M & S - Eureka

I have not received any of my pocket queries since late last month. I sent an e-mail to the contact address and have not had a response. I also see I did not receive a travel bug notice on December 7. It appears there is some problem with my e-mail address in the system. The address shown on my cache page is correct. Thanks for checking this out. Just got back from Vancouver, BC and missed not having the pocket query info.

I see this as an opportunity whether than a problem. People who made threats of prosecution, are just helping to educate others. The underlining purpose of the Act is "to secure, protect, and perserve significant caves...for the perpetual use, enjoyment, and benefit of all people" (section 4301). Section 4301 also states the acts purpose is to foster increased cooperation and info exchange between the government and the users. Section 4303 requires "consultation with appropriate private sector interests, including cavers." While cavers get special mention, geocachers would be another of these appropriate private sector interests. Whether than argue with another user group, go directly to the agency and consult. If there are conflicts, it is the agency who has to manage the issue. The agency is going to tell you what regulations they would apply. Or you could help work out new management options. This is another chance to demonstrate cachers concern for responsible use.

Though not an attorney, I spent 29+ years in resource enforcement. In my reading of this law, it would be a valid law and upheld in court. The courts would balance the definitions, goals, and limits within the law, against the individuals right of free speech. Courts have placed limits on free speech such as the classic yelling fire in a crowded location and government "top secrets". This law was passed in 1988. It requires specific actions to be taken by the government to designate significant caves. Specific findings have to be made that certain resources are found in the cave which could be harmed. If these these are all found, the cave can be listed as significant. From what I could find the prosecution of these cases are handle via administrative civil penalities. I would guess that for a person to claim a free speech right here, they would have to show the cave was improperly determined to be significant; the act itself was overbroad or unnecessary in its stated goals; or that they would suffer some harm by this limit on their free speech. Since this was passed in 1988, and I found ongoing code of regulations updates, an individual would have a hard time defending themselve on free speech grounds. The big problem: how to determine if a cave has been designated significant. It appears both the Departments of Interior and Agiculture don't maintain master lists. In the case of Agriculture, I find a regulation which says each National Forest is to maintain its own list. It appears a person would have to contact the Federal agency responsible for the land the cave is on and ask.

Another reason to look for them; they've often have been destroyed or moved so are no longer valid. I wasn't in town to take the pictures of this one the day it came down, but was able to log it with a link to video. http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.asp?PID=LV0826

Goofed on last post and didn't get the picture loaded.

We had a pile of wood from repairs to our old house. So we have been carving it into Redwood tree magnets. We also attach them to lids of cache containers we put out. At current rates of use, we should get rid of the pile in about 2403.

I retired from a wildlife enforcement agency. We often used the GPS to map violations. Some cases were spread over several miles, and the mark and transfer to maps made life much easier. Our biggest use, was in locating possible violations with planes. The plane could cover large areas and provide the coordinates to ground units. Always was fun walking in on some one who thought they were hidden from the world. We could cover the same amount of country with a half dozen officers, as it would take a couple of dozen on the ground.