Zion National Park closes rock climbing sites to protect nesting peregrine falcons

Nesting peregrine falcons inside Zion National Park prompted officials to announce Wednesday they would close some of the park’s popular rock climbing locations.

The peregrine species, famous for being the world’s fastest animal — they can dive at more than 240 miles per hour — is a frequent visitor to Zion, where high concentrations of birds breed and find spots along the park’s iconic cliff faces to build well-protected nests.

If disturbed, nesting pairs may abandon their nest sites and not nest again until the following year.

To prevent that from happening, park officials said they were implementing a series of closures on Wednesday, including rock climbing routes in popular spots like Angels Landing and Cable Mountain, park officials said.

“We monitor these areas to locate nests and reopen cliffs that peregrine falcons do not select as nest sites. The date for cliffs reopening to climbers varies from year to year and typically ranges from late spring to summer,” according to a written announcement from park officials.

The peregrine was listed as an endangered species in 1970 under the Endangered Species Act, largely because of DDT, an insecticide that caused birds to produce thin-shelled eggs.

The U.S. banned DDT in 1972 and various breeding programs have helped to recover peregrine populations enough that it was removed from the endangered species list in 1999.

Zion has traditionally been an important sanctuary for the peregrine, along with many other animal species.

Park wildlife biologists are assigned to monitor the birds’ nesting activity, and cliffs that have been closed but are not being used for nesting sites could be reopened earlier.

Additional scheduled closures include: The Great White Throne, Isaac (in Court of the Patriarchs), The Sentinel, Mountain of the Sun, North Twin Brother, Tunnel Wall, The East Temple, Mount Spry, The Streaked Wall and Mount Kinesava.

All other cliffs will remain open to climbing.

David DeMille southern Utah for The Spectrum & Daily News, a USA TODAY Network newsroom based in St. George. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Zion closes rock climbing sites to protect nesting falcons