Fees

[stoelk]

I know this has been probably hashed out before but what do you honestly think about some of these fees certain counties and park districts are charging for GC's ?? ( see this link for a reference: http://www.wcfpd.org/Activities/Geocache.cfm ) [ " Nonregistered caches will be removed by District staff. All Geocaches to conform to existing preserve codes and regulations. $10 fee allows two caches to be put in preserves per calendar year. " ] I totally understand the written rules and the need for such. TOTALLY ! Do you really think the administration of the rules and 'additional' park traffic would require such a 'tax' ? I pay taxes to my park district like everyone else why can't I plant a Geocache without additional fees? Dog owners don't pay additional taxes neither do park denizens such as bikers, cross country skiers, kite flyers, hikers, sunbathers, bird watchers, drunks and drug dealers.......I think Geocachers actually many times "trash out" more then the average park user. We surely aren't more distructive. Am I out in left field on my opposition to GC fees? Discuss thoughts, comments concerns...

[+BlueDeuce]

(46)

 

My recommendation is to make them a deal, a yearly CITO in exchange for free caching. You'd CITO for free anyway, wouldn't you?

[+Torry]

Think of it as a luxury tax. A lot of state parks are feeling a major crunch in their budgets and not much relief is in sight. Many have gotten rid of non-revenue generating amenities to save on their upkeep. The decrease in costs helps the managers make their budgets but has also decreased traffic.

 

My sympathies are with the park rangers and caretakers who have slim trimmed down paychecks and increased duties. This is especially true in areas where the park service and ranger is the primary law enforcement agent. Many good folks have left the service for greener pastures as they cannot afford to keep their jobs.

Edited June 27, 2006 by Torry

[+BlueDeuce]

A lot of state parks are feeling a major crunch in their budgets and not much relief is in sight.

 

Heck, we used to have to pay just to enter the park as muggles.

 

I say use the power of geocachers and benefit the community. One event could collect enough money to pay for 20 caches. Forget that and pick up some trash without expecting anything in return.

[+cache_test_dummies]

$10 fee allows two caches to be put in preserves per calendar year.

Better than not allowing any geocaching at all, I guess.

[+JDandDD]

Reading their web site everything looks pretty reasonable to me. It looks like what they are really charging for is the staff time to evaluate the cache according to the criteria that they list right on the page. Evaluating the environmental sensitivity of the area in which the cache would be placed, any potential harm to habitat and rare species etc. sounds like a reasonable thing to me.

 

Its pretty clear you are paying for the evaluation by the Forest management staff not for the traffic etc. Compared to some jurisdictions they are at least willing to allow caches to be placed and not outright banning them. And its only $5 per cache which isn't extreme to make sure geocachers don't unwittingly do environmental damage.

 

JD

[magellan315]

Its unfornuate that they felt they had to charge a fee, there a plenty of examples of places that have no-fee permits. In those cases in just a way for park management to keep track of where the Geocaches are and make sure they don't get placed in a place they should not be.

 

You could always try trading caching hiding privleges for a yearly CITO, the would get more bang for their buck than collecting $10 for two cache permits. I have a local park system that has no fee permits. they still talk about the CITO we held for them last year. The park ranger said that was the turning point, when they understood we cared about the land as much as they did. they were also stunned y the amount of trash removed in three hours.

[Pokagon Nature Center]

Think of it as a luxury tax. A lot of state parks are feeling a major crunch in their budgets and not much relief is in sight. Many have gotten rid of non-revenue generating amenities to save on their upkeep. The decrease in costs helps the managers make their budgets but has also decreased traffic.

 

My sympathies are with the park rangers and caretakers who have slim trimmed down paychecks and increased duties. This is especially true in areas where the park service and ranger is the primary law enforcement agent. Many good folks have left the service for greener pastures as they cannot afford to keep their jobs.

 

Very true and well said Mr. Pig.

 

While I'm not a big fan of extra fees on top of the permit required, I do see the reasons for it. Most fees from larger agencies no doubt go into a larger fund, and are not specifically allocated to a "geocaching" fund. Saying that, I would bet that trading CITOs for a permit would be acceptable to many land managers. As a state park geocache permitter, I would be willing to make the trade. (though the IDNR does not charge).

 

I know of one small land management group that is charging $10 for a permit, and I know that money is going to pay the volunteer who is going through and emailing all the cache owners, removing non-compliant caches, and approving future ones.

 

As geocachers work with these agencies, I bet negotiations will eventually lead to the fees being dropped. Look at the work being done in Michigan by MIGO. I'm sure the MDNR fee charge will be a thing of the past in no time.

[+RichardMoore]

I know of one small land management group that is charging $10 for a permit, and I know that money is going to pay the volunteer who is going through and emailing all the cache owners, removing non-compliant caches, and approving future ones.

[MapheadMike]

Am I out in left field on my opposition to GC fees? Discuss thoughts, comments concerns...

Any park agency that tries to collect a fee from geocachers that they don't charge other hikers is absolutely wrong. Therefore, you are not in left field in your opposition.

 

A park service need not do any "work" related to geocaches. If a park wants to invent "work" regarding geocaches, they should do such work on their own time and existing budget.

 

As far as I'm concerned, a fee is a ban. If someone has actually paid a fee to place a cache, I would hope that they would disclose such a thing in the cache description, so I can stay away from that park, and select a park district that treats geocachers properly.

 

Meanwhile, go to the park district and talk about how the geocaching demographic (families, etc.) is preferable to the cruisers and druggies that populate parks when empty of legit users. And when they start to come around, then maybe you could include CITO and the occasional geo-tourism dollar.

[+The Jester]

I know of one small land management group that is charging $10 for a permit, and I know that money is going to pay the volunteer who is going through and emailing all the cache owners, removing non-compliant caches, and approving future ones.

My thought exactly!

[+Map Only]

Let us look at the logical conclusion of the fee-for-use-of-public-land mindset. Wouldn't it be fair if every US resident spent two weeks each year writing a separate check for each local, state and federal agency in the country? Think of all the time our public servants would have after ensuring that each of us had made proper payment. I'm sure that would be best.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Think of it as a luxury tax. A lot of state parks are feeling a major crunch in their budgets and not much relief is in sight. Many have gotten rid of non-revenue generating amenities to save on their upkeep. The decrease in costs helps the managers make their budgets but has also decreased traffic.

 

My sympathies are with the park rangers and caretakers who have slim trimmed down paychecks and increased duties. This is especially true in areas where the park service and ranger is the primary law enforcement agent. Many good folks have left the service for greener pastures as they cannot afford to keep their jobs.

I agree 110%. Geocaching is a luxury, and we are asking to place a container on the property which they manage. No problem here with that.

In fact, one way in which we express our gratitude to two large state parks located near us is that we work as volunteer cache/letterbox reviewers for them, to offload such tasks from their overworked rangers and DNR administrators. The arrangement turns out to be win-win for all, for the DNR administrators who run the park, for geocachers (from all listing services), for letterboxers, and for us.

[+BlueDeuce]

In fact, one way in which we express our gratitude to two large state parks located near us is that we work as volunteer cache/letterbox reviewers for them, to offload such tasks from their overworked rangers and DNR administrators. The arrangement turns out to be win-win for all, for the DNR administrators who run the park, for geocachers (from all listing services), for letterboxers, and for us.

 

Well there you go. Good job.

 

 

 

Edit: Stupid quote functionality

Edited June 28, 2006 by BlueDeuce