Project overview: Promote the preservation of Yosemite’s vertical wilderness through education, outreach, and restoration — fostering a positive relationship among climbers, visitors, and rangers.

How your support helps: Climbing offers a way to experience the park’s remarkable landscape up close. And, just like hiking, backpacking, and other popular Yosemite activities, it can potentially affect natural resources. Informal “social” trails form near the walls, as people hike to and from climbing routes. Dropped gear and accidental litter linger on and around cliffs. As climbing grows ever more popular, more people — including many inexperienced climbers — are flocking to Yosemite’s rock walls and boulders, adding to overall impacts.   

Thankfully, those impacts are preventable! Through Yosemite’s Climbing Stewardship program, the park works to protect climbing areas and climbers alike by using education, restoration, and research to promote environmental stewardship, safety, and strong relationships with the climbing community.   

The Climbing Stewardship program started as a grassroots volunteer effort in 2012. Since then, with support from Yosemite Conservancy donors, it has evolved into a formalized and highly effective operation that has inspired similar programs at other national parks and monuments.   

To facilitate this multifaceted program, Yosemite climbing rangers and volunteer climbing stewards work together to:   

  • Improve access trails for climbing and bouldering spots — often with help from Conservancy volunteer groups — to reduce erosion, prevent vegetation loss, and ensure people can safely get to and from routes. 
  • Educate the public about climbing-related topics — including Leave No Trace principles for the vertical environment — through climbing patrols, “Climber Coffee” gatherings, climbing gym events, and online media.   
  • Share safety messages related to climbing conditions, route closures, and accident prevention, and teach rope-rescue skills to park staff and volunteers.   
  • Collect data on how many people climb popular routes in the park to inform management decisions that help ensure safety and prevent overcrowding.   

Climbing rangers and stewards also host workshops and events; work with climbing-focused groups, such as the Access Fund, the American Alpine Club, and climbing gyms, to coordinate stewardship projects; and play a key role in Yosemite Facelift, an annual volunteer-driven cleanup event.  

These integrated approaches mitigate visitor impacts on park habitats and strengthen a culture of responsibility within the climbing community. 

This year: In 2026, the Climbing Stewardship program will focus efforts on high-use climbing access routes — restoring at least 5,000 square feet of impacted land and providing measurable improvements in trail stability, erosion control, and habitat protection. At the same time, rangers and stewards will expand outreach to more than 1,000 visitors through interpretive presentations and climbing safety workshops in and around Yosemite. With your support, these programs will ensure that Yosemite’s cliffs, trails, and ecosystems remain resilient amid increasing recreational use. 

Learn more about climbing stewardship in Yosemite National Park’s “Behind the Scenes: Climbing Rangers” video from 2020. 

Project partners: Yosemite National Park; Access Fund; Yosemite Climbing Association

Jesse McGahey

Climbing Program Manager, Yosemite National Park

Project Notes

"Yosemite is the birthplace of big-wall and low-impact climbing techniques. The Climbing Stewardship program continues this tradition, restoring impacts while engaging climbers and visitors to become stewards themselves."