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TM
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 1, 2006 - 07:19pm PT
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Williamson Rock is CLOSED TO CLIMBING! Southern California's most popular Summer Sport Climbing Crag is Closed.
For those who have not heard...
The US Forest Service (FS) has issued a temporary closure of Williamson Rock (WR) to climbing. The closure is based on protecting the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog (MYLF) an endangered species, over which the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) has jurisdiction. The FS has been urged by the USFWS to close WR and sections of the Pacific Crest Trail to avoid any impacts until a comprehensive plan has been established. Any plan will be pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. Although the MYLF habitat lies in the general area of WR, there is no evidence that climbing in has negatively affected the MYLF population.
FoWR was formed to act as a liaison with the FS and USFWS, work toward the reopening of Williamson Rock to climbing and to manage any other related climber projects. FoWR has met with the FS several times and opened a dialog with the FS. The FS has suggested a path toward re-opening WR to climbing. However, the mandated procedures are both lengthy and complicated and the soonest we can hope for re-opening would be Summer 2007.
FoWR wishes to stress that while Williamson Rock is closed, entering the area or climbing at WR is a violation of Federal law, which could result in imprisonment, a $5,000 fine or both. Perhaps just as important, failure of climbers to respect the temporary closure could irreparable damage to current climber/agency relations and any hope of re-opening the area again. FoWR is working to increase awareness among climbers of the situation.
FoWR's most recent meeting with the FS was on May 8, 2006. As a result of this meeting, FoWR is proceeding with a proposal which, it is hoped, will lead to the eventual lifting of the closure of this very popular sport climbing area. For more information and to join FoWR please goto:
Troy Mayr
FoWR
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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At least it is (ostensibly) to benefit a real frog, and not wannabe indian chest thumping.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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By 2050 Warming to Doom Million Species, Study Says
John Roach
for National Geographic News
Updated July 12, 2004
By 2050, rising temperatures exacerbated by human-induced belches of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could send more than a million of Earth's land-dwelling plants and animals down the road to extinction, according to a recent study.
"Climate change now represents at least as great a threat to the number of species surviving on Earth as habitat-destruction and modification," said Chris Thomas, a conservation biologist at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
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Thomas is the lead author of the study published earlier this year in the science journal Nature. His co-authors included 18 scientists from around the world, making this the largest collaboration of its type.
Townsend Peterson, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and one of the study's co-authors, said the paper allows scientists for the first time to "get a grip" on the impact of climate change as far as natural systems are concerned.
"A lot of us are in this to start to get a handle on what we are talking about," he said. "When we talk about the difference between half a percent and one percent of carbon dioxide emissions what does that mean?"
The researchers worked independently in six biodiversity-rich regions around the world, from Australia to South Africa, plugging field data on species distribution and regional climate into computer models that simulated the ways species' ranges are expected to move in response to temperature and climate changes.
"We later met and decided to pool results to produce a more globally relevant look at the issue," said Lee Hannah, a climate change biologist with Conservation International's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science in Washington, D.C.
Study Results
According to the researchers' collective results, the predicted range of climate change by 2050 will place 15 to 35 percent of the 1,103 species studied at risk of extinction. The numbers are expected to hold up when extrapolated globally, potentially dooming more than a million species.
"These are first-pass estimates, but they put the problem in the right ballpark … I expect more detailed studies to refine these numbers and to add data for additional regions, but not to change the general import of these findings," said Hannah.
Writing in an accompanying commentary to the study in Nature, J. Alan Pounds of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica, and Robert Puschendorf, a biologist at the University of Costa Rica, say these estimates "might be optimistic."
As global warming interacts with other factors such as habitat-destruction, invasive species, and the build up of carbon dioxide in the landscape, the risk of extinction increases even further, they say.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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What about the orange bugs on Suicide Rock. I bet they are endangered?
Really.
Juan
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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No. The orange bugs are safe. They are everywhere I want to sit in St. Louis. Ew.
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Brock
Trad climber
RENO, NV
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Damn, I always looked forward to my noontime break from climbing at Williamson and cooking up some high protein Frog legs...TASTE LIKE CHICKEN.
Guess the Valley is next.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville
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"Guess the Valley is next."
This statement ain't so far off base.
The amount of land being proposed for "critical habitat" by the Department of fish and game to save the yellow legged mountain frog is HUGE.
This species is dying off due to UV radiation caused by ozone depletion, Fungal infestation, poisoning from pestisides and the effects of global warming.
Not too many frogs getting killed by hikers or climbers.
This is the same type of bureaucratic bullshit that shut down the California desert to off road racing in the 80's.
Scene 1 take 4
Hollywood B-list actor gets behind a save the critter movemnent, local politician sees a chance to make good and proposes bill to save said critter from the evil climber, backpacker, desert racer, etc..
Bill cruises along and gets support from treehuggers and other evomental cases. Bill passes and your desert, climbing area, or other recreational land is off limits to your like.
Every place we go has an endagered critter. Maybe we should all just stay home. But wait, that won't help as we ain't the ones killing them off in the first place.
Whatever the case, I will miss Jtree when Morgan Fairchild decides to save the sandflies...
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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It really is total bullsh#t.
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MikeL
climber
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AIUI,
. . .the FS has closed WR to protect the MYLF, and the USFWS and NEPA concur? Does that affect the PCT?
WFT!
IMHO, the FoWR's writing needs a little TLC.
ROTFL and LMAO.
CU and bfn,
ML
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Hummerchine
climber
Wenatchee, WA
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I try, I REALLY try, to not get too worked up on the forums. But man, is this frog thing just about the biggest bunch of crap you have ever heard? I have never been to Williamson, but am psyched to go. I certainly hope they open it up soon. There are way too many climbing areas closed each year due to some creature, personally I think they are all BS. I refuse to beleive that climbers have any significant impact on any species, period. At this rate, all areas will be closed to climbing, because all areas have creatures that live there.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
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They've used fire potential to keep the place closed from September through December (SoCal's fire season) so this closure really doesn't suprise me. Seems like they've been looking for ways to keep people out of there and this is another convenient reason.
Fattrad you a soooo bad!! :)
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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The PCT is closed through the area. You have to hike on the closed Hwy 2 to get through the area. Total BS. It's funny ho a vocal minority has so much power.
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Chaz
Trad climber
So. Cal.
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Fish And Game needs to be careful they don't kill the Golden Goose by closing Public Lands. Why would people want to pay taxes to support Public Land Managers if The Public is denied access to Public Land?
Fish And Game, Department Of The Interior, and The Department Of Forestry are in the Public Land Business. Public Land loses all it's value when it is no longer Public.
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jt
Trad climber
joshua tree, ca
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Hopefully DP will stay away from this crag and not give the powers that be, a reason to make this a permanent closure.
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Chaz
Trad climber
So. Cal.
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At Lake Perris, on the other side of the lake from Big Rock, there are signs all over saying "Favor usar Banos", which tells the Mexicans "don't piss in the lake".
Funny there are no English signs saying that.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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Yeah, everyday Southern Cali turns more to sh#t.
California is like the Titanic and we hit that berg an Hour ago.
Juan
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MikeL
climber
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Stupid me. I bumped this back up with a tongue-in-cheek response that sarcastically emphasized the use of acronyms and gobbleygook language as the initiator of this thread used . . . thinking that if there was such an interest in "moot" vs. "mute" in another thread, that people would get the joke. Ha: the joke was on me. I guess there's no joking when when the topic is no joke.
MikeL
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crusher
climber
Santa Monica, CA
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Let's not forget that they've also now made the Adventure Pass thing a law.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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What exactly do you mean law?
Juan
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