Comment from Chris Braund

I have been a climber for over 30 years and have been blessed to climb in many areas of national parks or forests, from my home in the Carolinas to the Tetons, Yosemite, Eastern Sierras, the Cascades and the Olympics. I have worked in local government land management and served on the boards of land conservancies and climber advocacy organizations. I believe that effective stewardship of natural resources is a combination of accessibility, safety, individual autonomy and resource protection. I applaud USFS for recognizing that climbing is an appropriate Wilderness activity and for allowing fixed anchors, a critical part of the climbing safety system, in both Wilderness and non-Wilderness lands. I also appreciate that the draft permits discretionary use of fixed anchors based on Climbing Management Plans (CMPs), provided the anchors are unlikely to affect natural or cultural resources. I support that the draft names education and collaboration with Local Climbing Organizations (LCOs) as key management tools. The draft is unclear on how the CMP process will be drafted, adopted, and will work in practice, particularly around the many nuances of fixed anchor placement and replacement.. Our Local Climbing Organization currently has a great relationship with all Forest Districts in my region, which gives me confidence this policy can be implemented collaboratively. But the details of how and when the CMP is initiated, and how the collaborative process needs to unfold is unclear in this draft policy. It's similarly unclear how new routing and anchor replacement should be handled in areas without an existing CMP. I urge USFS to be more clear on the CMP- creation process and expectations for collaboration with LCOs, line officers, and local climbers. I applaud the USFS for including climbing approach trails as eligible for review and potential addition to the USFS trail system. This is critical for rescue egress and sustainability of approach trails and staging areas in our heavily used climbing areas. I applaud the continued use of collaboration, stewardship, outreach to Local Climbing Organizations, and education as tools for fixed anchor policy within future climbing management plans.