Slacking in Boulder
Slacking in Boulder
All,
Here’s an update to Slacklining in Boulder. I’ve been gathering information and identifying contacts at the city.
I have a contact, through the Boy Scout Troop I volunteer for, that works for Boulder Mountain Parks. We were on a service project, and I asked him about slacklining, and the current state of legal / not legal in Boulder. He put me in contact with someone from the Forestry department. From there, the Assistant City Forester put me in touch with Boulder Risk Management as well as Parks & Rec. We’ve traded some emails, and they are willing to meet with some of us to discuss slacklining in Boulder.
For now, Tyler Shalvarjian and Heather Larsen are interested in joining me. I don’t think we should overwhelm them with people on the first meeting, but I would like to make sure I have all the points of view from the community in place. I’m hoping to set up a meeting for later this month.
Have any others recently worked with the city? If so, could you send me details about who you contacted, and what the result were? I’d like to make sure we’re consistent in our message to the city.
I sent them info from Slackline.us (see links in prior post). It contains a proposed city ordinance – though that may not be required. I sent them this email:
Earlier this summer, Tyler (included on this email) was issued a ticket from the Boulder Police for slacklining in Martin Park. We understand that the statute behind the ticket was Boulder Municipal Code 6-6-6, which prohibits attaching anything to trees in the city. As a side note, the slackliners are diligent about using ‘tree protection’ when they put their lines up.
Tyler is an active member of the CU Slacklining club, and I’ve been involved in slacklining for close to 30 years, though it’s my kids now who are the real slackliners. Between us, we’re connect to a large number of slackliners in Boulder, and we’d like to find a way to work with the city to make slacklining safe and legal.
I’m open to your ideas and thoughts as well – please contact me at ken at kgwagers dot com anytime.
Thanks,
Ken
Links to Slackline Access, Slacking in Boulder
Slacklining – keep it legal in Boulder, Colorado
Below is a series of links as a starting point for a conversation with Boulder officials.
My thoughts:
#1 – Always be respectful, even if you think officials are wrong.
#2 – Always use tree protection; tree damage will trump any thing else we can do.
#3 – Keep lines safe & monitored.
Flyers to use / hand out! Visit Slackline.us for more info.
University of Colorado Slackline rules (see section 15).
Boulder Municipal Code section 6-6-6
Associations
Slackline U.S. National Slackline Association
Slackline U.S. – Slackline Access to Public Lands document
International Slackline Association
Flyer by International Slackline Association for passers-by.
Slackline Groups by City/State
History of Slacklining
Boulder / Denver Other News Articles
Boulder Weekly Slacklining March 2017
Jefferson County Fixed Anchor info (via Access Fund)
Mountain Magazine Online – Slacklining is Not a Crime
Colorado Daily Article 8/24/2015
Daily Camera Article on 7/25/2015 discussing $250 ticket
Colorado Daily article discussing CU Boulder slackline rules
Colorado Daily article – discusses rules for CU Slacklining
Colorado Daily Article on Slacking for Trees
Daily Camera article about how Boulder City Council operates.
Denver Post article on Mickey Wilson (2015)
Boulder Parks & Recs
Boulder Parks & Recreation Liability Waiver
Link to Boulder Parks & Recreation main page
Link to Boulder Parks & Rec Master Plan
Link to Valmont Bike Park – most likely more dangerous than slacklining
Daily Camera article on Valmont Bike Park injuries
Jefferson County
Articles & other related links
Boulder Adventure Lodge and their slackline park
Northwest Slacklining resources for keeping slacklining legal
Shows damage to trees – wrong kind of trees used, no tree protection from slacklines
Miami Times article about police and slackliner interactions
Portland, OR article about slacklining. Discusses interaction with police and legality.
Video of positive police encounter in Seattle. 20 min.
Seattle article about drafting slacklining regulations. Follows up from video above.
Seattle news article about the video above.
Article about ‘Slacklining for a Cause’ raising funds for a charitable organization.
CU’s Slacking for Trees fund raiser
Daily Nebraskan article about prohibiting slacklining at University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Blog article about Austin, TX slacklining regulations.
Article about highlining in Verdon, France. Rules and regulations discussion.
Calgary Herald article about trying to gain approval to slackline.
UK Slacklining Code of Conduct
Slacklining as part of physical rehabilitation
State and National Parks
Papers
The first link below is a research study by a student in Jackson, Wyoming. This paper includes very good information, seems well researched, and addresses safety, tree damage and load, liability and other issues. It resulted in reasonable rules for Jackson parks. Quote from the paper from Jackson Certified Arborist Todd Graus: “Movement of the tree from slacklining merely mimics lateral forces that are produced by wind everyday”.
Senior capstone paper by Taylor Meadows.
A few colleges with clubs
University of Colorado (Closed group – request membership)
Brown
University of Puget Sound
Cal Poly Pomona
University of California – Berkley
Purdue
University of Minnesota
West Virginia University
Bates College
Humboldt State University
San Jose State
Rochester Institute of Technology
Where Slacklining is clearly legal (links below)
University of Colorado
Colorado School of Mines
University of Puget Sound
Aspen, CO
Austin, TX
Boise, ID
Chelan County, WA
Davis, CA
Madison, WI
Jackson, WY
Huntington State Park, UT
Lakewood, CO
San Luis Obisbo, CA
San Diego, CA
Wenatchee, WA
Westchester, PA
Yosemite National Park
Where Slacklining is probably not legal (links below)
University of Nebraska – Lincoln
University of Nevada – Reno
Isle Vista, CA
Miami, FL
Portland, OR
Policies / Regulations
Colorado Recreational Use Statute (thanks to American Whitewater for hosting the statue)
Links page from Slackline Technology. Links to a number of cities, parks and schools policies.
Slackline Technology document. This is a good document with a tree study by arborists.
Colorado School of Mines slacklining policy
Madison, WI slacklining rules and parks.
City of Davis, CA slacklining staff report.
Chelan County, WA slacklining rules.
Isla Vista, CA slacklining rules – prohibited in most cases.
Sal Luis Obisbo slacklining 12 month pilot program. Based on a study done by Arborists.
Final policy in San Luis Obisbo. This was adopted in 2013, five years after the study.
Slacklining rules for Wenatchee, WA
Boise, Idaho slacklining rules.
Bend, Oregon slacklining rules.
San Diego, CA Parks and Rec slacklining rules.
West Chester, Pennsylvania slacklining rules.
Austin, Texas slacklining rules.
Lakewood, Colorado slacklining rules for regional parks.
University of Nevada Reno – slacklining is illegal.