DFW Geocachers --- I need some help

[+alchemist2000]

I was preparing to place my first cache in a park in Highland Village, Texas. (HV is just north of DFW on the shores of Lewisville Lake). I contacted the Director of Parks and Recreation, Mr. Dennis Slayton. He was not in his office when I visited yesterday morning, but I had put together a letter based on several posts in these forums and left it for him. He called me back this morning and was very nice. He seemed very supportive, although he had never heard of geocaching before. To make a long story short, he wants me to make a presentation at the Parks Board meeting next Monday night (March 25).

 

Fortunately I am on Spring Break this week and can get some handouts and other goodies put together. Do you have any suggestions? Does anyone have a vcr tape of the piece that Channel 4 did on Webling and his family? Showing that would probably better convey what we are doing than merely doing a show and tell. Also, does anyone have experience with any other city/town park departments in the area that I could point to as precedent? I know there are lots of caches in the area, but I do not know what types of interactions you have had with park authorities.

 

Thanks for any help or suggestions. I'll try not to mess it up!!

 

[This message was edited by alchemist2000 on March 27, 2002 at 07:01 PM.]

[+T-storm]

Cool!!!

 

Interactions with other parks/cities... well, I believe that you've got copies of my letters from the other forum topics, right? They were for Army Corps of Engineers lands around Grapevine. I've done the same for a cache site at Benbrook. Both cases resulted in permission granted in writing. Spiny Norman did the same for his Dew Drop Inn cache at Lake Lewisville and got verbal permission. The ranger that helped him was helpful to me by providing me with an appropriate contact at Grapevine.

 

Unfortunately, I think most folks in the area do not pursue any sort of permissions, so you may not have a lot to go on as far as a history with cities. I did approach 3 cities around me in whose parks I have caches via snail-mail, asked general permission and offered to discuss further with them. I can send you a copy of that letter if you wish. I got minimal but positive response from the city of Fort Worth. They seemed interested but aren't speedy with followup. I'm about to send them a reminder note with some extra documentation. What they seemed to be thinking was that it was appropriate use, but they'd like to know where the caches were and a general description so that if they were accidentally found and parks department contacted they be able to say, "Yeah we know that's there and what it is, no problem." The cities of North Richland Hills and Haltom City never responded. It's presumptuous, but since they didn't contact me AT ALL (I provided home address, e-mail, and phone) and the caches have stayed intact, I'd have to say they're not really very concerned. I likely will not follow up with NRH. I will be contacting Haltom City again because sometime this year I want to put on a cache cleanup event at the park where we have a cache. The history of the spot is sigificant to several of my family members, it is a part of the history of Haltom City and Fort Worth, and it is part of the history of Boy Scouts from the late 40's through the 50's and early 60's. I want the city to actively participate and hope for good press for all involved.

 

Then there are the state parks. Cachers in Austin are working with the state office to get some sort of semi-formal position, a letter of letterhead, for instance, that states that there is no code prohibiting the activity and that they have no problem with the game being played out in their parks so long as cachers meet the rules that currently exist for park use in general. Some folks, including Venture Forth, have already had success asking permission for cache placements. I know of at least 2 and I think 3 that exist with permission. Overall, I think that situation looks good. I plan to pursue one myself later this year.

 

I would take some other "visual aids" with you. Take a few different types of cache containers... Rubbermaid/Tupperware container, film canister and/or Altoids tin for micros, ammo cans, etc. Have one stocked and ready to go as a sample. They can pass it around and look it over. That with a tape should be helpful. If they're not familiar with handheld GPSr's, plan ahead with a waypoint within a few hundred feet of the meeting site. Make it something they with know well enough to picture in their minds. Set a goto for the waypoint and show them (let them try it) how one would navigate to it.

 

Talk up in a matter-of-fact way the "Cache In, Trash Out" philosophy. See if you can gather pics from other cachers showing their trash out efforts. Visit the thread http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000917383&m=8670978483 to see what 2 or 3 of us posted since there is not yet a gallery of CITO pics as proposed on the home page. Ask local cachers for more. Here's a listing for one of my caches that blatantly pushes "trash out". There are a few pics there too.

 

I think you'll do fine! If you find you're really nervous, recruit another cacher or two to go with you!

 

T-storm

 

http://www.cordianet.com/geocaching

 

[This message was edited by T-storm on March 19, 2002 at 08:54 AM.]

[+alchemist2000]

Thanks, T-Storm. Those are great suggestions. I was going to take several different cache boxes, complete with goodies, but had not thought to have a close-by waypoint already set on my gpsr. I like that idea!

 

[This message was edited by alchemist2000 on March 20, 2002 at 05:47 AM.]

[+VentureForth]

I just talked to the Land Manager out at Lake Tawakoni again. When I was out there a week or so ago, he told me that he wanted the coordinates emailed to him after I placed it so that he could go look for it to be sure that it wasn't going to be in a bad location. I sent him three emails, and didn't ever get a response from him, so I called his office. Oops. Turns out he's busy getting ready for the big Grand Opening this Saturday morning at 11AM. We talked a bit and he seems like a little kid playing with his toys. He was looking forward to checking out the one I put in last week. Was suprised that it already had three teams find it.

 

Nearing the end of the call, he told me that he wanted me to help him with some things on his GPS (he has the Palm version of the Magellan GPS Companion I have). Then he said, "If you come out, bring an extra box or two!" Then the 'all-newbie' line: "I saw the perfect place to put one the other day!"

 

LOL

 

When they're cool, they're cool. When they're not, they're not.

 

Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

[+alchemist2000]

Yes, VF, I think you are right. In this case, I think the official I am working with has the potential for being "real cool". By the end of our 15 minute conversation he was already talking about getting more people involved in geocaching, having a "rally" for geocachers, etc.

 

BTW, I am still looking for a vcr tape, CD, etc. of the story Fox 4 did on Webling and his family. Does anyone have something I could borrow or buy from you? I thought I would also try to see if Channel 4 can provide me with something.

 

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[+DougsBrat]

quote:

---

Originally posted by alchemist2000:

 

BTW, I am still looking for a vcr tape, CD, etc. of the story Fox 4 did on Webling and his family. Does anyone have something I could borrow or buy from you? I thought I would also try to see if Channel 4 can provide me with something.

 

---

 

I can make a copy in several formats.

VHS

CD mpg file

CD SVCD(plays in some DVD players)

 

I have the entire program and 2 of the pre show teasers if needed.

 

No matter where you go... there you are!

[+alchemist2000]

quote:

---

I can make a copy in several formats.

VHS

CD mpg file

CD SVCD(plays in some DVD players)

 

I have the entire program and 2 of the pre show teasers if needed.

---

 

Wow, I would really appreciate it if I could get a copy. I am still trying to make connections with the HV people to make sure that they have the a/v equipment to show a vcr tape. The alternative would be to show something on my husband's laptop, but I don't know enough about either the SVCD format that you mentioned or his laptop to know if that would be possible.

 

Thanks for the offer. I will send you an e-mail and see if we can work out the details.

 

 

[This message was edited by alchemist2000 on March 20, 2002 at 02:13 PM.]

[+alchemist2000]

I have just returned from a meeting with the City of Highland Village Parks Board. I had asked the director of Parks and Recreation for permission to place two caches in HV parks. He in turn asked me to make a presentation to the Parks Board. Prior to the meeting, each Parks Board member had a copy of my letter to the director, a copy of an article from the July 26, 2001 issue of USA Today, (Sorry, Team April, but I still think it is one of the best stories out there, at least for those of us in suburban settings!), and miscellaneous info put together by the park staff from the geocaching.com website. I played a VCR tape of the Fox4 News piece which showed Webling and his family hunting for a cache. I also passed around several different example caches, including one in an ammo can and one in a tupperware container.

 

They were very enthusiastic about the idea. I think the vcr tape was what really sold it, but some of them were excited about it even from the printed material. Their only request was that I explicitly ask in my cache descriptions that knives or other items inappropriate for unsupervised children not be placed in the caches. I will certainly do that. I know that has been discussed elsewhere in these forums. I thought I would pass their concerns along to you via this discussion, as well.

 

I now have approval to place my two planned caches in parks in Highland Village. They are not yet in place, but should be within a day or two, depending upon the weather.

 

I would like to thank T-Storm and Brokenwing for allowing me to borrow extensively from the permission letters they have posted in other places in this forum, Dougsbrat for getting a copy of the vcr tape to me in nearly record time (The director still has the tape, because he wanted to make copies!!), and to multiple individuals and especially Ventureforth for numerous words of encouragement. Thanks to you all.

 

Alchemist2000

 

[+T-storm]

Very, very cool, Alchemist! You did a great job. I hope others will follow your example. I didn't think of this earlier, but Highland Village also has a quite liveable and forward thinking animal code. Maybe they're just a municipality that takes pride in doing their jobs well and creating a place that gives their citizens as much freedom as possible while protecting their ways of life as well.

 

T-storm

 

http://www.cordianet.com/geocaching