As the Access Fund approaches its sixth birthday, we're convening our board of directors in June for a Strategic Planning session, Access Fund 2000, to review our past accomplishments and project goals and benchmarks for the future. The Access Fund is committed to being the country's most effective, best-run, and most broadly supported climbers advocacy group, and the development of a Strategic Plan will help us continue and expand the impressive track record we've established.
In every area of climber advocacy we've had remarkable success. We've spent over $100,000 on land acquisitions. We've succeeded in guiding the bolting issue to a rational level, and believe that we can develop management guidelines that will preserve both natural resources and climber safety and freedoms. We've worked hard to build lasting relationships with the environmental community. We've built trails, paid for parking areas, composting toilets, and trailhead signs, and devoted resources to climber education and enhancing our role as the national clearinghouse for climbing information.
Common to all of these successes is local climber activism. When local climbers take responsibility for their needs and resources, all climbers benefit. The Access Fund dedicates a portion of our projects budget each year to supporting local climber organizations and projects. Climber activism is community service: it's good for the environment, it's good for the people we share the land with, and it's good for the future of climbing.
Many local climber organizations (LCOs) already exist. Some have been around for decades, while others are in their infancy. In recent months a number of LCOs have achieved great things with the help of the Access Fund, and provide examples of what is possible when a few climbers come together to work on common concerns.
In the arena of land management and climbing policy, the Wichita Mountains Access Association in Oklahoma shines brightly. WMAA has turned a desperate access problem-proposed closure of the entire Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge to climbing-into a model of climber-land manager cooperation. Other LCOs are working on Climbing Management Plans being prepared for national parks and other public lands. Friends of Joshua Tree continues to play an important role as Joshua Tree National Park develops its Backcountry Management Plan. In previous years, FOJT led the fight to save desert tortoise habitat and to develop resource-based standards for climbing management.
Friends of Pinnacles is working closely with Pinnacles National Monument in California as it prepares its Wilderness Management Plan. Friends of Devils Tower and the Black Hills Climbers Coalition helped prepare the Climbing Management Plan for Devils Tower National Monument.
Local climber organizations are the front line for climbers at a number of areas currently closed to climbing or threatened with access problems. The Pennsylvania Mountaineering Association continues to support efforts to acquire Safe Harbor. The Rifle Climbers Coalition is working to address climbing impact issues at Rifle Canyon in Colorado, where the narrow canyon and limited camping and parking sometimes put climbers in conflict with other visitors. And the Watauga High Country Land Trust refuses to be daunted in its efforts to save the boulders of Howard's Knob in North Carolina.
Service projects are the best way for LCOs to help protect climbing resources and foster a better public image for climbers. The Rumney Climbers Association helped the Access Fund buy the Rumney property last year in a cooperative deal with the White Mountains National Forest. Since then, the RCA has built a new parking area, a new trail and installed a climbers' Port-o-let.
The newly formed Friends of Seneca Rocks is providing volunteer labor and funding for trail-restoration at that area in West Virginia. The Southern Illinois Climbers Alliance installed a trailhead bulletin board at Jackson Falls, Illinois, and will help the Shawnee National Forest improve the parking area. Local climbers have been doing annual cleanups at Smith Rocks in Oregon for years, while at Peshatin Pinnacles they've been building trails this spring.
As Access Fund 2000 takes shape, we ask our members to join us in looking ahead. Climbing will keep growing in popularity, producing more pressure on limited rock resources. The Access Fund and local climber organizations will continue to build strong ties with land managers, foster a more positive public image for climbers, and gather the human and financial resources to affect the future of climbing. Your time and support are crucial in helping us make a difference.