+koneko Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 Hey all - just to let others know, a few Geocky members had the chance to meet with Kentucky State Nature Perserve Commission, Kentucky State Parks, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and Kentucky National Forest Service (I apologize if any of those titles are incorrect, I don't have my notes with me) about the geocaching issue within the state of Kentucky. I'm happy to report that everyone present at the meeting (not just us geocachers) were glad to get together, happy to be working together, and eager to work something out in order to allow both sides to be able to continue with their activities. We spent quite a bit of time explaining what geocaching was, how it is practiced, why we enjoy it, what got us (as individuals) into the hobby, and what we feel geocaching can do for all divisions that were represented at this meeting. We had the opportunity to listen to everyones concerns, answer their questions, and generally get a feel for what each different agency was looking to get out of this meeting. Things are looking extremely well with each agency, and we look forward to developing guidelines to be used when geocaching within each specific area. We were happy to see their enthusiasm about the hobby as well as their eagerness to learn more about it and how they could benefit from geocachers as well. We will continue to post updates about geocaching in the state of Kentucky as soon as we get them. Please visit our website for more information. We would also like to thank everyone who chimed in and helped us out with information, advise, and experiences you had with similar situations. Every little bit helped us to get to where we are right now. Thank You! Jennifer the White Diamond Pirates Quote Link to comment
MojoCacher Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 I will be watching to see what you mean by "guidlines" as I hope nothing restrictive is imposed that might hurt the placement of geocaches in the state. PS: I went to the "JOCKY" site and I get a run time error for the links on your home page. I emailed the web master, but thought you might like to know. Quote Link to comment
+hoys Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 Thanks for the feedback, both on the site and the rules. I have sent you a private email to help debug the site, but wanted to respond to your concerns about the rules in a more public forum. The various land management groups have not worked up their rules as of yet (except for the current ban in place in the Kentucky State Nature Preserves), but they are using our input in working on their guidelines. The group that we met with is a bunch of really nice people, and they seem very willing to work with us in working up simple rules that we can all live with. Obviously, guidelines for the State Nature Preserves are going to be different (and more restrictive) than those at a city park or even National Forest area - the priorities of each land management group are simply different. Some of the groups are looking into encouraging GeoCaching on their lands. They are trying to involve us in an ongoing dialogue about ALL of the uses of the land, and how GeoCaching fits in to those uses. We will be posting updates as they happen, here in the Groundspeak forums and on the Web site as I have time to put notices up. This same issue is going on all around the country, as land managers who do not understand what Caching is all about classify caches as "abandoned property" and pull them, or respond to threats to the resources they are there to protect. Other groups in other states have been instrumental in getting caching reinstated in areas where outright bans have been put in place, or getting difficult rules made more workable. We hope to be as successful in Kentucky, and we have a great group of land managers working with us with the same goals in mind, so we are better off than some states already! Our current goal is to not only educate the land management groups about what GeoCaching is and what it means to us, but also to work with them in developing their rules AND to serve as a channel of communication back to GeoCachers to make the rules clear and easy to follow. Geocky is not, and will not be an enforcement body. We want to be a channel of communication. We cannot set the rules, and we cannot enforce them, nor do we desire to be in the business of doing so. We formed to try and give GeoCachers as a group some input into those rules, and to help land managers communicate those rules in a clear and easy form. We can use all of the support AND differing opinions we can get. Anyone in Kentucky is urged to please consider joining up and giving their input into this process. Even if you would prefer not to join, PLEASE keep the feedback coming. We need to know what we are doing right, and more importantly what we are doing wrong. Quote Link to comment
+erik88l-r Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 quote: Things are looking extremely well with each agency, and we look forward to developing guidelines to be used when geocaching within each specific area. We were happy to see their enthusiasm about the hobby as well as their eagerness to learn more about it and how they could benefit from geocachers as well. That sounds very encouraging. Keep us all apprised of how it's going. Hopefully, for the sake of the admins and the geocachers, whatever guidelines come out of this will be fairly consistant among all the different land managers. Keep up the good work! ~erik~ Quote Link to comment
+The Li'l Bears Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 I'd like to add to Nate's response to Mojo's concerns. We only got involved because we knew that the land managers were ALREADY getting ready to write guidelines. We didn't want KY to go the way of other states where the guidelines were written without input from Geocachers. Many of THOSE guidelines were VERY limiting for people wanting to place caches. True, many were later adjusted, but only after months of pulled caches and overall difficulty for all involved ... not to mention an erosion of trust and cooperation. By being proactive, we're hoping to avoid all that and start with good relations right from the beginning. We're all hoping for clear, easy to follow rules that make sense to all parties involved (Hiders, Seekers, and Managers). The best way we can see towards this goal is to work with the agencies before and while they come up with policies. Keep in mind, they were already getting ready to do this anyway (without us). We're just hoping to have a voice in the process. Greg, AKA: Poppy Bear of the Li'l Bears, ~ The Li'l Bears from Lexington, KY Quote Link to comment
MojoCacher Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 Heard anything from the state recently? Mojo Quote Link to comment
+koneko Posted March 15, 2003 Author Share Posted March 15, 2003 nothing yet - though we are working with parks and rec to organize an earth day clean up - we'll post the final info here when we've got it- 'neko the white diamond pirates Quote Link to comment
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