August 2023 Newsletter

baboonstewardship
Sep 10, 2023
5 min read

Baboon Stewardship newsletters are back! Thanks for dropping in to see what we’ve been up to!

Although we haven’t done any newsletters this year, we’ve still continued working to protect, diversify, and enhance access to the outdoors. But in case you’re new to our newsletter or don’t know much about us, we wanted to back track and give you a quick intro to who we are. What exactly is our vision and how do we put that into action?

Baboon Stewardship is a non-profit organization that focuses on environmental stewardship, diversifying the outdoors, and increasing accessibility to outdoor spaces. The great outdoors offers adventure, solitude, endless sport opportunities, and so much more! However, some people who want to get outside don’t know how to do so safely or responsibly. Others simply do not have access or the means to get outside. We try to bridge these gaps through educational clinics, clean-up and conservation efforts, grants, development of outdoor climbing areas, and social meet-ups.

Before we jump into all we’ve been up to, we want to quickly introduce the newest member of our team! Nancy Nguyen.

Nancy was born and raised in Southern California where her passion for outdoor sports took root. She began long distance running in high school and then journeyed to winter sports where she fell in love with skiing and ice skating. In the last couple of years, she has discovered a passion for climbing (crimps all the way) and mountaineering.

Aside from being able to rap the whole chorus to “Super Bass” and do cartwheels that will leave you in awe, Nancy also enjoys filming, painting, and gardening. She is an outdoor enthusiast and aims to visit every national park in the country.

Nancy joined Baboon Stewardship in early 2023 for community stewardship and environmentalism.

Tramway Clean and Climb A Collaboration with California State Parks.

baboon stewardship climbing at tramway clean up

On July 29th Baboon Stewardship organized a clean and climb event at Palm Springs Aerial Tramway in collaboration with California State Parks. Shout out to Nick from California State Parks that proactively collaborated with us at Baboon Stewardship to make this event possible. Twenty volunteers set out to pick up, collect and pack out trash left behind by boulderers during a busy summer pass season. We collected over five pounds, mostly from climbers' tape, torn wrappers, and a large glass tupper ware. We also brushed off excessive chalk from boulders to keep Tram looking fresh. Every participant was guaranteed a prize from our raffle for their efforts this year. Our raffle included t-shirts, chalk, brushes, a grand prize of three day passes from three different gyms (Hangar18, Stronghold, and Flowstone Climbing) and specialty coffee from Bobbejaan Koffie. Thank you to all the sponsors that donated prizes for our raffle.

Crag Development!

Another ongoing project is developing outdoor climbing areas.The development of local crags in the Inland Empire is important to us because it increases accessibility of outdoor climbing to those who don’t have the means to pay for entry into national or state parks or don’t have the time to drive that far. What developing means is that we seek out potential boulders and routes, clean them up so they are safe to climb, and maintain the trails so others can easily access the boulders. We then guide people who are interested in attempting these newly established routes and document them in Mountain Project so others can easily find them.

Bonita Falls

Our newest crag we’ve been developing is Bonita Falls.

Bonita Falls is a beautiful 100 ft waterfall that attracts thousands of visitors year-round; unfortunately, as a result, the hiking trail and creek leading up to the waterfall receive high volumes of trash and the boulders are covered in graffiti. In April, our team was able to pick up 49 pounds worth of trash along Lytle Creek. Adrian, our crag developer, has always hiked at Bonita Falls. “I grew up 15 minutes away from Bonita Falls, I remember hiking to the waterfall all the time as a kid. Nestled within the valley, are a handful of established boulder problems ranging from V2 -V7. The area is shady all day and features great temperatures for summer. We hope to come back soon to continue our work once temperatures are more forgiving. We are also trying to get approval from the San Bernardino National Forest to remove graffiti.

Dry Falls & Jurupa

One of the other local crags we have been focusing on is Jurupa Hills. We continue to establish new boulders, clean the area up, and do trail maintenance. This area is also highly trafficked and susceptible to high volumes of trash. Trail maintenance has been challenging due to extreme heat and overgrown weeds. We will continue to develop the boulders, clean up trash, and maintain trails as weather permits. We’ve also been supporting the development and access of Dry Falls in Palm Springs. Due to the recent thunderstorms, we went to survey the damage to this area on Monday and to our pleasant surprise, we didn’t notice any significant damage to boulders or trails. We will continue to monitor reports from fellow climbers and share any data we collect.

Climbing Social at Flowstone Climbing

August 24, 2023

We hosted our first ever climbing social! It was an evening of climbing games, snacks and socializing. We played traverse tag, and had our own team comp. The rules of the game are simple; a climber picks a starting point and traverseres until they are caught or they reach the finish line. The mini team flash point comp was spicy! Two teams competed against each other strategically picking climbs to flash for the maximum amount of points. Overall, we all had a blast participating in the events. We believe that the social help foster a stronger community. by making new friends and cheering on teammates.

baboon stewardship climbing at jurupa hills

The Future Moving forward, we will be alternating monthly between outdoor clean-ups and social meet-ups. So we should be hosting our next clean-up in September. We will be announcing the date and location soon. Follow us on Instagram @baboon_stewardship to keep updated. Also keep an eye out for gym-to-crag clinics if you’re interested in transitioning from indoor to outdoor climbing. We will teach you how to get outside safely while also protecting and respecting those outdoor spaces. As we are volunteer and donation-based, we would like to give a quick shout-out to The Family Market Co. At the end of July, the company hosted the IE International Food Festival and held a beer garden. The Family Market Co. donated a significant portion of the beer gardens proceeds to Baboon Stewardship. We are so grateful for their support. We would also like to thank our friends, sponsors, and partners who have supported our events and projects. If you would like to join in supporting us financially, you can make a tax-deductible donation here. Thanks again for tuning into our monthly newsletter! We welcome any feedback to make our future newsletters more engaging and informative. Thank you so much!