Erik Murdock, Deputy Director of Programs, Policy & Government Affairs at the Access Fund, traces nearly 30 years of federal policy on fixed anchors in wilderness, from the Forest Service’s first negotiated rulemaking in 1999 to Joshua Tree National Park’s 2021 proposal to prohibit fixed anchors outright, which triggered a national policy dispute that reached Congress. He explains how the Protecting America’s Rock Climbing (PARC) Act, signed as Section 122 of the EXPLORE Act in January 2025, established that climbing and fixed anchors are “appropriate” in wilderness and required federal agencies to issue public guidance within 18 months. That guidance, now released by both the Department of Interior agencies and the Forest Service, is in a 60-day public comment period closing on or around July 4, 2026. Murdock describes what the draft guidance includes, how it gives individual forest supervisors and park superintendents latitude to manage their specific landscapes, and why this comment period is the primary mechanism for public input on how wilderness climbing will be managed for decades to come.

Exploring one of the most persistently contested questions in wilderness management.

Erik Murdock, PhD, is the Deputy Director of Programs, Policy & Government Affairs at the Access Fund, a 35-year-old national climbing advocacy organization that works to protect climbing access and conserve climbing landscapes on public lands across the country. Murdock came to this work through an unusual path, starting as an exploration geologist, then moving to the Bureau of Land Management as a recreation manager, then pursuing a doctorate researching how fixed anchors affect visitor movement through wilderness at Joshua Tree National Park. He eventually concluded that research without advocacy was just a doorstop, and he has spent the past two decades at the intersection of climbing, conservation, and public lands policy. In this first episode of the Fault Lines series, he joins Bill and Anders to explore one of the most persistently contested questions in wilderness management: whether fixed anchors, meaning the bolts, pitons, and slings climbers use to ascend and descend vertical terrain, belong in wilderness at all.

Murdock traces the debate from its origins in the Superstition Wilderness in Arizona in the late 1980s through the Forest Service’s negotiated rulemaking process that began in 1999, the BLM’s 2007 guidance, and the National Park Service’s 2013 Director’s Order #41, which established that fixed anchors “do not necessarily violate the Wilderness Act.” That consensus held until 2021, when Joshua Tree National Park began developing a climbing management plan premised on treating fixed anchors as prohibited installations requiring case-by-case authorization. The Access Fund pushed back; the issue escalated to NPS headquarters; and in November 2023, the Park Service announced a proposed national policy that would have prohibited fixed anchors entirely, reversing decades of established practice. The response from Congress was the Protecting America’s Rock Climbing (PARC) Act, incorporated as Section 122 of the EXPLORE Act and signed into law on January 4, 2025, which established that climbing and fixed anchors are “appropriate” in wilderness and required all four managing agencies to issue public guidance within 18 months.

That 18-month deadline falls on July 4, 2026. In the same week this episode was recorded, the Department of Interior agencies (National Park Service, BLM, and Fish and Wildlife Service) and the Forest Service released draft guidance on fixed anchors, opening a 60-day public comment period. Murdock urges listeners to read the policies and weigh in. Throughout the conversation, Bill and Erik also dig into the deeper philosophical question at the heart of the debate: the Wilderness Act prohibits “structures and installations,” yet trails, bridges, administrative cabins, and commercial outfitting all exist as well-established exceptions. If a trail requires a minimum requirements analysis when it is built or rerouted, how should a bolt be treated differently? Both guests agree that these questions resist clean resolution, and that the creative friction inside wilderness management is precisely what the Fault Lines series was built to explore.

In this episode:

• The Access Fund’s history and mission Founded 35 years ago by civil rights attorney Armando Menocal, the Access Fund runs stewardship crews, climber outreach programs, and an accredited land trust, and has been central to wilderness climbing policy for decades.
• What “fixed anchors” actually means The term Armando Menocal coined encompasses everything left behind to facilitate an ascent or descent of technical terrain: expansion bolts, pitons, fixed nuts, slings around trees, and more. The vast majority of climbers never place one.
• Climbing’s foundational role in wilderness David Brower, credited with placing the first expansion bolt in the United States, was also a driving force behind the Wilderness Act. Senator Mark Udall conceived the idea of designating Rocky Mountain National Park as wilderness while climbing The Diamond with his brother.
• How the PARC Act came to be Joshua Tree’s 2021 climbing management plan treated fixed anchors as prohibited, triggering a national policy debate. A proposed 2023 Park Service prohibition prompted Congress to act, resulting in the Protecting America’s Rock Climbing (PARC) Act, Section 122 of the EXPLORE Act, signed January 4, 2025.
• What the PARC Act actually does Four things: requires agencies to issue guidance within 18 months; establishes that climbing and fixed anchors are “appropriate” in wilderness; grandfathers in existing routes across tens of thousands of climbs in 28 states; and mandates a public comment period on that guidance.
• The installation question The Wilderness Act’s Section 4(c) prohibits “structures and installations,” yet trails, bridges, and administrative cabins also exist in wilderness as necessary exceptions. The question of where fixed anchors fit and who has the authority to make that call is the central tension Bill and Erik examine.
• The active comment period Both the Department of Interior agencies and the Forest Service released draft guidance in the week this episode was recorded. 
  • Leave a comment via the Bureau of Land Management through August 14, 2026.
  • Leave a comment via the Fish and Wildlife Service through August 14, 2026.
  • Leave a comment via the National Park Service through August 14, 2026.
  • Leave a comment via the Forest Service Comment and Analysis Response Application through July 20, 2026.

     

Links & Resources

Organizations & Initiatives:

• Access Fund — National climbing advocacy organization that protects climbing access and conserves climbing landscapes on public lands; also operates an accredited land trust open to the public.
  • Access Fund Website 
  • Access Fund on Instagram
• American Alpine Club — Climbing organization and stakeholder in wilderness climbing policy negotiations. 
• American Mountain Guides Association — Professional mountain guiding association involved in the development of wilderness fixed anchor policy. 
• The Wilderness Society — Conservation organization involved in the 2013 Director’s Order #41 negotiations and the PARC Act process. 

Places & Landscapes:

• Superstition Wilderness, Arizona — Wilderness area near Phoenix where early debates over fixed anchors in designated wilderness began in the late 1980s. 
• Joshua Tree National Park, California — The park whose 2021 climbing management proposal, premised on treating fixed anchors as prohibited, triggered the national policy dispute that led to the PARC Act. 
• Yosemite National Park, California (El Capitan) — Most of El Capitan falls within designated wilderness; Yosemite uses a programmatic authorization approach to manage fixed anchors. 
• Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (The Diamond) — Senator Mark Udall conceived the idea of designating the park as wilderness while climbing The Diamond with his brother.
• Linville Gorge, North Carolina — Wilderness area mentioned as an example of user-created trail proliferation and the challenges of managing recreation without sufficient agency guidance. 
• New River Gorge, West Virginia — National park where Access Fund places climber stewards. 

Government & Policy:

• Wilderness Act (1964) — Federal legislation establishing the National Wilderness Preservation System; Section 4(c) lists prohibited uses, including structures and installations. 
• Protecting America’s Rock Climbing (PARC) Act — Section 122 of the EXPLORE Act, P.L. 118-234 (2025) — Federal law establishing that climbing and fixed anchors are appropriate in wilderness and requiring federal agency guidance within 18 months; signed January 4, 2025. 
• Director’s Order #41: Wilderness Stewardship (NPS, 2013) — National Park Service directive, signed by Director Jon Jarvis, establishing that fixed anchors “do not necessarily violate the Wilderness Act.” 
• Forest Service Draft Guidance on Fixed Anchors (2026) — Draft guidance released for 60-day public comment, closing on or around July 4, 2026. 
• Department of Interior Draft Guidance on Fixed Anchors (2026) — Draft guidance from the National Park Service, BLM, and Fish and Wildlife Service, released for 60-day public comment. 

People Mentioned:

• Armando Menocal — Founder of the Access Fund; civil rights attorney who coined the term “fixed anchors” and spent decades building the legal and policy framework for climbing advocacy on public lands. He passed away in October 2024, two months before the EXPLORE Act was signed into law.
• David Brower — Conservationist, longtime Sierra Club leader, and prominent early climber credited with placing the first expansion bolt in the United States; a leading advocate for the Wilderness Act in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• Senator Mark Udall — Former Colorado congressman and U.S. senator; conceived the idea of designating Rocky Mountain National Park as wilderness while climbing The Diamond with his brother.
• Senator Maria Cantwell — U.S. Senator from Washington; a leading champion for the PARC Act.
• Representative Joe Neguse — Colorado congressman and co-sponsor of the original PARC Act legislation. 
• Senator John Curtis — Utah senator, formerly a congressman; co-sponsor of the original PARC Act legislation. 
• Jon Jarvis — Director of the National Park Service who signed Director’s Order #41 in 2013. Catch our conversation with Jon in Are Our National Parks Being Set Up to Fail? 
• Garry Oye — Former Chief of Wilderness Stewardship at NPS headquarters; involved in the development of Director’s Order #41.
• Jason Keith — Senior Policy Advisor at the Access Fund with more than 25 years working on climbing and wilderness policy.

Erik Murdock is the Deputy Director of Programs, Policy & Government Affairs of the Access Fund, the national climbing advocacy organization working to protect climbing access and conserve climbing landscapes on public lands across the country. He started his career as an exploration geologist and later took a job with the Bureau of Land Management in Winnemucca, Nevada, where he encountered a recreation manager for the first time and became fascinated by the intersection of social and physical science in public lands management.

He went on to earn a master’s degree at Arizona State University and a doctorate at the University of Arizona, designing his doctoral research around fixed anchors in wilderness at just the moment the Forest Service was initiating its first negotiated rulemaking on the issue. That research took an unexpected turn when a law enforcement ranger at Joshua Tree National Park called him out of the blue, told him the park needed his project, and asked him to start the following week. He moved to Joshua Tree, spent two to three years modeling how fixed anchor policy affects visitor flow through wilderness, and eventually realized that research without advocacy was a doorstop. Between his doctoral work and joining the Access Fund, he worked as a wilderness monitoring specialist for the Forest Service, modeled recreational fishing for NOAA, and worked for both the BLM and the National Park Service. He has been working on fixed anchors in wilderness for nearly 30 years. He lives in Estes Park, Colorado.

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