One of the Boulder Canyon Golden Eagles with a 6-foot wing span. Photo by Jim Mankovich, BCC Eagle Monitoring Team

See “Closures” on this web site for all the details.

The Boulder area is not only the home of more rock climbers per square mile than any place on Earth, but also has one of the densest and most productive habitats in North America for cliff nesting raptors like Golden Eagles and Peregrine Falcons. During the month of February raptors will select a nest site from among several that they use year after year.  Of course some of our favorite climbs, like the Naked Edge and the Third Flatiron, pass near nesting sites and the birds will not occupy a nest if people get too close.  Although there is considerable debate among wildlife biologists about what “too close” actually is, land managers close some routes and climbing areas from February 1 until July 31 to insure that raptors have the chance to choose the best nest, then lay eggs and fledge offspring. Climbers have overwhelmingly honored these closures, and in some cases even partnered with land managers to help monitor the nesting process in certain locations (volunteers from the Boulder Climbing Community work with the Forest Service to  monitor the Golden Eagles in Boulder Canyon). And land managers have worked hard to get climbing areas re-opened when nesting did not occur in the area.  We are truly all in this together – the raptors, the land managers, and we climbers.  Thanks for caring!