The Zoo Closed in Red River Gorge
On January 4th, RRGCC shared this on Instagram:
Climbing Magazine followed up two days later with this article about the closure of The Zoo. This is the property across the stream from Hop’s and has been a climbing favorite since the 1980s. It’s also home to some beautiful sandstone cliffs and a rarity - three stacked arches.
The Zoo is privately owned property, but public access had been permitted until recently. When the landowner was asked about the closure, she responded:
“I closed it because of erosion around the bottom of the cliff, illegal camping, no upkeep on trails, and continued installation of climbing bolts and screws on fragile sandstone cliffs. I resent the climbers’ sense of entitlement—that they can climb anywhere and do anything to private property without permission and leave it a mess. There are plenty of places to climb in this area.”
Meanwhile, part of the comments section on Instagram:
“Yeah gotta love the principle of someone out here just owning nature” -hotboysheff
“These beautiful lands shouldn’t even be allowed to be privately owned” -patrickhowebowen
“What a jerk” -marissa_maven
“What a selfish douche” -camilles.world
I find comments like these full of brain worms. The reason for the closure is the fact that some visitors were not good stewards of the land, and more to the point, on balance, visitors were using the land without doing enough to offset the negative impacts.
Stewardship is more than just leaving no trace. It means maintaining the trails and routes, installing erosion controls where appropriate, building and rebuilding retaining walls, installing and maintaining belay bases, and generally doing all the hard work it takes to provide access to outdoor spaces.
Another comment talking about the ‘right to roam’ laws in other countries was interesting to me because it immediately brought Muir Valley to mind:
“Mexico, and Haiti have this. It’s where you go dump, trash and old tires.” -samwell121
Before Muir Valley was the beautiful, well maintained climbing area and nature preserve that it is now, it was an illegal garbage dump. The development of that preserve is perhaps the greatest example in the region of what can be done with privately owned land with public access. Here is a video that is worth your time to watch:
When it comes to private land with public access, the level of stewardship required on the part of visitors is far greater than on other lands like municipal, state, and national parks and forests. Public lands have funding and staffing to maintain them (not enough funding and staffing, but I digress). Private lands, on the other hand, have little to no funding or staffing for maintenance - a single landowner has far less access to capital than a city, county, state, or federal government.
In the example of Muir Valley, it was privately purchased, cleaned up out of the pockets of the landowners with the help of a government grant, built and maintained by volunteers, and eventually grew to require more resources (currently over $100,000 annually) when parking fees became necessary. The land was eventually turned over to the non-profit, Friends of Muir Valley.
In the example of The Zoo, it was privately purchased, infrastructure was built with trails and routes and parking, BUT visitor stewardship fell short over time resulting in its closure.
For the social media commentators throwing barbs at the landowner, would the landowner have restricted access if visitors stewarded the property as well as the group in Muir Valley?
I doubt it.
Also, if you think all lands should be publicly accessible, get to work and get it done. You can contribute to The Nature Conservancy that is on a mission to preserve 1.6 billion acres in the coming decade. You can keep your dollars closer to home with Kentucky Natural Lands Trust that is working to secure land across the Pine Mountain Wildlands Corridor. Or you can beef up your contributions to RRGCC and the Access Fund to expand climbing access. Hell, you can put your land in a conservation easement or straight up donate it to Kentucky Nature Preserves.
And just for fun and to mention a persistent problem, pick a euphemism below that ALWAYS accompanies illegal camping where there are no bathrooms:
Dropping a deuce
Taking a dump
Answering nature's call
Dropping a motherload
Birthing a creamy behemoth
Cutting a rope
Laying a brick
Pinching a loaf
Answering nature's booty call
Baking a keester casserole
In this situation, I might’ve put it as, “You shit on my lawn. Don’t come back now, y’hear?!”