RENO, Nev. - The U.S. Forest Service has issued a final order banning rock climbing at Lake Tahoe's Cave Rock, ending more than a decade of legal battles.

The action affecting the prominent rock formation on the lake's east shore ends a dispute between rock climbers and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.

The order, signed by Lake Tahoe Forest Supervisor Terri Marceron, follows an August decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a climbing ban ordered in 2003.

The Washoe tribe praised the order. According to Washoe lore, Cave Rock was a sacred place where tribal elders communed with powerful spirits.

"The problem was the desecration, the lack of respect," tribal Chairman Waldo Walker told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "It really dishonored the culture of the Washoe. That is why it was really significant."

But a Reno climber who had scaled Cave Rock in the past described its permanent closure as a significant loss.

"It was definitely a unique destination," Bryan Vogel, 23, said. "A loss of a climbing area of any kind is unfortunate. It is unfortunate it had to come to closure."

Other recreational activities such as hiking, picnicking and fishing will continue to be allowed.

Cave Rock, the eroded throat of a volcano, is cut by tunnels traversed by motorists on U.S. Highway 50.

At the urging of the Washoe tribe, the Forest Service first proposed a temporary closure of Cave Rock to climbers in 1997, touching off legal battles that spanned a decade.