RunOut #22: Room to Reproduce with Eric Chabot of Hawkwatch International.

Spring is here and love is in the air. In the case of nesting closures at your local crag, we mean this quite literally. Across the country and the world, land managers tasked with protecting several species of cliff nesting raptors, find themselves baring climbing on routes and walls and whole areas so that sensitive birds can just have a little peace and quiet to get it on and raise their fledgling young.

Despite crowing pretty nonstop about how much we love the outdoors and wild places, climbers can get pretty cranky pretty quickly when told we can't do what we want, when we want, wherever we want. But in our defense, nesting closures can seem pretty scattershot from place to place, agency to agency, making us wonder, what exactly do these birds need to make the love connection.

In light of a substantial increase in closures this spring in Indian Creek in Utah, AKA the climby chunk of the newly minted Bears Ears National Monument, we here at the RunOut decided to look for some answers to the how and why of nesting closures. We are joined on this episode by biologist/climber Eric Chabot of Hawkwatch International. Eric is intimately familiar with nesting closures in Indian Creek, around the Wasatch Range, and Western Desert, and can also shed some light on the science and resource pressures behind the nesting closures at your local area.

I'm Chris Kalous, and joining us as usual is Andrew Bisharat, and you are listening to the RunOut. Oh, and if what you hear on today's show doesn't satisfy your cravings for the secret lives of randy birds, Eric can be reached at [email protected] and is more than happy to field your appropriate questions.

Hawkwatch International