writing a "formal proposal" to county parks

[+cortneyofeden]

My introductory e-mail to a county parks department resulted in the following response:

 

"We are familiar with geocaching but do not have this activity in any of our parks. If you would put together a formal proposal we would be happy to give it serious consideration."

 

Does anyone have recommendations, or even better, a proposal they can share with me that is good for adopting a positive relationship with parks?

 

I'm not really sure what ot say to them, but would like them to adopt a policy in regards to geocaching (a favorable one, of course), and give permission for caches to be placed in their parks.

 

Help? Thanks!

 

-Cortney

[+welch]

When they say 'Formal proposal' what do they mean??

Do they want just a letter from you outlining what would "happen"? Or do they want you to come to a meeting and give a presentaion??

 

Im sure there are copies of both things floating around...

 

[+cortneyofeden]

I think that he wants a formal proposal on what I want from them - namely for them to establish a formal policy saying that geocaching in their parks is OK and a good thing....I think ideally including what having a geocache placed in their park would entail, and why they should allow them.

 

A general, "This is what geocaching is and why it's good. You should let us play in your park" type of letter.

 

While I'm reasonable at writing, I'm sure there is someone who is much more verbose than I who has already written such a letter.

 

I'm hoping it doesn't entail a presentation, since I'm horrible at those.

[+cortneyofeden]

BTW, I have asked him what he specifically wants. I'm nervous about this kind of thing, because it could impact the future of geocaching in this county, and I want it to start off WELL.

[+Eric K]

I have some information I received from the Cleveland Public parks that places their own caches and have a form they use.

 

I'm on my work PC now. I'll look up your profile and e-mail you the information later.

 

Get your trackable USA geocoins at http://www.usageocoins.com

[+cortneyofeden]

That would be fabulous, every little bit helps!

 

Thanks!

[+nevin1977]

here is a link to a PDF file of what I gave to my local parks department. which did approve geocaching

Info package i made up for my parks department

[+welch]

quote:

---

Originally posted by cortneyofeden:

"We are familiar with geocaching but do not have this activity in any of our parks. If you would put together a formal proposal we would be happy to give it serious consideration."

 

Does anyone have recommendations, or even better, a proposal they can share with me that is good for adopting a positive relationship with parks?

-Cortney

---

Not sure if you still need help or not, but Ill share the letter I sometimes send.(To give credit, I think this letter started out as being by someone called Don&Betty)

quote:

---

Date

 

Person to:

Their title

Agency they work for

Address of

Address of

Phone of

Fax of

Email of

 

Greetings:

 

I solicit approval by the ___(Board/ranger/what not)____ administration for me to place

a geocache on the ___(specific park/etc)____ grounds, to publish on the

Internet directions for others to seek and find it, and for them to

be permitted to do that.

 

A geocache is a hidden shoebox-sized container, which contains a

logbook and a number of low-cost trinkets. It is concealed in an

out-of-the-way spot on the grounds of an appealing outdoor location

such as a park or trail. People search for the cache by using a

handheld electronic global positioning system device (GPS). Finding

it, they sign and write comments in the logbook, then take one

trinket and leave another. Returning home, finders also report on the

global administering Internet site a finders’ log that is published

as a growing addendum along with that cache’s description/location

information page.

 

The location of a cache, and a description of its site, is published

free on the Internet site: www.geocaching.com. This site administers

the publishing of descriptions and directions to sites located around

the world. It also publishes the personal reports made by people,

registered with the site, who hide, seek and locate the caches. As of

today, there are 31,817 active caches in all 50 states and in 149

countries. In the last 7 days, there have been 16,690 new

cache-finders’ reports written by 4,769 account holders.

 

An important ancillary benefit of this low-impact family-oriented

outdoor hide-and-seek activity/sport is to point out to people at

large, interesting-, perhaps nearby- attractions that they may not

have been aware of. This benefits the local community, as well as

them, by spreading the word about its attractions and by actually

inducing people to come visit them. The cache-site description page

can include photos of the site’s nearby attractions which may appeal

to and attract cache seekers. Once there, they may visit or later

return to such other community attractions that they were introduced

to in their quest for the cache.

 

I, an 11-year resident of Benton County, will assume responsibility

to create and hide the cache and to create and post its description.

Thereafter I will monitor its condition as well as any impact seekers

may be making on its environment, this throughout the duration,

perhaps years, that it may remain there. It can be moved or removed

entirely (along with its Internet listing) at any time any such

impact may be found to be damaging or undesirable.

 

I would like to place the geocache near _________________(describe area, nearest trail maybe, coords would be good here)_______. I'd be

open to suggestions for suitable location(s).

 

I have included with this letter a copy of the Frequently Asked

Question About Geocaching.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Thank you for your consideration.

 

Sincerely,

 

Your name

Address

Address

Phone

Fax

Email

 

---

If that would help then feel free to use it. (Of course make sure you edit and update it to your needs)

I also think I may have copies of 'Geocaching' and 'How gps works' power point presentations. (Not sure who made them, sorry) If you run a search you'll probly turn up other programs people have made for explaining caching.

 

[+Matt1344]

My local parks department recently adopted a geocaching policy. Here's it is:

 

Jefferson City, Mo. geocaching policy

 

You'll notice that this policy requires no formal approval to place caches. Rather, it establishes some basic guidelines and assumes cachers will follow them. This approach puts the burden on cachers and reduces paperwork and hassle for parks staff. The policy was drafted from the approach that it is better to start liberal and see how it goes. Strict enforcement can come later if problems arise. I thought this was a totally cool attitude!

 

I would suggest you begin by offering something like this to your parks department rather than trying to set up some cumbersome approval process.

[+Sparrowhawk]

Talk to Kyle the THPRD Guy over in the NorthWest forum. He represents the parks dept in Portland Oregon's western suburbs. He has been working with us Oregon geocachers r.e. our interaction with the local parks.

 

It has been a VERY postive experience overall for him, the local district officials and us.

 

I bet he will have some good ideas on what to say to your county park official.

 

-Elana (a.k.a. "Sparrowhawk")