Yosemite Peregrine Nesting Closure Updates

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JesseM

Social climber

Yosemite

Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 21, 2010 - 05:30pm PT

Based on peregrine falcon monitoring in the park the following revisions have been made to the nesting closures.

Thanks for your patience, and respect for the nesting space of these incredible birds!

Jesse McGahey
Climbing Ranger

Buju

Big Wall climber

the range of light

Jun 21, 2010 - 05:35pm PT

Thanks Jesse! Now we can go do Growing Up! (The first 3 pitches are under the snow still....)

karodrinker

Trad climber

San Jose, CA

Jun 21, 2010 - 05:44pm PT

Nice to see perigrine bans lifted when deemed no longer necessary. Unlike here at Summit Rock, which has maintained a closure for years now, all seasons. Thanks for the update, now we can all go climb Southern Belle!

nutjob

Trad climber

Berkeley, CA

Jun 21, 2010 - 06:02pm PT

Scuffy, show me the way on The Bin.

JesseM

Social climber

Yosemite

Topic Author's Reply - Jun 21, 2010 - 06:07pm PT

Last week we had a nesting closure violation at El Cap from a climber who stated that he knew there was a closure in effect in the area of the North America Wall, and decided it was OK for him to go since he didn't think he would actually bother the peregrines. The climber was rapping the entire face via basically the Atlantic Ocean Wall, and appeared to be scoping it out for a free variation.

Crystal, one of the peregrine monitors/wildlife employees was showing a group the peregrine nest when they saw the climber about 100 meters or so from the nest. They also observed an angry adult dive bombing him and displaying characteristic territorial nesting behavior. The chicks had not fledged yet, and easily could have been spooked off of the eyrie/nest. Fortunately that did not happen.

I met the individual at the base and cited him (gave him a ticket) for violating the closure. It could have been much worse for him, and I considered giving him a mandatory appearance (in court) citation.

In the four years I have been in this position this is the first time I have cited anyone for violating the peregrine nesting closures, and first time anyone has reported a climber violating the closure. I realize that climbers have gotten away with it before, but from my own observations this is very rare. I thank you all for your 99.99% compliance.

Please help spread the word and encourage your friends to protect these birds!

Jesse

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Jun 22, 2010 - 01:32pm PT

Hey, Jessee, how are you?
I got three speeding tickets before I realized my
speedometer is broken.

All the best,
Pat

pat_ament@live.com

Tony Bird

climber

Northridge, CA

Jun 22, 2010 - 02:57pm PT

a little common sense talk here about this and related issues.

i've encountered my share of nesting raptors in more than 30 years of rockclimbing. climbers really don't pose significant threats to these species, whose ready attacks generally establish a comfort zone for both. the danger to the peregrine was chemical pollution, and we live in a society where do-good rangers are spanking our fingers over nesting birds and cliffside endemic plants while industry is given carte blanche to spread HMOs throughout the biosphere without significant research, the same carte blanche that filled the environment with the DDT that decimated the peregrines, and the same carte blanche that allows endemic habitat to be taken out entirely for a golf course, but woe to the climber who drills a bolt in the wall.

if giving out tickets gives you your jollies, bud, take on the big boys. you won't get past the flunky security guard in the lobby.

Crimpergirl

Sport climber

Boulder, Colorado!

Jun 22, 2010 - 03:02pm PT

Thanks Jesse!

JEleazarian

Trad climber

Fresno CA

Jun 22, 2010 - 03:04pm PT

Thanks, Jesse.

Unlike the poster above Crimpie, I find the raptor closures a reasonable response -- indeed a need in the Valley. In particular, I greatly appreciate the continual updating so that the closures only affect active nesting areas. I, for one, find this the opposite of typical bureaucratic behavior. Thank you, and everyone else involved, for the good work.

John

Jingy

Social climber

Nowhere

Jun 22, 2010 - 03:11pm PT

Thanks for the update Jesse...

I promice to respect the closure... I assure you.

Mick K

climber

Northern Sierra

Jun 22, 2010 - 03:12pm PT

The citation was absolutely justified under the circumstances and if it appeared that the citation was not sufficient to deter future such violations by this person then a citation to appear would have been entirely appropriate.

Whether you agree with the closures or not, Blatant disregard of the lawful closures should result in such a response every time.

Tony Bird

climber

Northridge, CA

Jun 22, 2010 - 03:21pm PT

i'm trying to make it just a slightly bigger issue than climber A getting a ticket from ranger B to protect falcon C. what's the big picture for peregrines these days? they must be nesting all over the sierra, no?

the myth is the bottom line. this little pas de deux takes your eyes off what's really being done. i just watched a movie called "who killed the electric car". nobody got a ticket for the complete extermination of that species.

Barbarian

Trad climber

The great white north, eh?

Jun 22, 2010 - 03:41pm PT

"...tilting at the windmills passing..."

Tony Bird

climber

Northridge, CA

Jun 22, 2010 - 03:47pm PT

while we're all here, i'd like to know a little more about the behavior involved, if anyone can speak to it.

i've encountered peregrines, prairie falcons and barn owls at close range. i think that if the young have hatched, the birds will get defensive when you're at a distance. perhaps if they're incubating eggs they stick to the nest a little tighter. some seem to work in pairs, others solo. i once almost put my hand into a nest full of falcon chicks in a jamcrack, no idea they would be there, no defensive behavior. after we backed off that line and decided to climb another, both parents showed up and ministered to them--didn't seem too concerned about us. maybe they were carrying a recessive gene.

devil's punchbowl always seems to have hostile prairie falcons this time of year, a very close relative of the peregrine. they were never so endangered, there's no official protection, some climbers are braver than others and push them a little closer, i generally don't.

meanwhile the electric car is extinct, replaced with much more attractive hybrids which effectively kill a good idea that had tremendous support. and the wheat and corn we all eat are from miles of wide-open farmland were HMO species were introduced in nature without it ever having been an issue. i got nothing against the peregrines on el cap--just don't think we're protecting the environment quite as neatly as it's being done there.

Tony Bird

climber

Northridge, CA

Jun 22, 2010 - 03:51pm PT

and to spell it out for you guys, who are all thinking, oh, that doesn't mean we shouldn't at least do it there--it'll get the ball rolling--next year we'll probably protect another species ...

that ball will never roll.