Access Issues/Outlook

• rock climbing is a "non-conforming" activity for the land use designation (nature preserve) of the cliff itself.
  
• a temporary Memorandum of Understanding permits climbing in the Nature Preserve. Long running negotiations are underway that will provide a more permanent basis for climbing in Bon Echo. This may involve a site specific exemption to the Nature Preserve approved activities.

Site Specific

• refrain from using trees in any way except in the case of an emergency.
• Climbers should avoid slinging trees for topanchors, belay stations, or for running protection.
• no new route development is currently allowed
• sign the waiver either at ACC hut or Park Office
• Respect route closures - do not climb on or near Native pictographs

At Bon Echo, there are cliff-face cedars that may be many hundreds of years old. These cliff-face "old growth forests", along with other rare plants and lichens, have made environmentalists particularly concerned with the impact that climbers may have.The cliff at Bon Echo is in a Nature Preserve Zone, while climbing is a banned activity in Provincial Nature Preserve Zones, the committee has been able to conclusively demonstrate through research (c.f. "Life Science Inventory of the Mazinaw Rock Cliff face at Bon Echo Provincial Park", Duggan & Associates) that climbing has negligible impact on the environmental resource at Bon Echo.