National Parks Don’t Allow Geocachers But…

[+Criminal]

National Parks Don’t Allow geocachers but…

 

Some snippets from the story:

 

Mountains of trash, recurring fires, despoiled natural springs, vandalized historic sites and disappearing wildlife are part of the devastating toll...

 

At Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, 2 1/2 million pounds of garbage are scattered through broad valleys and desert arroyos every year...

 

Illegal "ghost roads" carved by smugglers and pursuing federal agents crisscross Cabeza Prieta and nearby Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Sections of Organ Pipe are deemed so dangerous that the National Park Service has closed them to the public.

 

The constant human pressure is threatening to eliminate the area's wildlife.

 

I think this was their solution:

"We're getting hammered," DiRosa said...

[+briansnat]

A few years ago someone placed a cache a litter strewn area that turned out to be part of the Gateway National Recreation area. The NPS demanded that the cache be removed and it was. But the the discarded refrigerators, tires and other debris are still there. Go figure.

[magellan315]

It would be intersting to see what would happen if Geocachers engaged in some quid pro quo. Offer to hold a CITO in exchange for the opportunity to place caches inthe areas the clean out.

[bogleman]

We folks are a bunch of pigs. I guess it is cheaper to let it stay there than pick it up or put a dumpster in the area.

[+Renegade Knight]

You have to love how they solved the problem. To paraphrase.

 

"Due to illegals, we have closed much of the parks to the legals."

[+clearpath]

Offer to hold a CITO in exchange for the opportunity to place caches inthe areas the clean out.

Some trash dumps are massive and would be expensive to clean. My family is part of a group called "Friends Of The Kaw" which helps to keep the Kaw (or Kansas) river clean. This group recently or is planning on removing an old tire dump on the banks of the river. It will involve front loaders and other heavy equipment. Not to mention a lot of people power. Clean ups are expensive, thats why most trash hasn't been removed.

[+Big Sky Explorers]

You have to love how they solved the problem. To paraphrase.

 

"Due to illegals, we have closed much of the parks to the legals."

 

SAD!!! Our TAX money at work....or NOT!!

[bordercrazy]

You have to love how they solved the problem. To paraphrase.

 

"Due to illegals, we have closed much of the parks to the legals."

 

Yep.

[+edscott]

A few years ago someone placed a cache a litter strewn area that turned out to be part of the Gateway National Recreation area. The NPS demanded that the cache be removed and it was. But the the discarded refrigerators, tires and other debris are still there. Go figure.

 

OK so just put a logbook in a refrigerator that they are already housing on the property.

[+Semper Questio]

A few years ago someone placed a cache a litter strewn area that turned out to be part of the Gateway National Recreation area. The NPS demanded that the cache be removed and it was. But the the discarded refrigerators, tires and other debris are still there. Go figure.

 

OK so just put a logbook in a refrigerator that they are already housing on the property.

 

BRILLIANT!

[+BillsBayou]

OK so just put a logbook in a refrigerator that they are already housing on the property.

 

Yeah, until someone calls the bomb squad to blow it up.

 

"...repeated visits to the area by suspicious looking people with GPS receivers..."

[+ParrotRobAndCeCe]

I think this was their solution:

"We're getting hammered," DiRosa said...

 

Yes, yes, that's a perfectly logical solution to just about anything.

[+Sagefox]

We were lucky enough once to be able to place and keep a regular geocache in Death Valley National Park. This was at a time when one of the rangers had a gc.com account in order to remove physical cache containers and then post a note stating they were not allowed in the park. Several containers had been removed.

 

This was in April of 2002. We built a rock container and added a large flat rock lid noted on the cache page that only local rocks should be put in and any non native items found in the container should be removed. The rangers let it live and it stayed active until I archived it later on for non National Park reasons.

 

I'm posting from our old iMac and the easy link options don't appear to be available so here is the link:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ef-4ab1e0299014

[+Kit Fox]

This very topic was my sig line for quite a while.

 

The NPS sits idly, while an "invasive species" destroys our National Parks, yet they refuse to allow a "box under a bush."

 

See also http://www.desertinvasion.us/

Edited March 7, 2006 by Kit Fox

[+wildearth2001]

I live near Tucson and have seen all of this first hand. One of my caches was placed on top of a hill which was covered by debris left by "Campers". Thankfully cachers worked to clean out the area and it is now trash free. Last summer while field checking an orienteering map in and area with several caches, I was busy mapping new "game trails" when I decided to sit down and take a break, in just 30mins sitting under this tree over 200 aliens walked down that trail, and I'm sure this isnt the only trail out there. Often I come across abandoned trucks with no license plate just sitting in the middle of the road, often with the tires blown out and have had to call 911 to get agents out there to remove the vehicle. I live adjacent to the Ironwood FOrest National Monument (which is where all of what I just descirbed happened) and the area is great for the local scout troops to camp, but most dont fell comfortable out there, and if they do camp they circle the trucks around the tents and a leader stays up all night. ITs crazy out here.