When jumping a cliff that has seasonal "Climbing Restrictions" due to Endangered/Threatened Species purportedly nesting on or nearby the cliff, do you....

[base311]

Okay so there's a seasonal climbing ban because the dirt nazis think that baby birds will committ suicide or the parental units will commit unintentional egg-manslaughter if you're climbing on a cliff face near their nests and disturb them. But you're not a climber; you're a BASE jumper. Apart from screaming past the cliff/nests at X mph and momentarily disturbing the peace and tranquility with a slider-off opening, you have no long-term presence near (and hopefully not ON) the cliff and shortly you're on your merry way. What do you do? Jump or not Jump? What is your opinion on the ethics involved?

Thanks and have a kickazz day!
Gardner

[d-dog]

While I can understand frustration with "bird ban" restrictions (and I've lived with them for almost two decades as a climber in the Pacific NW), I still personally err on the side of giving our winged friends extra space to do their parental duties.

Sure, there may be bueaucratic tangles involved in listing/de-listing. . . and there may be good reasons why, say, climbing is less likely to harm avian species than, say, Baby Bush's hell-bent effort to re-open massive scale logging on publicly-owned forestlands. Even so, I personally feel I'd rather take my jumping elsewhere during nesting season if I know for a fact that a family of birds is living on a certain cliff.

Perhaps this traces back, in part, to an infamous incident at Smith Rocks in the early '90s. A well-known climber whose initials were GW was working a route in Aggro Gulley. It promised to be hard - .13+ at least (back then, .13+ was hard though now Sharma climbs that stuff in bare feet and it gets onsighted all the time. . . no, I'm not kidding!), and Smith was the center of the U.S. sport climbing scene.

Only problem was that there were some nesting birds in one of the big huecos on the route. These were merely pigeons, nothing endangered or even particularly beautiful and majestic. They were not protected by any government decree. GW, feeling well within his rights to do so, simply threw the whole nest out of the hueco - screaming baby birds and all.

Call me a sappy, soft-hearted tree lover (I've been called much, much worse), but this made me really uncomfortable and I promised to myself that "gee, I'll never do something that mean-spirited for some silly sport like climbing." Now, I jump more than climb. . . but I see the parallel crystal clear.

Raptors are beautiful creatures (as are all creatures in their own way, of course); as a jumper, I envy them their agility, grace, and power in the air. I'd rather spend the day watching them raise their young than get a jump in and startle them with a slider-down opening right over (or near) their nests. Just a personal position. . . not necessarily right or wrong.

For me, it's an issue of respect. It is easy to lose respect for the world around us while we are chasing BASE dreams (as it has always been easy to do in climbing). But, without that respect for the world around me, how can I truly respect my jumping as something more than just falling off steep things for kicks?

Peace,

D-d0g
ddog@wrinko.com
www.wrinko.com

[Skinflicka]

Unfortunately, I'm too stupid to realise whether birds are nesting or what time of year it is. I'd probably jump out of ignorance.

If it was a bridge, building, antenna or Other I'd figure that the ba$tards shouldn't be there either and jump anyway.

Why should birds get to fly in National Parks and not us? When was the last time a bird got busted for illegal air delivery?

Feathered freaques.

Fuque 'em.

Skin

PS sorry for the emotional post but my parents were killed by turkeys during a safari in Africa when I was a baby.


;( ;( ;( :*

[Technically]

so Skingrippa, you saying that if you SMART enough to realize they were birds there, you would not jump?
Me personally, I don't respect nothing except ma-sef. And I respect ma-sef a lot! In fact, I'm gonna go respect ma-sef right now. where's that Sublimedirectory.com web page again?
}(

And I jump your momma too, if I had me full body armor. MILF's...

[Skinflicka]

Mom's waiting...legs akimbo.

Skin

PS YOUR mom!

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