Washington, D.C., June 20, 2005 – The Access Fund, a climber advocacy organization, and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today announced a ground-breaking memorandum of understanding (MOU) that formalizes a cooperative agreement to work at the national, regional and local levels on mutually beneficial programs, projects, training and other recreational activities. The five-year agreement will see the BLM and Access Fund working together on programs, projects and activities that leverage both of their charters and are in the best interests of the public.

“There is a strong need throughout the country to actively promote public and private partnerships that encourages the responsible use of public lands,” said Steve Matous, executive director of the Access Fund. “This MOU with the BLM will help assure conservation of the climbing environment and will help keep climbing areas open.”

This MOU with the BLM joins an existing MOU between the Access Fund and the U.S. Forest Service executed in 2003.

“We are very pleased to enter into this national level partnership agreement with The Access Fund. The BLM's already successful history of cooperative partnership projects with the Access Fund will be further enhanced. This MOU brings the BLM and the Access Fund together toward a common mission of encouraging appropriate climbing opportunities on BLM administered public lands while also managing these areas to meet other BLM resource management objectives…” said Scott Abdon, National Recreation and Visitor Services Division Manager of the BLM.

The heart of the agreement is the commitment by the BLM to encourage its local officials to work with the Access Fund to identify climbing projects on public lands within their specific Field Office areas. The MOU also promotes participation of Access Fund staff and representatives in the development of mutually beneficial work projects and educational activities. In return, the Access Fund will support educational activities, maintain a nationwide communication network, provide technical assistance to land managers, and facilitate understanding and communications between climbers and public agencies.

About the Access Fund

Since 1990, the Access Fund has been the only national advocacy organization that keeps climbing areas open and conserves the climbing environment. The Access Fund supports and represents over 1.6 million climbers nationwide in ALL forms of climbing; rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, and bouldering. Five core programs support the mission on national and local levels: public policy, stewardship and conservation (including grants), grassroots activism, climber education, and land acquisition. For more information visit www.accessfund.org/ or www.boulderproject.org/

About the BLM

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, administers approximately 262 million surface acres of America's public lands, located primarily in 12 Western States. The BLM sustains the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. For more information visit www.blm.gov/

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