The Access Fund announces that, after six years of collaborative negotiations, it has finalized and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Park Service (NPS).
The newly signed MOU frames a cooperative relationship between the climbing community and
the National Park Service. It outlines the common interests that the parties share—such as
conservation and planning—as well as how they will work together to reach common goals, said the Access Fund.

The greatest value of this MOU will be realized by the Access Fund’s more than 70 affiliated local climbing organizations, which can leverage the agreement to initiate relationships with managers of the national parks in their areas, said the group.

“The agreement will make it easier for climbers to develop mutually beneficial relationships with NPS officials regarding climbing management and stewardship issues,” said Access Fund. “The MOU also will help these organizations express their interests when management planning is undertaken on NPS lands that contain climbing resources.”

The Access Fund has been building a case for the MOU since early 2003. An extensive support
package was presented to the National Park Service in September 2005, outlining the
contributions that the Access Fund and local climbers have made to NPS lands—such as
collaborating on conservation events, participating in management planning, granting funds for
trail improvements, and installing bear boxes. This package showed NPS officials that climbers
are a cooperative and responsible user group, said the non-profit.

The MOU is available for review and download at www.accessfund.org/mous.