Rock climbing traffic exposes impact on rare cliffs
An increase in rock climbing activity on ministry lands at Devil’s Glen is intensifying concerns for area residents and the ecological health of the rock face.
In November, Clearview council was alerted to a road hazard being experienced by local farmers who were having difficulty navigating a road narrowed by cars parked on both sides of Concession 10 with wide farm machinery.
Farmer Eric Millar documented times when he could barely get through to County Road 124 with his combine and other farm equipment, and asked council to consider prohibiting parking on one side of the road. Councillor Doug McKechnie brought forward a motion and as a result staff were directed to explore ways to encourage drivers to park on one side of Concession 10 in the area immediately north of County Road 124, or create more parking spaces to keep cars off the paved surface, and to bring a report to council prior to the summer of 2022.
Parking is so common in that area that road crews have had to repair the shoulder several times per year, said Clearview’s deputy director of public works Dan Perreault.
The road shoulders are preferred parking for rock climbers accessing the area. Members of the Ontario Alliance of Climbers have been advised to park there and continue north on County Road 124 on foot where they cross the road and cut in through ministry land. The foot traffic is enough to warrant a pedestrian crossing on the county road.
Rock climbers are accessing areas on two separate parcels of land. One is owned and managed by Ontario Parks and the other is on 20 hectares of crown land to the west of the park, known as the Reinhold property, which is owned and managed by the The Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry (NDMNRF).
Neither NDMNRF or Ontario Parks staff would agree to an interview but did consent to answer questions by e-mail.
NDMNRF staff said they are aware of the concerns of overuse at both the Reinhold property and in Devil’s Glen Provincial Park.
The Reinhold property is currently designated as a General Use Area and rock climbing is a permitted use.
Park superintendent John Fisher said due to the current zoning and classification of Devil’s Glen Provincial Park, rock climbing is not expressly prohibited, though it is not promoted by Ontario Parks.
“Rock climbing is an activity that has occurred for decades in many areas of the Niagara Escarpment. When an activity predates the regulation of a provincial park as is the case at Devil’s Glen, it is considered to be a pre-existing non-conforming use,” said Fisher.
The Ontario Alliance of Climbers (OAC) is a volunteer organization that advocates for legal access to climbing crags throughout the province and classifies climbing at Devil’s Glen to be “tolerated.”
“Tolerated is a little grey,” said OAC co-chair Mike Penney during a 2021 town hall meeting. “Climbing is not formally permitted but it is informally accepted, so tread lightly.”
“Know that your actions are being viewed by the land managers on a larger scale and that we’re more or less under the microscope to some degree,” said Penney. “A good example is Lion’s Head or DG [Devil’s Glen] where climbing is not expressly prohibited and there are no authorities that are ticketing or preventing us from climbing, however climbing is not expressly permitted. It’s not within the current land use guidelines. It’s a bit of a grey area.”
In that meeting they advise members to park on Concession 10 and not on County Road 124 because “it could raise an eyebrow or two with the city, or the municipality.”
In an interview with The Echo, Penney said the area is of interest to climbers because of the beautiful limestone cliff, of which there is very little in Ontario.
He said climbing has become more popular as a result of the pandemic, like many outdoor activities, and that the OAC has seen an increase in memberships despite not being able to host events and fundraise, to attract new membership.
Penney said climbers are an extension of trial users and they see themselves as vertical trail users.
“How are climbers any different than any other user group?” He asks. “We are self propelled, we don’t use batteries, don’t use engines, don’t kill things in the forest. We walk into the forest with gear in our packs and we climb on vertical trails. It is not different than the use of trails on The Bruce.”
Penney was reluctant to speak to infrastructure that has been established to support climbing activities. Climbers establish “routes” by bolting into the rock-face, despite having a “leave no trace” policy.
“I can’t speak or get into that,” said Penney. “We are in the very beginning of forging a partnership and working together with Ontario Parks so I really cannot comment. The OAC encourages communication and is interested in working through the issues wherever they can.”
Fisher said, bolting of rock climbing routes or development of non-bolted traditional climbing routes is not permitted in provincial parks without authorization.
“There are currently more than 130 known rock climbing routes developed within the Devil’s Glen cliff area. None of these routes were formally evaluated to avoid areas of significant natural values, so some occur in areas with little to no impact and others are in sensitive habitat areas of concern,” said Fisher.
“Current management practices at Devil’s Glen focus on educating rock climbers about public safety, their potential impacts and how to mitigate them, reducing the number of routes in the Niagara Escarpment provincial parks, and promoting hiking as analternative to rock climbing.”
Routes would be reduced to avoid areas with significant ecological values, or safety risks, said Fisher.
Impact
When asked about the impacts of rock climbing, Fisher said “rock climbing can have direct ecological impacts on sensitive plant and wildlife species.
Even on cliffs with lower densities of vegetation there are often populations of specialized ferns including Cliffbrakes,Spleenworts and Wall-rue species that rely on small cracks and ledges for their habitat that climbers often use for grip points. There are also areas of ancient cedar forests that rely on these same features and lower ledges for survival of existing trees and successful recruitment of new ones. These species are specially adapted over thousands of years to live on the small nooks of exposed cliff faces and rocky talus slopes with little natural disturbance.”
“The establishment and use of climbing routes in the wrong locations can significantly impact these rare and unique species,” continues Fisher. “On the limestone faces of the Niagara Escarpment, the small cracks and ledges these species rely on can be quickly worn away along popular routes, removing this important habitat for future generations of growth. There are similar concerns with disturbance to specialized wildlife, such as tiny (0.5 to 2 millimetres in size) provincially rare cliff snail species that live among the micro-ledges and cracks in the face, and sensitive nesting birds including Cliff Swallows, Turkey Vultures andPeregrine Falcons that can stop using areas (including abandonment of nests and young) that are regularly disturbed by climbing. Some indirect impacts of rock climbing include the creation of unauthorized access trails through other sensitive habitats to get to cliff areas as well as the introduction of invasive species such as Garlic Mustard, which spread and impact many of the valueslisted above.”
A 2013 inventory and evaluation of the Reinhold Property conducted for Ontario Parks was done so urgently “because of concerns relating to the ecological impacts of unregulated rock climbing on the cliffs of the site,” writes author Jarmo Jalava.
The Devil’s Glen gorge is an Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI). It is the largest incised gorge in the eco-district and provides high representation of escarpment rim, cliffs and talus slopes.
The report says the natural communities of the Reinhold property are generally in good to excellent condition with the most impacted areas being around the former farmland and residence on the property, and along the cliff base, “where soils are compacted due to heavy trampling, presumably by rock climbing enthusiasts” and “in some areas the plant community is composed almost entirely of non-native species.”
“Given that cliff-face vegetation is almost denuded at the most heavily used climbing locations, continued use is not likely to worsen the impacts at these locations,” writes Jalava. “Because of the virtual absence of soil, rehabilitation of such habitats and regeneration of native vegetation would take many decades, if not centuries, and is therefore likely an unrealistic management approach. It would seem to make more sense to restrict climbing, as well as access routes to the climbing sites, to the locations that are already irreversibly modified.”
Fisher said Ontario Parks is currently undertaking studies to identify which routes are in low impact areas and which ones are located in sensitive cliff habitat areas that require a higher level of protection and management.
He said there are no ongoing negotiations for sanctioned access for rock climbers, “however the OAC is being consulted as a knowledgeable source on the activity of rock climbing in an advisory role to Ontario Parks.”
A decision to add rock climbing as a permitted use at Devil’s Glen, may or may not involve public consultation.
In a Sept. 3 Facebook post, OAC said it had a preliminary meeting with Ontario Parks. The purpose of the discussion was to address immediate access concerns regarding Devil’s Glen and to establish an ongoing relationship with current staff members at Ontario Parks.
“I don’t think it serves us necessarily well to outline our strategy in terms of how we wish to proceed in terms of continuing to legalize climbing, so to speak, but the reality is, as it pertains to a public park climbers are no different than a cross section of the population,” Penney told The Echo.
“We pay taxes and we wish to recreate on public lands in a way that is sustainable and overwhelmingly, climbers have been proven to be great stewards and great users amongst those that we participate with currently. The end goal would be to have legislation that is either amended or updated to reflect the reality in terms of how the public wishes to recreate.”
He said there are parks where climbing access has been successfully negotiated, like Bon Echo Provincial Park.
“There is good precedent there, where the Alpine Club of Canada had pioneered that relationship with Ontario Parks and as a result there is a great model there that can be applied to other areas, a lot of locations where in fact climbing existed long before the parks did,” said Penney.
“It is a little known fact even to locals that there’s evidence and documentation of climbing at Devil’s Glen as of the 1970s.”
Penney said part of the OAC’s defensive tone is due to anticipated pushback from homeowners and people who don’t wish to allow rock climbing in their community.
Common pushback is that climbing shouldn’t be allowed because of the liability and risk.
Neighbour Adam Pearce is pushing back against parks staff turning a blind eye to rock climbing and the ongoing bolting of new routes.
The Pearces moved to their current home adjacent to the crown land in 2004 and began to experience trespassing on their property in 2011. He said he has seen an increase in destructive behaviour from rock climbers who have cleared the cliff of vegetation, cut trees, bolted routes, had campfires, and defecated in the woods.
“It is disheartening that this is still happening,” said Pearce.
He has been very vocal about his position to Devil’s Glen becoming a high-traffic rock climbing attraction and has felt pushback from the rock climbing community who have returned any assertions. The Pearces said they do feel targeted since becoming vocal about their opposition.
Pearce takes issue with the Jalava recommendation that the climbers be rewarded for their destructive behaviour by being given sanctioned access to an area that is beyond rehabilitation.
“Why would you sacrifice the best one? I think they should all be removed,” said Pearce.
He said he would like to see park staff do more to protect the area and can’t understand why staff turn a blind eye to climbers, yet prohibit other uses such as biking.
Parking
Although the rock climbing is out of sight and talks with Ontario Parks are happening behind closed doors, the parking is a visible issue experienced by the community. Parking remains a concern for the OAC and the community at large.
Penney said the OAC has offered to pay to establish a parking lot off County Road 124 and had attempted to work with Ontario Parks.
As for Ontario Parks, Fisher said they are aware of parking issues.
“Provincial parks across Ontario have experienced a significant increase in use over the past two years. Devil’s Glen Provincial Park is not unique in this regard,” said Fisher. “Ministry staff are actively engaged with local municipalities, agencies and non-governmental organizations to identify public and private recreational land management issues such as parking to review potential solutions while considering environmental restrictions, community and stakeholder impacts, and funding sources to address these challenges. Ontario Parks is not currently developing a business case to apply fees at Devil’s Glen Provincial Park.”
