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Seattle City Parks Dept. Policy on caches in Discovery park.


nevcowpok

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As the note from Team Misguided says, they are still trying to work out a solution with the folks from Seattle Parks. Do not jump to any conclusions about Seattle Parks in general.

 

The operative paragraph is:

 

Groundspeak has received an email from Seattle City Parks with regards to caches in Discovery Park. They are concerned with the impact of caches in some sensative areas and have asked that all caches in the park be removed. We are currently in the process of setting up a meeting to discuss this and hope to show them how geocaching can be a benefit to their park.
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Thanks for pointing that out Weightman. To comply fully with their request I would have 'removed the caches from the website'. I've only disabled the caches in the hopes that we can work something out.

 

I would encourage anyone that owns a cache in the park to get out and pick up their container SOON. The park is picking up caches as they find them right now. (I apologize for not mentioning that in my disable note, I only picked up on that when I re-read the email this morning)

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I would encourage anyone that owns a cache in the park to get out and pick up their container SOON. The park is picking up caches as they find them right now.

 

Does that mean that they are actively searching for them? Have they requested coordinates of the multis and puzzles? I think that would be a pretty silly waste of their time. I'd pay money to watch someone with no GPS or geocaching experience search for a few that I have in mind. :(

 

As long as I have an opening for a rant:

 

<rant>

For a public entity to unilaterally institute a policy without public deliberation and without even the courtesy of a grace period or warning is pretty arrogant.

 

If they claim the right to confiscate what they consider to be litter or abandoned property, I must point out that an active geocache is neither. On the other hand, I consider the removal of a cache to be theft. Petty theft? We don't consider caches as having much, if any monetary value, but consider what it really costs to establish a cache in time and effort. What would you charge if geocaching were a profession? I doubt that the simplest traditional geocache would come in much under $1,000 from my geocaching consulting firm. The parks department could be in some serious legal trouble.

</rant>

 

Do not take the above rant too seriously. None of that stuff has happened yet as far as I know, except for a short lived night cache a couple years ago, that had all its fire tacks removed. We'll just have to wait and see.

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Wake up and smell the coffee. The park system has seen increased users and no additional funds because of geocaching. Like many others, I have visited almost every park in the city to find a geocache. I hate to be cynical but after seeing what came about after the negotiations with the State Parks I doubt that caching in the Seattle Parks will be anything like it is now in the months to come. A person would have to be a fool to think it is just enviromental issues. If it weren't for caching I would have never known about the Metal Bugs Of Mystery. Peace, Nolenator

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Wake up and smell the coffee. The park system has seen increased users and no additional funds because of geocaching.

 

Increased users? What...maybe 10 a month in the dry season? All 4 months of it?

 

All they're doing is flexing muscles.

 

Someone in the Department is trying to make a name for him/her self. Probably bucking for a promotion.

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I think you guys sorta see my point. We leave a huge digital paper trail of park usage by our logs on caches in the parks. Names, dates and even number of people in our group. Shop99er, I think your estimates might be a bit low. These folks likely give a rats patute about small geotrails that are made. The question is how do we show that our park usage is positive and add to the better of the park? Yeah CITO events are great, but I have never been to one because I do it on a regular basis anyway. Remember folks, I am a muck raker trouble maker not a politician. Peace, Nolenator

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These folks likely give a rats patute about small geotrails that are made.

 

Actually they do care. The fact that many of the caches are off trail and creating geotrails is part of the problem. Since you mentioned CITO's there hasn't been a CITO done in a Seattle City Park to the best of my memory. Why not?

 

Well, then maybe that is a question that should be addressed in the review process. What kind of impact will your cache have on the area it is placed? Even better... Why are you placing it there?

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Sad! I hope we can come to an understanding with these folks.

 

Actually, I'm glad someone else mentioned the geo-trails. I haven't done many caches at Discovery, but the one that sticks out in my mind is Seattle's First Geocache. I found it pretty early on, and I remember thinking, hmmmm, if this one gets popular there is going to be a REALLY distinct trail leading to it. I'm not sure of the sensitivity of the area (I remember 6 foot high nettles) but it is really off any beaten path. That tends to make me nervous personally, to be that far off trail in an official park. Out in the woods is one thing.

 

Discovery Park is on my list of "need to go back" geocaching destinations. I hope we can work with them to get at least some caches reinstated.

 

Sarah

WATreasureHunters

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Sad! I hope we can come to an understanding with these folks.

 

Actually, I'm glad someone else mentioned the geo-trails. I haven't done many caches at Discovery, but the one that sticks out in my mind is Seattle's First Geocache. I found it pretty early on, and I remember thinking, hmmmm, if this one gets popular there is going to be a REALLY distinct trail leading to it. I'm not sure of the sensitivity of the area (I remember 6 foot high nettles) but it is really off any beaten path. That tends to make me nervous personally, to be that far off trail in an official park. Out in the woods is one thing.

 

Discovery Park is on my list of "need to go back" geocaching destinations. I hope we can work with them to get at least some caches reinstated.

 

Sarah

WATreasureHunters

I remember thinking the same thing myself when I found it. I think I was second to find on that one after Nevcowpok. I suspect that one is one that the parks people just had to follow the trail to. In that case they would not need a GPSr or coords to find. How many times have we just followed the geotrail to the cache once we got close?

 

I had to find a new placement for my Kubota Garden cache because a geotrail developed. A trail had come into being there and someone followed it and found (and took) the cache. When I met with the head gardener about a new placement he mentioned that he had followed the trail beyond the cache and it just stopped. The trail was only there because of geocaching. The new placement is in a place where a geotrail can't develop. The old location no longer shows the trail.

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I think it's time that we all need to reevaluate our placement techniques. Bushwhacking in a developed park or park where off-trail walking is frowned upon or prohibited or other areas where the flora will be trampled should be avoided. And if a cache is near an area that could be damaged by extended searching a good clue should be provided. To have an outright ban on caching is not reasonable behavior of our public officials.

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I think it's time that we all need to reevaluate our placement techniques. Bushwhacking in a developed park or park where off-trail walking is frowned upon or prohibited or other areas where the flora will be trampled should be avoided. And if a cache is near an area that could be damaged by extended searching a good clue should be provided. To have an outright ban on caching is not reasonable behavior of our public officials.

Well said! The most damage I've seen is when caches are placed in a wooded area with poor signal and no good clues. Lots of vegetation trampling, sometimes over an extended area - much worse than a single geotrail, imho.

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Well said! The most damage I've seen is when caches are placed in a wooded area with poor signal and no good clues. Lots of vegetation trampling, sometimes over an extended area - much worse than a single geotrail, imho.

 

Here, here!!!

 

This may come as a surprise to anyone who has heard me rant about not enough regular sized caches to find with the kids so that they can trade but, I actually enjoy a good well placed micro when it's placed in a spot that will not be harmed by searchers. There are many micros that are on my 'favorites' list.

 

[rant]

What I don't like is how the default container seems to have become the micro. There is absolutly no reason to hide a micro in a wooded area that could easily support a larger container. All this does is cause frustration for finders and speeds up the creation of a big geo-bulls-eye around the cache area. When anyone considers a cache placement they should always try to use the largest appropriate container for the environment. [/rant]

 

The above is just the personal opion of someone who should have gone to bed an hour ago. <_<

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I agree that large scale damage (rocks turned over, bark pulled off trees, lots of trampling) in general can be bad, but I've never been convinced why a trail itself is bad. The parks themselves make trails for things, as well as paved trails. Deer make trails. Etc. Why is a geotrail bad? Is it only because the park itself didn't make it? Because otherwise, it's no more "bad for the environment" than any of the other examples that I gave (maybe less in some cases).

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LOL I think I have seen areas that look exactly like that!! I have finally figured out that I don't have to find every cache, I have started putting micros with bad coordinates on my ignore list. I have noticed that the caches that wind up there are usually from the same cacher who thinks this would be a great idea, and that it makes their cache sneaky. Is there any hope for such a case?

Edited by Harriet the Spy
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LOL I think I have seen areas that look exactly like that!! I have finally figured out that I don't have to find every cache, I have started putting micros with bad coordinates on my ignore list. I have noticed that the caches that wind up there are usually from the same cacher who thinks this would be a great idea, and that it makes their cache sneaky. Is there any hope for such a case?

 

IMHO the best thing to do would be for more people to take this attitude.

 

Back when I started caching, and there were far fewer caches & cachers out there. We pretty much knew whose coordinates to trust and whose you didn't. (you can still do that to some extent today but there's a lot more people to keep track of) I specifically remember with one cacher that we wouldn't even attempt to find their cache until Hazard had found it and posted his coordinates, we knew his would be spot on.

 

What seems to happen right now is cacher XYZ decides to hide an evil micro and for what ever reason the coordinates are off by more than the normal margin of error. People go out and find the cache and because we are nice people here in the Northwest they compliment the hider on the evil hide. A few might mention the bad coordinates, but most don't. XYZ takes this as an endorsement of his hiding style and goes out and places several more just like it or worse yet XYZ tries to be even more evil with each additional cache hide. To compound the problem newer cachers may seek out these caches and, not having any experience with a non-evil micro with good coordinates, they think this is how the game is played so when they get ready for their first cache hide they repeat what they are familiar with. Now we have XYZ cacher & ZYX cacher both placing evil micros with bad coordinates.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that we can talk about change all we want but actions speak louder than words. One of the things we talk about to land managers is how the community is self-policing. If you see a bad cache placement, either because of poor coordinates or poor judgment, say something other than TFTC. One of the most common things I hear when I point out a guideline problem during a cache review is "I saw a cache just like it here, here, here & here". When I look at those caches I see find logs from cachers who I know would have noticed the guideline issue with the placement but for what ever reason choose to do nothing about it.

 

If a few people had expressed concern about the off-trail placements in Discovery Park sooner we might not be where we are today. The reviewer team can’t physically check every cache, we don’t monitor the logs for every cache either. We rely on the community to alert us to problems through Should be Archived notes, Needs Maintenance Logs or via private emails. I’ve said this before but the situation calls for it to be repeated: If we want to be able to play our game free from governmental regulation we have to do a better job of regulating ourselves.

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I agree with everything Team Misguided said. I think we all need to be more vocal when we see problem caches. Unfortunately, I can't think of any time when I've identified an issue and the cache owner has done anything about it. You can point out that a cache is on private property apparently without permission; that the terrain rating and/or coordinates are wrong and causing people to search where they should not; that the container or some element of the listing is causing people to search where they should not; that the cache is placed in an area where it should not be; that the cache causes people to search in an area or in a way that is likely to attracted negative attention to the activity; etc., and such comments seem largely to be ignored by the people inclined to place such caches. If the answer is a "Should be archived" log, I'm up for that but don't want to be the only one doing it and be labeled a cache cop. I think this (policing and educating ourselves) is the most important thing we can do to protect this activity, especially in the wild places that many of us enjoy most. How do we get the community behind this concept?

 

Edit: Of course right after I hit "Post" I thought of one case where the cache owner made a correction. Don't want to be called a liar! <_< Still, that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

Edited by Lightning Jeff
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I too feel as though my hands are tied about poor cache placements, and it may be a lack of knowledge on my end. I have always thought that if a cache met the guidelines then there was nothing to be done about it. If it was a dangerous cache placed 2 feet from a busy road, but met all of the guidelines it was able to stay put. I don't mind posting an SBA, if the cache has multiple DNF's and the owner isn't taking care of it, (primarily when I am planning a caching day and they keep popping up in my searches) or clearly in violation of guidelines. Nothing like the big red x to get an owners rear in gear to take care of things, but should a reviewer be notified if geotrails are developing in public parks, or if the cache is in a dangerous location (like the one above)?

 

I too believe in self policing, and that we are all supposed to be a "cache cop" if we don't want a governmental agencies butting in. But I also don't want to waste a reviewers time emailing about things that aren't important.

 

I guess I need a suggested list of problems on what to contact a reviewer about.

 

And of course there are a couple of situations going on in my own backyard that I am filtering all my thoughts through.

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I hope this thread isn't going to be used to pick on a certain cache or cacher but to address the problem as a whole.

 

With that said here is my little rant.

 

Disclaimer: There are a lot of these out there so I'm not picking on anyone in particular.

 

[rant /on]

Caches placed in your yard. While these may be nice and easy to maintain it should be started clearly on the listing which house is your house. IE: house number color and other important identifying features. I don't know if your neighbor is "Joe CrackHead" or "Mr. shoot first ask questions later", as I'm poking around their bushes or entering their yard.

[rant /off]

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I have a cache in Discovery Park..Used to be biking trails..if you read the write up it is about the fact that when I was a kid we were allowed to ride our bikes on the trails in the park. NOT NOW! You can only ride a bike of any sort..even my kid's little bike on the roads.. no trails. This is one example of Discovery Parks "people" trying to control the environment and how the park is used. Now it is about caches. My biking cache is off an older paved road (read old landing strip) in a little know part of Discovery Park..under a log. It bothers no one and is in an area rarely visited by anyone unless they are chasing a dog off leash. I see no reason for the parks people to fret about such things. They should spend more time chasing down the homeless campers and the teenagers having keggers out on the bluff.

 

As for micros in the woods..I have placed a few of those for many reasons but all need to realize..if you are looking for a micro in a wooded area..stop and think. Where is a logical place..how would the owner come back and check on it..those thoughts are key to finding a well placed micro. Destruction is never necessary and never the intent of the hider.

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As for micros in the woods..I have placed a few of those for many reasons but all need to realize..if you are looking for a micro in a wooded area..stop and think. Where is a logical place..how would the owner come back and check on it..those thoughts are key to finding a well placed micro. Destruction is never necessary and never the intent of the hider.

I have to disagree. A micro in a location that would support a larger container is never a well-placed cache. Far better to resist the impulse, mark the location, and return another time with an appropriate container. If you don't want to go through the effort to come back, the location probably wasn't that special anyway. Then again, there's always runhills' solution to the dilemma. Unfortunately, it only works if you happen to have a spare Moun10Bike coin.

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If anyone is interested, a contact form for Seattle Parks and Rec.

 

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/contact/Form.asp

 

I just sent a respectful note identifying myself, why I think geocaching is important as an outdoor activity in Seattle Parks, and a comment that I hoped their concerns could be addressed and still allow geocaching to continue.

 

Key word there is respectful, BTW. If I hear back from them, I will let ya'll know.

 

Sarah

WATreasureHunters

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If anyone is interested, a contact form for Seattle Parks and Rec.

 

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/contact/Form.asp

 

I just sent a respectful note identifying myself, why I think geocaching is important as an outdoor activity in Seattle Parks, and a comment that I hoped their concerns could be addressed and still allow geocaching to continue.

 

Key word there is respectful, BTW. If I hear back from them, I will let ya'll know.

 

Sarah

WATreasureHunters

 

I couldn't help but drop a polite note myself. Thanks for the link.

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The person in charge of Discovery park is currently out of town at a conference. When she returns we are going to try to set up a time to meet, likely after the first of the year. I know that's not as soon as some of you may like, but the holiday season is busy for everyone and after the first of the year seems to be the best time to schedule a meeting.

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If anyone is interested, a contact form for Seattle Parks and Rec.

 

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/contact/Form.asp

 

I just sent a respectful note identifying myself, why I think geocaching is important as an outdoor activity in Seattle Parks, and a comment that I hoped their concerns could be addressed and still allow geocaching to continue.

 

Key word there is respectful, BTW. If I hear back from them, I will let ya'll know.

 

Sarah

WATreasureHunters

 

I couldn't help but drop a polite note myself. Thanks for the link.

 

Though some of you might be interested in seeing the reply email that I received from the City of Seattle Parks. It might provide some additional insight into the situation.

 

For what it is worth...

 

November 30, 2007

 

Thank you for contacting us about geocaching in Discovery Park.

 

There is not an outright ban on geocaching in Discovery Park. But because

geocaching was done without permission from us as the property owner and was

done in harmfully inappropriate ways, we have reached an agreement with

Playtime for one-day-only geocaches to be created in conjunction with

Discovery Park's environmental education staff. In that way, staff can

ensure that the geocaching is done in ways that do no harm to wildlife and

habitat.

 

Previous geocachers in Discovery Park have created social trails in

environmentally sensitive areas that should have no trails, and have damaged

habitat restoration areas. One geocache project even placed an object in the

nest of a pair of rare long-eared owls; the nest was subsequently abandoned

and the long-eared owls have not nested in the park since.

 

If you have further questions about geocaching in Discovery Park, you can

reach Penny Rose, Public Education Program Specialist at Discovery Park

Environmental Learning Center, at penny.rose@seattle.gov or (206) 386-4250.

 

Sincerely,

Laurie Dunlap

Superintendent's Office, Seattle Parks and Recreation

Edited by Blue Power Ranger
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I received the exact same response from Seattle Parks.

 

Frankly, I'm not sure there is a lot to say in defense. Someone put a cache in an owl nest!?!? I assume unknowingly.

 

Bummer. I am still curious about the meeting TM is having with the folks after the 1st of the year, but it sounds like they have put a policy in place to protect their park.

 

After the horse is out of the barn, of course, but was there any inkling that this was on the horizon before it happened. Ya know, did we miss the chance to be proactive?

 

Sarah

WATreasureHunters

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One geocache project even placed an object in the

nest of a pair of rare long-eared owls; the nest was subsequently abandoned

and the long-eared owls have not nested in the park since.

 

I find this odd. I'm only an amateur bird watcher, so I may not be 100% on this.

Asio Otus (long eared owl) is far from a rare bird.

However, it's nest is comprised of sticks and branches, typically from a Raven/Crow, or other larger bird, and sometimes squirrel nests, that have been abandoned, or taken over. In order for one to place a nest, there has to be a nest of the type it likes to be occupied. As well, they determine their nesting according to feeding patterns, if there is no food, they will not nest in an area.

If the parks dept is controlling the rodent population in discovery park, then that is the reason that the owl would leave, not due to an inadvertently placed object in it's nest. If it found such an object it would toss it out.

They are not a helpless type of owl, quite the contrary. I've seen these birds seriously put the hurt on other animals.

As well, they also prefer to feed in open areas, but nest in densely forested, or at least somewhat thicketed areas. They also prefer softwoods to hardwoods.

 

Anyways, we can't be sure that was a gc.com geocacher anyway. The quoted letter references a "geocaching project". who knows what that is supposed to mean. </rant>

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I too received the same generic e-mail. It is a sad day for geocaching, the first cache placed in Seattle was in Discovery Park, and for nearly eight years geocachers have enjoyed the beauty of this great city park, as well the many geocaching adventures there.

 

I have never in nearly eight years of geocaching seen a cache placed in a birds nest, and if I had I would contact the owner of the inappropriateness of such a cache. What I do know is GeoTeaming uses the park, and on two occasions I have ran into there mob running W :) illy, Nelly all over the place, and on one occasion I found one of there containers abandoned, after there event...

 

This is a very troublesome precedent !!!!

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Previous geocachers in Discovery Park have created social trails in

environmentally sensitive areas that should have no trails, and have damaged

habitat restoration areas. One geocache project even placed an object in the

nest of a pair of rare long-eared owls; the nest was subsequently abandoned

and the long-eared owls have not nested in the park since.

 

I think I found most of the caches that were in this park in the last couple years. I wonder which came first, did a cache placement cause a social trail or did a pre-existing social trail make the placement of a cache easier? I can only think of one placement that was questionable but it was a difficult puzzle so not very many people visited it, thus no social trail resulted.

 

I remember a newspaper article a couple years ago about letterboxing. An enthusist implied there were dozens of letterboxes in the park.

 

It's too bad that preconcieved notions are taking hold. Pity.

Edited by Kiersolvd
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I know about the "If you can play frisbee there..." rule, but they do have a point. They own the park...did anyone get permission before hiding a cache there? I thought not...and I'm just as guilty in the parks here in Monroe.

 

From what the email said, I can't figure out if this is a one park only situation because of the agreement with Playtime, or if it's just the start of a purge for all Seattle parks...neither would surprise me...

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Yeah, neither did I (regarding letterboxing), but I'm not a registered user, so wasn't sure if I was missing something.

 

Well. for those of you with placement in Seattle Parks, I would take this as the chance to be proactive that we (maybe) didn't have before. Clean up those spots, get the caches out of the birds nests, and possibly disable any caches that a social trail COULD be blamed on a nearby cache. Better to be safe than banned from Seattle Parks altogether.

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My last position before retirement was as a volunteer coordinator for Seattle Parks. One of the parks where I worked with staff and volunteers was Discovery Park. I completely understand their concerns. I have expressed some of those concerns to fellow cachers while caching in Discovery Park. I now regret not doing more than that at the time.

 

How many of you are aware of the incredible efforts of the staff and volunteers at Discovery Park to restore the park over the past 20+ years? Are you aware of all of the trail erasures that have been done? Do you know how many years it takes compacted soil (on social trails) to recover for re-growth?

 

Geo-trails (social trails) are not desirable in a park such as Discovery Park. If every person/group in the city would be allowed to do whatever they wanted to in this park, it would no longer be the treasure that it is now. One geo-trail maybe doesn't sound bad, but many? And more to come?

 

I think the solution is to work more closely with department staff at particular locations. I obtained permission for the only cache I own in a Seattle Park and also had the location of the hide approved by them before submitting the cache to geocaching.com. I know that other cachers do the same.

 

I have also worked with the staff at the Tacoma Nature Preserve in order to place caches there. Once you are working together, staff tends to be pleased about caching and sometimes uses your caches in their classes. They will even let you volunteer to assist in teaching those classes.

 

And in Olympia, I have been designated "unofficial watchdog" for caches in their parks. Two times I have asked cache owners to change things about their caches to prevent potential damage, and both times the cache owners took immediate action.

 

I am offering my time to join you when you meet with the Discovery Park staff. I know Penny Rose and believe that she will be glad to work out a compromise agreement. Every cache gets approval before placement. Cache pages clearly state "keep feet on trail" when coordinates are taken in areas of poor reception. Staff may even want to suggest locations for caches - places they want cachers to walk to and see.

 

Maybe each person placing a cache in the park should have to do 25 hours of volunteeer service there to gain appreciation of the efforts being put forth to keep this park in good condition for many future years?

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...

How many of you are aware of the incredible efforts of the staff and volunteers at Discovery Park to restore the park over the past 20+ years? Are you aware of all of the trail erasures that have been done? Do you know how many years it takes compacted soil (on social trails) to recover for re-growth?

...

Maybe each person placing a cache in the park should have to do 25 hours of volunteeer(sic) service there to gain appreciation of the efforts being put forth to keep this park in good condition for many future years?

 

I hate to say it but this may be one of the best ways to remedy this type of situation. I clean up trash, collect cans, and regularly clear invasive species away from native ones, in the local park. When you see just how much these parks workers have to accomplish, it's incredible. Consequently this is the only park I've placed a cache in.

I also do completely agree with the sentiment that if you work WITH the parks dept, they are usually very excited to learn about Geocaching. I've found that many of them think it's really "cool".

 

Also, just some of the stuff these parks workers are forced to deal with:

Article in Times

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I'm finding some of Discovery Park's claims hard to believe. Witness a recent letter sent to a Discovery Park cache owner: Discover This! archival log.

 

Now, some info about long-eared owls in WA. In WA, they are primarily found East of the Cascades, where they are quite common. This would not make them "rare" as Discovery Park claims - it is simply that they do not belong here. Also note that they like to nest in abandoned crow and hawk nests. Have you ever seen a crow or hawk nest that wasn't at a significant elevation up a tree? It is absurd to think a geocacher placed a cache in a nest like that. Since crows are known to steal shiny objects, it's far easier to imagine a crow depositing a shiny bison capsule it found into its own nest.

 

Before the Discovery Park people get their panties in a tighter knot about encouraging breeding of an owl species that doesn't belong here, they would do well to learn more about the impact of recently arrived aggressive Barred owls on the population of native Spotted owls.

Edited by Prying Pandora
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I am offering my time to join you when you meet with the Discovery Park staff. I know Penny Rose and believe that she will be glad to work out a compromise agreement. Every cache gets approval before placement. Cache pages clearly state "keep feet on trail" when coordinates are taken in areas of poor reception. Staff may even want to suggest locations for caches - places they want cachers to walk to and see.

 

Maybe each person placing a cache in the park should have to do 25 hours of volunteeer service there to gain appreciation of the efforts being put forth to keep this park in good condition for many future years?

 

Excellent suggestions Joy and I would hope that an experienced cacher as yourself with Park experience would be asked to help negotiate this agreement.

 

There was considerable disappointment voiced over the last agreement with the State Parks, but in the long run it is a good thing. I have caches in 3 local State Parks with full approval and knowledge of all the Rangers. I check them often in case of wear and tear on the surrounding area and have moved a couple of them when that occurred. The Rangers love the idea and knowing why people are wandering around in certain areas and are pleased more people visit the Park.

 

There are a lot of junk caches approved and a lot of caches put out by newbies who should be mentored or experienced before approval (IMHO).

Edited by Rey del Roble
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So far this thread has been mostly a positive discussion of thoughts and idea. I've been quite pleased with how positive and respectful everyone has been. I hope everyone keeps this thread positive as they continue to post. You never know who might be reading this thread.

 

I too feel that the parks staff may have mis-interpreted some of the things they've found. Some of them may have been letterboxes or terracaches but because geocaching is more widespread it's common to lump them all together as one activity. One of the main goals I have when we meet with the parks staff will be to go over all of their concerns and hopefully reassure them that geocachers are good people who love this park and treasure it just like they do.

 

Joy and I have emailed about her offer and I'm thrilled to have her on board.

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