Sandrich

Yeah, but that's mainly 'cause there are a very few, small-minded individuals that have nothing better to do than constantly attack our Org, and our good reviewers. It's just like elementary school, and the 3rd graders are jealous of the 5 th graders, but all they can do is shout and yell a lot. Eventually they will implode from everybody ignoring them to make them go away.

Ahem... IDNR's second geocaching contest, plus with the help of Trippy and Rusty at the Geocoin Store. Or the Ohio DNR or the West Virginia DNR, which both welcome geocaching in State Parks and State Forests with zero permit fees at any level. Both have hidden their own caches and sponsored event caches. Sounds like a "partnership" to me, just like Indiana. I am happy to see Michigan joining the club. For a price. Hey, good thing I said I was unaware, 'cause I really wuz! As for the "price", well, it goes to a good cause. Plus, the MI DNR has more acreage than any other DNR that is East of the Mississippi (before you let me know if that's right or wrong, that what's the MI DNR says, lol ). But the main thing is that our sport is now open and invited upon 14 million acres! Plus, (and again, I trust you the gentle reader to let me know) I am unaware of any other state's DNR actually partnering with a statewide Geocaching Organization to help manage the sport on those lands. But yes, we're happy to be a member of the "club", mucho thanxo!

and this one: Hi there, am very busy with r/l as well, so I prolly won't have lightening fast replies in here, hehehe... But, the main difference between old guidelines are as follows: 1. Individuals used to have pay a $35 fee to place a cache in DNR approved lands. This fee was inconsistently enforced, and thus there was confusion in the land. Now, MiGO will pay a blanket permit fee that covers every cache placed upon DNR approved lands, (on an annual basis) and no individual will have to pay ANYTHING to place a cache, (except for normal parking sticker fees, etc) 2. Also, there was quite a bit of confusion as to just which lands DNR would, or would not allow Geocaching to occur upon. This new Proposal specifically covers all 4 division of our state's DNR, and outlines the process, and procedures to place a cache on those lands. Sure the DNR still has control (but then, it's their lands), but that's the way it should be. Pretty much as long as we don't try to place a cache in a "sensitive" area, and get the land unit mngr.'s permission beforehand, we should be good. That covers approximately 14 million acres. Also, the new guidelines will be posted in MiGO very shortly. Please bear with us as we are doing a bit of restructuring and changing web hosts, etc. But it will be posted there very soon. Lastly no, the agreement would not cover Letterboxes, unless the Letterbox was a hybrid Geocache. DNR is certainly aware of letterboxing, but this agreement was reached upon for Geocaching. I have also enjoyed Letterboxing as well, but MiGO is a Geocaching Org, so I stuck to what I really know. So yes, this an historic agreement, and it WILL get posted, but please give us a wee bit of time. Mucho Thanxo!

After almost 4 years of negotiating with the DNR, MiGO (Michigan Geocaching Organization) is very pleased to announce that we have reached a new level of partnering, and have agreed upon some very important Guidelines and Procedures for Geocaching on *all* DNR approved lands! The scope of this historic agreement covers all 4 divisions of the DNR, and outlines the procedure for placing Geocaches, with DNR approval. Best of all, perhaps, is that the individual fee to place a Geocache is no longer going to be enforced. Instead, MiGO, as an organization, will pay (this year) $450.00 as a fee for a blanket permit, that covers the *entire* state! This amounts to approximately 14 million acres that we can now legally, and safely engage in our sport. We will be posting the Guidelines VERY soon, so keep an eye in the MiGO forums for details! I also want to thank each and every one of you responsible Geocachers. It is part and parcel because of your willingness to proactively be good stewards of our land, and demonstrate your cooperativeness with regards to partnering with the DNR, that makes this possible at all. So you all are to be congratulated individually, and as an Organization, for paving the way to an historic agreement with the DNR! We are unaware of any other State's DNR who has chosen to partner with a Geocaching Organization. Once again, MiGO is in the forefront of the Geocaching community, and will continue to work as diligently as possible for our GeoFamily.

Yeah... now it's down again! Arrrggggg! We really need a new hamster!

Rusty, Rusty, he's our man... If he can't review it, no one can! Go Rusty!

TeamSandrich woulf be willing to help

Do you have any timetable for accepting new categories (or subcategories)?

Well, I could see where this can be a subcategory of a larger Virtual category, but here the emphasis is upon those land use areas that specifically will not allow regular caches, but will allow for hiking (and thus virts). I am thinking that Parks, and other Recreation areas that do not allow for regular caching would be listed here. That way, you would have an easy reference to look at any parks in the database, and find one along your way. It simply will make finding that informatin much easier when you try to search for it.

Fine by me.

This category is for all the places that will not allow us to hide a physical cache, but will allow a virtual cache. Therefore, it should be placed under the "Places" section. I am thinking, in particular, of Park Systems, and DNR lands that expressly forbid the placement of physical caches, but allow for virtual caches. We may wish to further breakdown this category by state, to help in organizing the information. This could easily become a whopping huge category, so organization from the outset is a must.

Whipee Dip is simply a term that I've used, pretty much my whole life, to describe a road side ice cream stand. But that may reflect my Midwestern upbringing? So maybe we should simply call it Roadside Ice Cream Stands? The idea is that the place has to be centered around ice cream, not just a fast food item, or a more typical generic eatery. In other words, a "burger" joint wouldn't fit into this category (assuming it was a Mom-n-Pop).

My proposal is to highlight all those wonderful, road side, Mom-n-Pop, ice cream stands. They exist all over the nation, and would be a wonderful database for anyone travelling while 'caching. Therefore, this should be placed under the Places, (as in People, Places, or Things) section. (Or perhaps the Restaurants section?) Please note that any and all chains (i.e. Dairy Queen, Tasty Freeze, etc.) will NOT be allowed. Any history of the place, and any specialities, would be appreciated! Also, a mention of nearby 'caches would be helpful. EDIT: oops, I misspelled category in the above title. If a Mod could use her or his super powers and fix it, I would be most appreciative, ty!

We've just become aware of this topic in Michigan, so are watching with great interest. In our MiGO forums, we have asked our members to send an email in support of the cause.

Well, gosh. I was gonna post the above info, but (as usual ) the golf ball beat me to it. All I can add is that MiGO is being as proactive as possible in this area. The only other state in my research that charges a fee is NC, and the DNR there charges (take a guess) $35.00 as well. Hopefully, bringing in the proper State Rep will help our struggle.

Here in Michigan, almost all of us own Jeeps (the rest wish they did). Also, feel free to contact MiGO to let some TB's loose...

Way kewl!!! That's exactly it! Where is the code for this animal to be found?

test 2

eol

On the MiGO website there has been discussion of using a stat box in your profile, that automatically updates? Where is the code for this?

test

TeamSandrich has cached in the States and Canada. And if you are a seperatist, then we get 3 countries counting Quebec.

quote:Originally posted by Bull Moose: quote:Originally posted by Sandrich:IMHO: Approving of any geocache in a Wilderness Area is wrong. Period. Many times the Wilderness Area is also an ecologially sensitive area, and thus we should respect that. At least in the State of Michigan, we are doing everything in our power to abide by that simple tenet of being goos stewards of the land. Yeah, yeah, it all comes back to if you can find/plant a cache without destroying the landscape, or at least without doing more damage than a deer frollicking by. It has been debated in other threads endlessly. My point is if a professional USFD Ranger says it's OK in Mt. Baker Wilderness, I don't want some civilian jacking the cache because they don't like it or because that's not the way it's done in the UP or CO. ---Stats banner used to be here.--- If the local unit mngr gave the cache his or her blessing, that's good enough for me. Sometimes I forget that each state/region has it's own issues to be handled by various methods and means.

quote:Originally posted by Bull Moose: quote:Originally posted by Tahosa and Sons: ... but if it winds up in a Wilderness Area then I will remove with or without the sanction of the owner or Geocaching.Com. Hmm... Then I won't tell you about the cache in a Wilderness Area that I saw was just approved. Or for that matter the one I found not to long ago in a Wilderness Area. (You can figure it out yourself if you want.) (If no caches is the official policy of the particular Wilderness Area in your neck of the woods then never mind, I'm just being a jerk. ) IMHO: Approving of any geocache in a Wilderness Area is wrong. Period. Many times the Wilderness Area is also an ecologially sensitive area, and thus we should respect that. At least in the State of Michigan, we are doing everything in our power to abide by that simple tenet of being goos stewards of the land.

I actually had the dubious distinction of watching our site crumble. I was in the forums, then over the course of about 10 seconds, progressively lost functionality until zip. The thing with these forums is that, it seems like I'm always looking over my shoulder, wondering if Big Brother is gonna slap me down for having an opinion, and then expressing it.