While rock climbers wait to see if a pair of golden eagles take roost, the quietly popular basalt columns at Trout Creek are closed.

“We are really trying to give those eagles an opportunity for success,” said Molly Brown, district manager for the Bureau of Land Management in Prineville.

The BLM initially set a mandatory closure for the cliffs. Beginning Feb. 1, the closure would have lasted until the end of August. Just over two weeks later, though, the agency opted for a voluntary closure. BLM officials will determine in mid-May whether the golden eagles are nesting at Trout Creek, then decide whether to keep the closure in place.

Surprise closure

Climbers who use the cliffs had been talking with the BLM about a potential closure for the past year, and the BLM’s mandatory closure surprised them, said Eric Sorenson, regional coordinator for the Access Fund, a national climbing advocacy group.

The agency “closed it with no warning,” he said.

While BLM officials were keeping in touch with climbers about an environmental plan that might lead to seasonal closures at Trout Creek, they instituted the mandatory closure this year as an emergency measure to protect the eagles, said Lisa Clark, spokeswoman for the BLM in Prineville.

“And (such) a closure doesn’t necessarily need to involve the public,” she said.

BLM officials subsequently met with climbers and environmental attorneys and decided to make the closure voluntary. Now climbers and BLM officials said they want to work together on a long-term plan for Trout Creek. The environmental plan should be out in April, said Bill Dean, assistant field manager with the BLM in Prineville.

He said the voluntary closure this year will give the pair of golden eagles known to nest on or near the cliffs a chance to choose a spot to raise young if they want.

“We have to determine how much nesting is going on,” he said.

For years, a pair of nesting golden eagles has prompted seasonal closures at Smith Rock State Park, said park manager Scott Brown. But there, the closures affect only a handful of the park’s roughly 1,800 routes.

“Historically, they stay in that little bit more remote part of the park,” he said.

The BLM’s Trout Creek closure affects all of the cliffs. There are about 120 climbing routes at Trout Creek, according to the “Trout Creek Climbing” guidebook.

Climbers’ delight

Towering over a remote stretch of the Deschutes River, the 100-foot basalt columns of Trout Creek, known by some climbers as “Dry Island,” have been climbed since the 1970s, Sorenson said. In the last decade they have become popular, with a guidebook detailing the routes and more climbers willing to make the 45-minute hike from Trout Creek Campground to the cliffs.

There they find long cracks leading skyward, perfect for traditional climbing done with removable gear, Sorenson said.

“It’s not just an OK backwoods crag,” Sorenson said. “It’s really incredible.”

Protected perch

Golden eagles are also drawn to Trout Creek, using it for protection rather than recreation.

“The rock cliffs afford them a very secure site away from predators,” Dean said.

From 1992 to 2001, Dean said, a pair of golden eagles nested at Trout Creek and fledged — or raised from egg to first flight — one to two eaglets. A pair of eagles has nested there for only eight of the 10 subsequent years and fledged a single eaglet.

The slight decline could be a result of routes leading climbers close to the nesting sites, Clark said.

“We do have some that go within 500 feet of the nests,” she said.

Sorenson said climbers want the eagles to breed and will give them their space if they choose to nest at Trout Creek. But before blaming breeding problems on climbers, he said, the BLM should also consider other factors, such as boat traffic and the impacts of hunting at a nearby preserve.

“Climbers are really taking the fall on that,” he said.

About the golden eagle

Scientific name: Aquila chrysaetos

Characteristics: Brown with yellowish highlights over back of head and neck. Adult wingspan up to 7 feet.

Breeding: Start selecting nest in late winter, mate in spring and rear young into summer. Females lay 1 to 4 eggs, with 2 eggs being most common and 4 eggs most rare.

Habitat: Found in a variety of landscapes, from tundra to desert, including the grasslands of Central Oregon. Build nests on cliffs or in the largest trees of a forested stand, both giving them views of surrounding land.

Food: Small to midsized reptiles, birds and mammals up to the size of a mule deer fawn. Also known to scavenge.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Bureau of Land Management