The U.S. Forest Service is removing climbing bolts from Cave Rock, a sacred site of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.

The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit developed a plan to ban climbing at the rock. The plan was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which cited the importance of the site to the tribe and to the nation as a whole.

Traditionally, only medicine men are allowed near Cave Rock. The site has been repeatedly defaced by climbers and other visitors.

Get the Story:
Long process led to climbing-bolt removal (The Tahoe Daily Tribune 5/4)

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Final decision signed to protect sacred Cave Rock (2/29)
Appeals court backs climbing ban at sacred site (8/28)
Washoe Tribe sacred site case heads to 9th Circuit (1/18)
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Federal judge upholds ban on climbing at sacred rock (02/01)
Appeals court says sacred sites worthy of protection (09/07)
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