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Getting permission


joranda

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You're comments reflect a problem that I have with the permission issue. A local town park has a great Earthcache idea in it. There is a published document online that shows that you can visit this spot as long as you stay on the paths. That is the permission. It couldn't be plainer.

 

Yet Earthcaching demands a person AND their phone number. First, the person in public parks doesn't want to do it because they don't have time to take what they perceive to be a silly enquiry. They say, look, we say explicity that you have permission why would anyone call us.

 

Earthcaching is treating all public land as though it has the impact of state/provincial or federal park land. I think they should change their permission requirement from needing a specific person's permission to proof of some sort of permission. Online public use documents should suffice and then you don't have to bother people who are annoyed by what they see as trivial requests.

 

JD

To me the published document is the permission right there. The person is the etity (the city or department in the city) and the phone number is the general number of the department as given on the web site. The link to the document is provided in the comments to reviewer. My opinion.

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I'm all for ensuring permission is granted by the appropriate people when necessary. But when is it necessary? Have a look at my White Rock Earthcache. Note that this glacial erratic is sitting on a public beach just above high tide line although it might get wet during a storm. You dont need permission to walk down the beach from anyone. But it is within the city of White Rock so should I bother someone at the city to get permission? I think not.

 

Now if it was in a national park then fine make the phone call, or email, or some other source document that gives approval to be there. But then again, the national parks are open to the public and they encourage us to visit them and they provide maps of the roads and trails to get around in them. So can I have an Earthcache setup in a National park that is on the side of the road without asking permission.

 

I see the two sides to this. On one hand Earthcaches are trying to avoid any sort of legal/liability/appearance issues by having approval up front. On the other hand it is burdensome and a waste of peoples time in some cases. But where to draw the line and say you need permission here but not there.

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I don't think any of my earthcache permission-givers was ever contacted.

 

And I had an interesting thought: for some county land, the administrator changes...it is an appointed job and such will go to political supporters. So what happens to the permission then?

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My last Earthcache had the Sudbury Parks department as the contact number - I seriously doubt the earthcache reviewer called them

 

The contact information is a great way to make people actually think about their placements and what it means to have people walking through the area.

 

If the contact person is an individual rather then a park or reserve, that might raise some alarm bells if I were a reviewer, and i might keep a watch on it, but still wouldnt contact them unless it was deemed necessary

I agree with what you're saying JP. I've put in the effort to do it the way EC's web page states it but maybe I'll try placing it with the info like you say. I certainly agree about making people think about their placements, and for mine the town has a statement about staying on the paths, so that's a good thing. I just think that EC should make the permission thing more general on their website.

 

JD

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To me the published document is the permission right there. The person is the etity (the city or department in the city) and the phone number is the general number of the department as given on the web site. The link to the document is provided in the comments to reviewer. My opinion.

 

And that's what I think it should be. As JP said in his post, its good to make people think about their placement but perhaps EC is unintentionally making it a bit too difficult. I have several caches in the town's parks and their are no problems with them. EC should insist on the same level of permission but not something more rigid. Just my thoughts.

 

JD

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I didn't read all of the above comments so I may be repeating another thought, but it seems odd to me that you need permission to list an earthcache on public land, and not to hide a regular cache (except for parks, etc). So if you get denied to list an earthcache on public land, you can go out the next day and hide a container to bring visitors there, but without permission? Don't get it.

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I didn't read all of the above comments so I may be repeating another thought, but it seems odd to me that you need permission to list an earthcache on public land, and not to hide a regular cache (except for parks, etc). So if you get denied to list an earthcache on public land, you can go out the next day and hide a container to bring visitors there, but without permission? Don't get it.

You "need" to get permission for all hides, you are expected to expressly state who you got it from for an EC.

 

Quote from the Hide page on GC:

 

It is imperative that you read and understand the Cache Listing Requirements and Guidelines prior to placing each and every geocache. Please make sure to obtain permission from the landowner or land manager.

 

Edit to add quote.

Edited by Lostby7
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I'm all for ensuring permission is granted by the appropriate people when necessary. But when is it necessary? Have a look at my White Rock Earthcache. Note that this glacial erratic is sitting on a public beach just above high tide line although it might get wet during a storm. You dont need permission to walk down the beach from anyone. But it is within the city of White Rock so should I bother someone at the city to get permission? I think not.

 

Now if it was in a national park then fine make the phone call, or email, or some other source document that gives approval to be there. But then again, the national parks are open to the public and they encourage us to visit them and they provide maps of the roads and trails to get around in them. So can I have an Earthcache setup in a National park that is on the side of the road without asking permission.

 

I see the two sides to this. On one hand Earthcaches are trying to avoid any sort of legal/liability/appearance issues by having approval up front. On the other hand it is burdensome and a waste of peoples time in some cases. But where to draw the line and say you need permission here but not there.

 

Off-topic, but that was my very first Earthcache!

 

All of my Earthcaches are "roadside" where public access is understood. I have never been hassled about that.

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