Interactions Between Minnesota Rock Climbers and State Park Staff: Toward What End?
2022-06
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Interactions Between Minnesota Rock Climbers and State Park Staff: Toward What End?
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2022-06
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Abstract
The growing popularity of rock-climbing is raising concern about the increased impact to
the cliff environment. Leave No Trace has served as the prevailing minimum impact
messaging to outdoor recreationists and has been well received and promoted within the
rock-climbing community. However, there are several inherent limitations to the
effectiveness of this message toward protecting the cliff-environment. Additionally, the
literature is scarce on how climbers have gone beyond leave no trace and contributed to
conservation related efforts at climbing sites. The purpose of this study was to determine
the extent to which Minnesota rock climbers and state park staff have collaborated on
cliff-related conservation efforts. To address this, two survey instruments were used
including semi-structured interviews with leaders from local climbing organizations and
current state park staff, and a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to members
of the Minnesota climbing community. This study found that there are several distinct
historical and current examples of Minnesota climbers and state park staff collaborating
on cliff-related conservation efforts. Additionally, all groups indicated interest in working
together on these types of efforts in the future and provided examples of ways to work
together moving forward. This study highlights the evolving relationship between
Minnesota climbers and state park staff, which provides more opportunities for novel
ways of working together to protect the cliff environment.
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A Field Project submitted to the faculty of the University of Minnesota by Steve Gebhard in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Environmental Education, June 2022. This item has been modified from the original to redact the signature present.
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Gebhard, Steven D. (2022). Interactions Between Minnesota Rock Climbers and State Park Staff: Toward What End?. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/228071.
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