Definition of garbage in federally protected lands

[sdarken]

In today's newspaper I read this story about a court case where the U.S Federal Appeal s Court made an interpretation of littering in federal lands. It made me think that the same thing could be applied to geocaches. Geocaches wouldn't fall under the definition of "discarded or useless material" either.

 

Article:

Leaving water in desert not litter, court says

 

I thought it was interesting because the definition of what exactly constitutes garbage/litter comes up from time to time around here.

 

Of course it's a moot point since reviewers wont publisher caches on most federal lands so people are not likely to be charged with littering but I was wondering if it might provide a frame of reference for other courts.

[hoosier guy]

Being a cynic I am guessing it will not set any precedent for caches. This case has to do with leaving water for illegal immigrants and as such is a heavily politically charged finding. Unless you can convince a court you are leaving a cache for the good of the illegals you would probably not be triumphant.

Edited September 3, 2010 by hoosier guy

[+ironman114]

In today's newspaper I read this story about a court case where the U.S Federal Appeal s Court made an interpretation of littering in federal lands. It made me think that the same thing could be applied to geocaches. Geocaches wouldn't fall under the definition of "discarded or useless material" either.

 

Article:

Leaving water in desert not litter, court says

 

I thought it was interesting because the definition of what exactly constitutes garbage/litter comes up from time to time around here.

 

Of course it's a moot point since reviewers wont publisher caches on most federal lands so people are not likely to be charged with littering but I was wondering if it might provide a frame of reference for other courts.

 

National forests and BLM lands are federal lands and get caches approved in them all the time.

 

I even got approval (from the National Forest Service) to put one in a National Monument and when I provided my "proof" the reviewers approved it.

[+palmetto]

since reviewers wont publisher caches on most federal lands

 

There's a lot of federal land in the U.S. and much of it is opened to caching.

Closed are National Wildlife Refuges, and requiring explicit and verifiable permission are National Parks. Regulations on other federal lands, like National Forests and BLM lands are locally variable. Most allow geocaching.

 

Thanks for posting, interesting stuff. Not apt to impact on geocaching in closed areas ,like National Wildlife Refuges, however, particularly as the judge said that the defendant might have been convicted on, " another crime, like abandoning property in the area". I suspect a geocache would be seen as abandoned property.

[+rjb43nh]

"National forests and BLM lands are federal lands and get caches approved in them all the time."

"Regulations on other federal lands, like National Forests and BLM lands are locally variable. Most allow geocaching. "

One big exception to these statements about National Forest land are those areas within the NF that are Federally Designated Wilderness Areas that do not allow any caches.