilderness character” of the canyon’s inner core and areas throughout the parks, and a plan to bring more balance between public use of the wilderness and its preservation.
The proposal reads, “This Plan is needed because underlying trends, if not addressed in planning and management strategies, could result in [the] establishment of incompatible uses and entrenched harmful practices, which in turn could impact natural resources, quality visitor opportunities, and wilderness character.”
The term “wilderness character” appears dozens of times throughout the EA as a key piece of the National Park Service’s overall effort to preserve the Black Canyon and Curecanti.
“Wilderness Character” is defined as undeveloped in their  natural condition, “untrammeled by man,” and capable of providing visitors with “solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation.”
According to the EA, “Character is the core quality that captures the intent of Congress in park and wilderness legislation…” Preserving the character of the park, the plan says, means limiting certain types of public access.
Ken Stahlnecker, chief of resource stewardship and science at Black Canyon and Curecanti, says there are two parts of the plan that have drawn attention from the climbing community related to the way commercial backcountry permits are issued and how climbing hardware is installed in the inner canyon.
“The plan is based on the specific characteristics and desired conditions we’ve defined for the wilderness,” Stahlnecker says. “Self-reliance, particularly in the inner canyon area, is one of the desired conditions we want to manage for as it relates to commercial activities specific to this portion of wilderness.”
Self-reliance, as it is used in the management plan, is just what it sounds like and requires visitors to the Black Canyon backcountry to make it on their own, without the aid of a guide. The plan would also require climbers to get approval from the National Park Service before placing hardware on difficult ascents.
“With climbing, there are certain places down there you can’t do it safely without some sort of protection,” Stahlnecker says. “We’re not eliminating bolting; we’re suggesting that we track the amount of bolts that do go in down there,” Stahlnecker says.
He adds, “Climbers have done a really fine job of recognizing the character of the canyon area and only if they really need a piece of equipment will they place one.”
On the other hand, commercial climbing in the park will be finished, if the plan goes through unchanged. According to Stahlnecker, climbing has been the only commercially permitted activity in the inner canyon. Last year, 40 climbers went into the Black Canyon with guides, mostly during the spring and fall months, he said, which accounted for only about 3 percent of the climbing activity.   
So the plan suggests the National Park Service consider issuing permits for guided climbing inside Curecanti, but “are not allowed within Black Canyon NP to maintain and improve opportunities for challenge, self-reliance and adventure…”
Crested Butte Mountain Guides owner Jayson Simons-Jones admits he doesn’t run many guided trips into the canyon and points out, “The park doesn’t get a lot of traffic, period, which is why everyone’s surprised they’re trying to limit stuff here. It’s more really about the precedent they’re setting.”
He says if the National Park Service can limit commercial access to one of its lesser-visited parks, it can do the same thing in Yellowstone or Yosemite, which see many more visitors and support proportionately more guiding operations.
As far as Simons-Jones knows, the proposed plan is the first time the Park Service has interpreted commercial use in a way that is against the commercial interests of guides taking the public into the parks. In fact, he says, the trend has been to open some of the nation’s most exceptional places to more guiding.
Stahlnecker denies that the plan will affect the way other national parks and recreation areas are managed. It deals only, he says, with the wilderness resources at Curecanti and Black Canyon.
“And what they’re suggesting would affect more than just guides,” Simons-Jones says. “It would also have an impact on general use by the public, whether they climb, fish or hike.”
See the proposed plan at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=33&projectID=16726&documentID=43196. Public comment will be collected until October 27. Once all of the comments have been collected and reviewed, Stahlnecker says, changes can be made to the plan before its finalized.