acpdnat

Wow, talk about going wildly off tangent. I put my faith in park directors/departments to keep those public spaces kept up to public use standards. There are reasons for regulations and none of them have anything to do with terrorism or knee-jerk reactions out of fear. Those regulations are meant to preserve these green spaces from abuse. I would hate to see a park that is free from oversight of a public official. While I don't agree with a decision to not allow geocaching in a public park, it isn't the park manager who made that call. It's the people who abused the system...caching after posted hours, littering, trampling through flowerbeds, damaging property...who decided that fate. Yes I agree! There are rules for a reason, and those who abuse them ruin it for everyone else. I hope that by establising this policy now, with the public's involvement, we will avoid this scenario.

I find it interesting that our culture is pretty quick to send in complaints to organizations and businesses, but not compliments. Imagine if everyone sent in thank yous for things like you are describing, then they could truly know how much of an affect things like this can have on a community. But since most of us don't bother to chime in when we're happy with something, they never know. I absolutly agree! What a great attitude to have! Like my Mother always said," If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all." But perhaps many more of us could say those nice things, they can make such a difference!

You are absolutly right and if you read my entire post "As a new geocacher and park volunteer, I am seeking fellow geocachers input on information to include in this policy" you would see this is a public forum and as a volunteer for a public run park system I am seeking public opinion.

I would like to thank everyone for the great opinions and advice. We will be sure to keep these points in mind and, we will be sure to keep the park rules short and sweet, while keeping the guidelines in mind. I think we may even be able to reconsider the trail rule (at least at one of the parks) However this is a general rule for all the parks, so we will have to consider this carefully. I hope to avoid over regulation here, our goal is to allow geocachers to use the park just as much as everyone else. I wll probly run the rough park policy by our local groups before final approval. Thanks again for all the help and great links!

I don't think that was a troll at all. If there are existing rules in place to prevent people from going off trail then those should be enforced for cachers. But, if no such rule currently exists for off-trail use, then different rule sets should not apply just because I put a GPSr in my hand. I agree, the rules for the trails are in place for the protection of the users as well as for protection of the property. (Think about why the trials were established in the first place.) I think there could be an exception to this rule if prior permission is granted because there are areas that would lend themselves to less restrictive use. But of course this is the point of this post, to insure that geocachers get a say in the parks policy, so I will certianly take this into consideration.

How are you going to communicate this policy? And maybe "near trails" should be defined a little better (10 ft, 100 ft?) And that rule should probably be included in the cache descriptions to keep cachers from wandering far off the trail looking for the caches. I drive by Ashland several times a year and look forward to seeing the result of this pro-active policy. The policy will be posted online @ ashlandcountyparksdistrict.com as well as each park information board.

Hello, The Ashland County Park District (Ashland,Ohio) is seeking to establish it's policy for geocaching within the park system. As a new geocacher and park volunteer, I am seeking fellow geocachers input on information to include in this policy. Our main goals are to allow geocaching without prior permission, or permits while protecting the park environment as whole. One Rule that is a must is to keep caches near the trails (no bushwacking) Otherwise I hope to gain your opinion for this policy. Thanks! Also, we are looking to have a geocaching event to intoduce people to each park. Any Ideas?