sealcove

Sorry for the slow response, I got focused on other things after the caches in question early in the thread were resolved. That is a great question/suggestion. I view caching as way of getting people to the land in hopes of having a small impact on the rise of sedentary or indoor based activities. Caching appears to be a great bridge between peoples online and technology based lives with the outdoors, and since other traditional uses of the outdoors are in decline, anything that constructively reestablishes that connection is a good thing. As a land manager, my primary concern is that caches be in places that can withstand the use (as well as the likely routes that people will use to get to a cache). Assuming that criteria is met, it is certainly an interesting thought that I might be able to get some basic monitoring input from visitors to the cache. Perhaps I should look into creating a couple of caches with that intent as an experiment.

Problem solved! The publisher was kind enough to remove the caches, and I communicated my interest in suggesting some more suitable locations. Thanks again for the help. Douglas

I understand your concern. I have supplied my professional contact information with my communications to the publisher and the Groundspeak staff. It will be easy enough for them to verify that I do in fact manage the properties in question. Thanks, again for the help here folks. I will be sure to report back when the issue is resolved, and I should add that I am intentionality leaving out specifics on the caches in question. I truly want to give the cacher the benefit of the doubt, I don't think it is beneficial to call out this individual publicly. I am also happy to return the cache materials should I get to them first. Douglas

Thanks folks! I messaged the publisher and I am sure we will get this resolved. Not to worry, this does not hurt my view of geocaching. I even offered to chat with this individual about some more suitable locations. As I mentioned in my first post, I work with a few other cachers (is that the right word?) and they do an excellent job at getting permission and using our land in a careful manner. I suspect that cacher of these inappropriate sites has just gone a little off course, and I don't hold it against him or the activity. Douglas

Hello, I work as a land manager, and have a good relationship with a couple of geocachers who use a properties that are appropriate for this activity. I recently noticed two caches on this site that are not on suitable properties (both private), and no permission was ever requested to place either cache. I sent a message the person who created these caches, and received a polite but somewhat defiant response and no communication since or action on removing the caches from the site. I intend to remove the materials from the properties myself, but I need to have the caches removed from this database. I have a letter ready to go out to Groundspeak tomorrow, but I thought I would ask here in case I am missing a tool for flagging inappropriate caches. Any suggestions for having inappropriate caches removed from geocaching.com would be appreciated. Thanks, Douglas