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Moratorium on placing new caches in NJ state parks?

4wheelin_fool

By 4wheelin_fool
in Northeast

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weathernowcast

+weathernowcast

Posted
Posted

The wiki has been updated.

 

I was able to acquire a new dataset from the state that includes JUST State Parks/Forests. This means WMA and other state managed lands are not part of this permit.

 

I hope that helps relieve some of the upset and confusion over what is going on.

thanks

Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

I wonder how many e-mails went out last night? "Hello, This is an informational note to let you know that New Jersey State Parks and Forests have instituted a geocaching management policy, effective May 31, 2015. ..."

 

Hundreds? Thousands?

Packanack

+Packanack

Posted
Posted

I wonder how many e-mails went out last night? "Hello, This is an informational note to let you know that New Jersey State Parks and Forests have instituted a geocaching management policy, effective May 31, 2015. ..."

 

Hundreds? Thousands?

 

I bet closer to thousands, I got two and just about all my caches are gone. This was topic on the local geocaching Facebook PAGE--CHANGES IN LATTITUDE.

dprovan

+dprovan

Posted
Posted

I wonder how many e-mails went out last night? "Hello, This is an informational note to let you know that New Jersey State Parks and Forests have instituted a geocaching management policy, effective May 31, 2015. ..."

 

Hundreds? Thousands?

I bet closer to thousands, I got two and just about all my caches are gone. This was topic on the local geocaching Facebook PAGE--CHANGES IN LATTITUDE.

I got six myself just because I'm watching some caches from 3000 miles away. So if you really mean to ask how many e-mails -- as opposed to how many logs were posted -- I'd have to guess it's tens of thousands.

Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

Guess I'm feeling nostalgic. Some great old caches about to disappear. Some have been out there over ten years, and never caused a problem. (including the last of mine in a state park. Just over ten years old...) :cry:

ramapo

+ramapo

Posted
Posted (edited)

Lots and lots of great caches are about to disappear. It is really a shame. All the problems in our parks; the lack of maintenance, the lack of personnel, the lack of improvements, the lack of decent places to park. No enforcement of laws against dumping or ATV usage or illegal hunting. And this is what the folks at NJS P&F decide to be a critical problem requiring their management. Could we see such an absurdity as a state cache patrol that actually goes out to collect the 'unlawful' caches? When was the last time you saw a ranger walking a trail around here? I just pulled a cache out of Ringwood. It had been there nearly eight years to the day. There were 100 log entries, an average of one visit a month. It was a bit off trail, near a historical feature that few knew about. Now the forest will be safe and the environment there will be undisturbed except by the deer and bears and other creatures that walk through the forest (but not humans).

 

Of course the geocaching community brought this upon itself by staging the infamous cache-placement war of yesteryear. It just goes to show you that no matter how innocuous an activity, people will somehow find a way to argue, bitch, politicize and otherwise screw up what had been a pleasant hobby.

 

Yes the game changed some time ago with the advent of power trails that turned finding a cache into an almost rote activity, devoid of any meaning other than this find was at least 529 feet away from the last. There won't be many hiking caches left after this purge of our parks and forests. Maybe there will be a few where a trail happens upon a special place and a cacher is sufficiently motivated to go through the process. It was fun while it lasted.

Edited by ramapo
  • Upvote 1
Packanack

+Packanack

Posted
Posted

Well, that didn't last long.

 

Wildlife Management Area Regulations

 

The following are prohibited: camping, swimming, picnicking, dumping, cutting or damaging vegetation, removing timber or firewood, alcoholic beverages, geocaching and fires.

 

No one really expected anything different. They were just getting up to speed. Takes them a little longer over in Wildlife Management.

Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

Our first hide was rejected in Liberty State Park. :( Perfect spot too. :angry: Such is life. We'll stick to NY!

 

Well, yes. If you read the guidelines, NJ State Park caches have to meet the requirements for the NJ State Parks, and be approved by that organization. Soon the only caches in Liberty State Park will be the EarthCaches based on a landfill.

Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

Well, I have not updated my GPSr in four to six weeks. In my GPX files for the state of New Jersey, there have been over a thousand caches archived since my last update! (One less GPX file to download! Though it used to be one step from editing the GPX file to get back to Your Pocket Queries. Now it's three steps.) It used to be about twenty a week.

I guess in the next month there will be another thousand archived? Inactive COs, and COs that have not bothered. Gonna be some great caches disappearing soon. :sad:

Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

Well, that didn't last long.

 

Wildlife Management Area Regulations

 

The following are prohibited: camping, swimming, picnicking, dumping, cutting or damaging vegetation, removing timber or firewood, alcoholic beverages, geocaching and fires.

 

When can we be expecting reviewer's/lackey's notes on caches in State WMAs? I think I have a couple of those too.

 

OTOH, I did not realize that the Paulinskill Trail is considered State Park Land.

briansnat

+briansnat

Posted
Posted

I started submitting applications for many of my Ramapo/Norvin Green/Ringwood/Long Pond Ironworks caches a few weeks ago, but haven't heard a thing yet. Then late last Thursday I realized I forgot my Wawayanda and Abraham Hewitt SF caches and submitted them at the last minute, thinking I'd hear back in a few weeks. By the next afternoon I had a permit for every one of them.

 

Still waiting to hear from the management of Ringwood etc.

BAMBOOZLE

+BAMBOOZLE

Posted
Posted

I saw a movie not long ago and one line went " everything is illegal in Massachusetts ".....you could dub in N.J.

Seen through the eyes of a deep south redneck ( redneck doesn't quite apply to a New Orleanean ) N.J. is extremely restrictive and kind of a police state. I used to visit a sister in law in N.J. but when she retired from a drug company she had to leave the state because she couldn't pay her property taxes. Lovely state, great food, but I won't be back. Problems here are deeper than geocaching.....my advice is to take back your state.....it belongs to you not a bunch of bureaucrats.

I own caches in the country down this way you can find and not get hassled. If you're hot you can sit there by the road and drink a cold can of beer....no one will mind. If you want you can throw the can in the ditch and shoot a couple of holes in it....no problem.

I'd appreciate it if you would pick up the can afterwards but its no big deal....I'll add a couple more holes and pick it up myself.

latitude55

+latitude55

Posted
Posted

I have/had two caches at the southern end of the Paulinskill Valley Trail that I submitted the application prior to the deadline. Today those caches were archived by OReviewer with the following note: Per request of the management of Kittatinny Valley State Park, I am archiving this listing. This cache is not compliant with the state park caching policy.

Never did hear back on the application.

 

Has this happend to anyone else?

latitude55

+latitude55

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have/had two caches at the southern end of the Paulinskill Valley Trail that I submitted the application prior to the deadline. Today those caches were archived by OReviewer with the following note: Per request of the management of Kittatinny Valley State Park, I am archiving this listing. This cache is not compliant with the state park caching policy.

Never did hear back on the application.

 

Has this happend to anyone else?

 

Ok will I guess I have to take some responsibility for this; Guess I should have known better than to trust only the signage......I thought that the Paulinskill Valley Trail was governed by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection State Park Service out of Trenton but it turns out that is is managed by Kittatinny Valley State Park as part of the NJ State Park System and I should have sent the application there rather than to Trenton. The person at Kittatinny was very helpful and hopefully will be able to resolve soon.

Edited by latitude55
OReviewer

+OReviewer

Posted
Posted
Has this happend to anyone else?

It happened to 71 caches today; majority of them were over two rail trails; Sussex Branch Trail and Paulinskill Valley Trail. There were probably a couple of others but that's where the majority of them were from.

 

Again, this was a request from the head ranger (references and return e-mail checked).

weathernowcast

+weathernowcast

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have/had two caches at the southern end of the Paulinskill Valley Trail that I submitted the application prior to the deadline. Today those caches were archived by OReviewer with the following note: Per request of the management of Kittatinny Valley State Park, I am archiving this listing. This cache is not compliant with the state park caching policy.

Never did hear back on the application.

 

Has this happend to anyone else?

Hope you get your efforts re-instated before the local geocaching event.

 

68 geocaches archived today. Plenty of room for new goecaches for the new event. I hope people have fun http://coord.info/GC5YMAH.

Edited by weathernowcast
Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

I see that Wharton State Forest is issuing "OK. But needs permit." "Not OK. A change will make it acceptable. Would need permit." And "Not acceptable. Archived. Please remove the cache."

Several hundred more caches going away soon.

Michaelcycle

+Michaelcycle

Posted
Posted

I see that Wharton State Forest is issuing "OK. But needs permit." "Not OK. A change will make it acceptable. Would need permit." And "Not acceptable. Archived. Please remove the cache."

Several hundred more caches going away soon.

 

If you define "several hundred" as three hundred or more then, no, several hundred more caches will not be going away. There are less than three hundred caches left in the Wharton Tract. I recall hearing that the Superintendent would not start reviewing caches and issuing permits until the number got to less than 300 in his jurisdiction. A handful of permits have been approved this week.

OReviewer

+OReviewer

Posted
Posted
I see that North Jersey State Parks have been cleared of caches without permits. At least Wawayanda, High Point and Allamuchy. Poor reviewer must have been up late last night!

It happens, we serve the community and sometimes that is late in the night.

 

I can say, it is frustrating to receive multiple emails of "I have a permit, I just never put the required info on the page". Double work is not appreciated.

OReviewer

+OReviewer

Posted
Posted
Yes. That must be tough! So how many were archived? I saw some great ammo cans in the woods, with owners missing many years, get archived. Rather sad. Thanks for your work, and help.

I think about 400-something.

nikcap

+nikcap

Posted
Posted
I see that North Jersey State Parks have been cleared of caches without permits. At least Wawayanda, High Point and Allamuchy. Poor reviewer must have been up late last night!

It happens, we serve the community and sometimes that is late in the night.

 

I can say, it is frustrating to receive multiple emails of "I have a permit, I just never put the required info on the page". Double work is not appreciated.

 

And even worst, I've come across 1/2 a dozen caches that have the state permit information already on the cache page.

I really hope those archives were a glitch in the archiving process and not NJSP reneging on those permits.

 

Thanks for your work O.

OReviewer

+OReviewer

Posted
Posted
And even worst, I've come across 1/2 a dozen caches that have the state permit information already on the cache page.

I really hope those archives were a glitch in the archiving process and not NJSP reneging on those permits.

 

Thanks for your work O.

The list they provided was 2 months old (of course didn't realize that until after the archive). All but one who contacted me have had their caches unarchived already. The one is a single cache where their info didn't seem to match the satellite view. Following up on it.

Harry Dolphin

+Harry Dolphin

Posted
Posted

Sad to see so many great, old caches go. But them's the rules, I guess. COs with an ammo can along the trail,but the CO has been missing for along time. Yes. I know GC5 was a throwdown, and theCO has been missing for many years. But it was a great cache, which would not meet state park requirements. Oh,well.

Good bye, Split Rock Splendor. Yes. Not maintained in many years. Question: Does anyone, including the state park service know what or where "Farny State Park" is? I'm sure it's on the lists. But there is absolutely nothing there to indicate that it is a state park! No services. No signs. Nothing! But, I guess, it's on the list.

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