stewardship and conservation

The Access Fund envisions a world where climbers are seen as stewards of the land versus simply “users” of the land. To this end, we advocate for a balance between recreational access and environmental conservation, and we encourage climbers to respect and honor the places and policies where they climb.

The Access Fund helps to organize volunteer events across the country, providing climbers with the support and resources that allow them to care for and give back to lands where they climb. Our signature stewardship program, Adopt-a-Crag, exists to unite local climbing communities in partnerships with land managers to conserve their local climbing areas. And our youth stewardship program, TeamWorks, aims to get young gym climbers outside taking care of the places they climb. These events often include litter clean-ups, visual impact mitigation, trail construction and restoration, erosion control, and wildlife monitoring.

The Access Fund collaborates with some of the country's foremost environmental organizations, including Earthworks, the Sierra Club, the Trust for Public Lands, Wilderness Society, The Nature Conservancy, and National Parks and Conservation Association. We collaborate on issues such as the use of fixed anchors in Wilderness areas, the preservation of lands threatened by development, the role of local stewardship in protecting public lands, political advocacy on public lands issues such as mining reform, and the protection of nesting peregrine falcons and other cliff-dwelling wildlife.

Working as a united community, in cooperation with land managers and environmental agencies, improves the reputation of climbers as legitimate, responsible, and conservation-minded stewards.