I talked with Tom Skinner of the National Forest Service on Thursday, October 11, 2008 about the Peregrine Falcon closures in the Stronghold. Following the discussion, he sent me a copy of the latest standing order regarding the closures. The net is that the Rockfellow Dome Complex and Cochise Dome are closed to climbing from March 1st through June 30th . Note that climbing and access is permitted in the "Squaretop Area" - both Squaretop and Lower Squaretop. See the document below for the details.
If you read Chapter 3 of the following webpage, you will have some idea of what is going on here:
Peregrine Falcon Closures in Southern Arizona
In a nutshell, the document above was sent to me as the closure order for the Cochise Stronghold by Tom Skinner, the Wildlife, Fish and Rare Plant Program Manager of the Coronado National Forest. The above document reflected the recent closures and closure dates as negotiated by the climbing community. However, the document was never signed by the Forest Supervisor - it was signed by Douglas Hardy, the district ranger. Thus, it appears that the above document is not a legal closure order.
Douglas Hardy is gone and Tom Skinner retired at the end of 2008. Based upon e-mail exhanges with Melinda Fisher and Larry Jones (Tom Skinner's replacement), it soon became clear that the official closure order (the one that is in a Coronado National Forest Service notebook and signed by the Forest Supervisor) was not the document that Tom sent out as the closure order. It would appear that even though the Forest Service and the climbers reached agreement on the closures, Tom and Douglas never went through the effort to change the official closure order.
The official closure order is shown below. It was signed off in 2002 and has several differences with Tom/Doug's closure order. These differences are summarized in this table:
| Official Closure Order | Tom Skinner / Douglas Hardy Closure Order |
| Starts on February 15th | Starts on March 1st |
| Cochise Dome, Square Top, Waterfall Dome, and Rockfellow Dome are closed | Rockfellow Dome and Cochise Dome are closed |
| The Rockfellow Park area is closed | The Rockfellow Park area is closed to overnight camping |
| The fine is $5000 maximum for an individual, not more than 6 months in jail, or both | No penalty is mentioned |
| Signed by the Forest Supervisor John M. McGee | Signed by the District Ranger Douglas D. Hardy |
The differences in these closure orders has been pointed out to Larry Jones. I believe he is in communication with the other Forest Service Biologists, particulary Glenn Klinger of the Douglas district of the Coronado National Forest (which includes Cochise Stronghold), as well as the Forest Supervisor. How things turn out is anybody's guess...
