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ARKANASA State Parks & Natural Areas


Max Cacher

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The State Parks of Arkansas have requested a list of caches in there parks and natural areas. Anyone knowing the location of caches please list them here. So I may e-mail them, for me not to be able to contact them , there cache may be archived.

 

Every caches that is already in a state park or natural area will have approximately 30 days to visit the location office and fill out a permit for cache placement. ( NO EXISTING CACHE WILL BE GRANDFATHER IN )

 

NEW caches you must also visit the park office and fill out a permit and the cache owner will be asked to confirm that they have one before it will be approved.

 

You don’t have to be the cache owner to post it here. Not all cachers read the forums. Please post the cache name , GC# and what park or area its in.

 

SAVE A CACHE LIST IT HERE !!!!

 

If for some reason you can’t get to the park for an existing cache for a permit let me know e-mail address below

 

Tennessee Geocacher

Geocaching.com admin

TennesseeGeocacher@geocachingadmin.com

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Arkansas Geocaching Directive

 

DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND TOURISM DIVISION OF STATE PARKS

 

 

JUNE 30, 2003 Park Directive 3220

 

GEOCACHING -

ARKANSAS STATE PARKS AND MUSEUMS

 

Geocaching, also known as GPS Stash Hunt or GeoStash, involves “hiding” items, usually containers holding various “treasures” and then providing specific Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) coordinates for each “cache” on a website. Visitors to these websites can choose which “cache” they would like to locate using their own personal GPS device. Cache searchers typically bring along their own “treasures” and make an exchange once the cache has been located.

 

Virtual Caching involves locating not a cache, but a specific landmark, feature, park sign, etc.

These should be encouraged at State Parks and Museums in lieu of physical caches. However, neither geocaching or virtual caching will be permitted at Conway Cemetery, the Herman Davis Memorial, Jenkins’ Ferry, Lake Fort Smith while under construction, the Louisiana Purchase, Mark’s Mill, Parkin, Poison Springs, Prairie Grove Battlefield, the South Arkansas Arboretum, or Toltec Mounds State Parks.

 

Procedures concerning geocaching in Arkansas State Parks and Museums are as follows:

 

I. CACHE PERMITS

 

A. Placement of a cache on Department property must be secured with a permit. Any cache located on park / museum property that does not exhibit the required affixed permit number is unauthorized and is subject to removal from its location and the owner subject to fines.

 

B. The person applying for a permit must provide a valid address, telephone number, email address, driver’s license number, and the website address on which the cache will be posted.

 

C. The exact location of the cache must be pre-approved by the Park Superintendent / Museum Director, whose main concern will be public safety and the prevention of undesirable impacts to natural, historical, and cultural resources.

 

The exact cache location, including GPS coordinates, must be stated on

the permit.

 

All permits will be in effect for a period of twelve (12) months. The exact starting and ending dates will be recorded on the permit. Upon expiration of the initial permit, at the permit holder’s request, a cache permit may be extended for up to twelve (12) months.

 

NOTE: If, during the effective period of a permit, a permit holder wants to change the location of the cache, a new permit must be issued and the effective permit cancelled.

 

F. Upon expiration of a permit, the permit holder is responsible for removing the cache and for removing the cache location from all websites and any information source.

 

G. If the permit holder fails to remove the cache, it will be removed by park staff and held for ten (10) days, after which staff will dispose of the cache. Confiscation and disposal by park staff will be recorded in an incident report.

 

If it is determined that a cache has been the cause of adverse environmental damage, the cache may be removed by the Park Superintendent / Museum

Director or designee, and the permit cancelled.

 

II. CACHE CONTAINERS AND CONTENTS

 

A. Cache containers must be non-breakable, have some form of latch or other closing mechanism to prohibit content exposure to wildlife, and must be approved by the Park Superintendent / Museum Director or designee.

 

B. Each cache container must have an identification label affixed to the outside identifying it as an approved cache and containing the permit number and expiration date.

 

C. Caches may not contain inappropriate or dangerous items. Such items include, but are not limited to, food, medications, personal/hygiene products, pornography, weapons of any type, etc. Log books are encouraged in Arkansas State Parks / Museums, over exchange items.

 

All caches are subject to random inspection by Park Superintendents and Museum Directors. Park staff has the authority to immediately remove any item held in a cache deemed unacceptable or that is violation of this policy.

 

III. CACHE LOCATIONS:

 

A. Physical caches are prohibited inside any state park / museum facility or structure.

 

B. The location of a cache must be pre-approved by the Park Superintendent / Museum Director or designee.

 

C. Caches may not be placed in locations that may lead to the creation of spur trails.

 

D. Caches may not be buried, nor may vegetation or stones be disturbed to place a cache.

 

Caches may not be placed in dangerous, inappropriate, or protected areas and habitats, on cliffs, underground, or underwater.

 

Metal detectors may not be used in cache searches.

 

IV. COMPLIANCE

 

Failure to comply with this policy directive will result in the revocation of effective geocaching permits. Continued failure to comply with these guidelines will prevent the issuance of any further geocaching permits to the non-compliant group or individual.

 

B. If geocaching activities as a whole are found to have a negative impact on park resources or if safety becomes an issue in geocache searches, the Park Superintendent / Museum Director may ban geocaching from certain areas or from the entire park / museum.

 

Related PD: 3170 - Unlawful Occupancy

 

[This message was edited by Tennessee Geocacher on July 07, 2003 at 05:38 PM.]

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Arkansas Permit

 

 

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism

 

GEOCACHE PERMIT

 

No. _______________

 

The effective dates for this permit are: ______/ ______/ ______ to ______/ ______/ ______/, fulfilling the

Month Day Year Month Day Year

 

requirement of Park Directive 3220, which states that an appropriate cache may be placed at an approved site at State Parks / Museums for twelve (12) months.

 

This Virtual Cache ______ Geocache ______ has been placed by:

 

Name:

 

Address:

 

City State Zip

 

Phone:

(Area Code)

 

Driver’s License Number:

State

 

Email Address:

 

Website Referencing Cache:

 

Cache GPS Coordinates:

 

Physical Location Description:

 

 

The Cache I have placed (permit holder initials each requirement) Yes No

 

Is in a non-breakable container.

 

Does not contain inappropriate or dangerous items

 

Is not buried or placed in a protected area, but placed

in an area approved by the Park Superintendent /

Museum Director or Designee.

 

I hereby agree to respect and adhere to the regulations set forth in Park Directive 3220. In addition, the Department of Parks and Tourism shall assume no responsibility whatsoever for the loss or damage to the property or injury of the permit holder from any cause and permit holder agrees at all times to indemnify, protect, and save harmless the Department of Parks and Tourism and its agents, and employees from liability in connection with permit holder’s property and/or operation under this permit.

 

 

Park / Museum

 

Permit Holder Superintendent / Director

 

Date Date

 

OPR 220 6/30 For date extensions, see reverse side

 

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism

 

GEOCACHE PERMIT EXTENSION

 

No. ________________

 

 

Per Park Directive 3220, this permit is approved for a twelve (12) month extension beginning

 

/ / and ending / / .

Month Day Year Month Day Year

 

 

Park / Museum

 

Permit Holder Superintendent / Director

 

Date Date

 

 

OPR 220 6/30

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Do you have to post the cache and number? It seems like there would be an easier way than waiting on people to post the caches individually. (I do realize that you don't have endless amounts of free time, maybe somebody in Arkansas w/ free time can go thru this list). I know that not all of these caches are in Arkansas SPs or NAs - but here's a complete list:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?state_id=4&submit2=Submit

 

If nothing else, this will help Arkansas Geocachers spot caches they know are in these areas.

 

I hope this helps.

 

southdeltan

 

"Man can counterfeit everything except silence". - William Faulkner

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To respond to Renegade Knight the reason we should do it instead of the parks, this is our sport not there’s .

 

If the work load becomes to heavy they could ban caches altogether, and remember that because cachers did not ask permission to place the caches in the first place is the reason behind having a policy..

 

TG

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quote:
Originally posted by Tennessee Geocacher:

To respond to Renegade Knight the reason we should do it instead of the parks, this is our sport not there’s .

 

If the work load becomes to heavy they could ban caches altogether, and remember that because cachers did not ask permission to place the caches in the first place is the reason behind having a policy..

 

TG


 

My main point here is that who is the authority for the parks to ask? There isn't one. You can work with the local geocaching group if there happens to be one. Or a geocacher can take it upon themselves to try and help like the person who started this thread. But because geocaching.com isn't the only site and because of how we are all organized, they need to be proactive.

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I understand the mindset that seems to cause government employees to think they have to try to regulate everything, and I'm glad the Arkansas State Parks Systems has shown more flexibility than the NPS regarding physical caches. But their attempt to regulate virtual caches is completely outside their jurisdiction!

quote:
Originally posted by Tennessee Geocacher:

Arkansas Geocaching Directive

 

...neither geocaching or virtual caching will be permitted at Conway Cemetery, the Herman Davis Memorial, Jenkins’ Ferry, Lake Fort Smith while under construction, the Louisiana Purchase, Mark’s Mill, Parkin, Poison Springs, Prairie Grove Battlefield, the South Arkansas Arboretum, or Toltec Mounds State Parks...


Are they so blinded by their own arrogance that they think they have the authority to prohibit posting coordinates on a website? I realize they could (and probably would) resort to strongarm tactics to ensure compliance by holding the threat of banning all physical caches over the head of geocaching.com or any other listing service, but it is sooo tempting to create a whole slew of virtual caches in in these "forbidden" places and post them on a renegade website just to show them how ludicrous and ineffective their prohibition is. They can only get away with this charade if "we, the people" permit it.

 

Worldtraveler

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I was at the meeting where they approved allowing Geocaching in Arkansas state parks, and I don't think they understood what a Virtual cache is.

I think we should let the present system get going good before we try to explain what a virtual cache is. It might only confuse them.Also I think if you went to an individual park manager it would be easier to explain what a virtual cache is.

We're just real happy the parks have welcomed us with open arms.

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I fully agree with ArkansasBugman that we should do as the parks have requested. The negative responses posted in this thread by cachers that do not live in AR.

 

The parks dept employees look at the site to, and can see negative comments, that’s how they knew they were caches there in the first place.

 

The state on TN is working on there policy now and is also watching this site, and they should. There policy will look a lot like AR, it’s a GOOD policy and so is AR‘s. We as geocachers can live with it and it’s a whole lot better than no caches at all.

 

Tennessee Geocacher

Geocaching.com Admin.

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My apologies to TN Geocacher for unintentionally leading this thread off topic. I appreciate the work you are doing and what you are trying to accomplish. I know it must take a tremendous amount of time and effort. I'm aware that state park officials read these threads, and I'm not trying to undermine your efforts; we just differ in our opinions of the "goodness" of the present regulations, and I think the officials should be aware of contrary opinions as well as the "party line".

 

I've moved my rant to a new topic. Please continue that discussion there and leave this one for posting the cache sites TN Geocacher requested.

 

Worldtraveler

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The Virtual cache prohibition is unenforceable. There is no practical difference between a person visiting because they heard about the site from (Pick one, a friend, waypoint.org, a map, the local tourist center, etc.) or who is hunting a virtual cache.

 

You can ban the cache but not the very thing that makes the place worthy of a virtual cache to begin with. People will learn and they will come.

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This is slightly off topic - I apologise...

 

quote:
If the work load becomes to heavy they could ban caches altogether, and remember that because cachers did not ask permission to place the caches in the first place is the reason behind having a policy..

 

I thought you had to have permission to place a cache? I haven't placed one but I recieved permission to place my first one today. If they don't have permsission shouldn't the site just archive them?

 

Back to the topic - I definetly wasn't trying to post a negative comment. I was trying to help but after I posted I realized that not all of the caches in AR are in AR SP's and NA's.

 

Hopefully an AR geocacher that has time can get a state map of SP's and NA's and then use the state cache map to find out where they are and list them here.

 

I think the policy looks good, to be honest. Honest dealing with land managers is the only way to go. Of course I don't think there is anyway to regulate virtuals but I too doubt they understand what they are.

 

Good luck with the list.

 

southdeltan

 

"Man can counterfeit everything except silence". - William Faulkner

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The state is giving everyone 30 days to get permits for existing caches. Most parks (none of the ones I've talked to) actually have the permit stickers yet. However, I've been told not to remove my cache, and that they'll get me a sticker for it as soon as they become available. So far my experience with the park staff has been very positive and they seem to like the idea of geocaching and caches in the park, as long as they are reasonably placed.

 

As for the policy and permit, you can find both web (HTML) and the original MS Word documents directly from Sandy Burch and Greg Butts (ASP Director) on the Arkansas Geocacher Association web site:

 

www.ArkGeo.us

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However, neither geocaching or virtual caching will be permitted at Conway Cemetery, the Herman Davis Memorial, Jenkins’ Ferry, Lake Fort Smith while under construction, the Louisiana Purchase, Mark’s Mill, Parkin, Poison Springs, Prairie Grove Battlefield, the South Arkansas Arboretum, or Toltec Mounds State Parks.

 

Thats kinda interesting since there are several caches in a couple of these areas that I know of, plus if I am not mistaken the Parks Dept folks were the ones who put the one out at Prairie Grove Battlefield

 

RW Da Man!!!

CHS#1

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Rusty You are correct about Prairie Grove also the post from Longdogs about the procedure is what I have found out as well if everyone will just chill out and let the people that have caches in Parks work with the people in charge this will all be OK!!!!!! Really it will:::: OK now onnneee, twooooo, threeeeee:::: breathe deep the bad air out good air in now doesn't that feel better.

 

Team GEOARK1 Searching lighthouc.gif for the next CACHE

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We have an existing cache located in Bull Shoals State Park. The GC# GC8D02 and is named Big Bluff Cache. We will go out there next week and talk to Tracy King, Park Ranger, as he has repeatedly assured us that he will encourage geocaching in this area and there will be no problem with the permit, etc.

 

As a matter of fact, we were just there last week for maintenance and looking for a site for a 2nd cache at his request. icon_biggrin.gif

 

Geocaching expands your horizons - not your butt!

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I spoke with the parks director last week by e-mail and by phone and there is no problem. All caches already in state parks would have to have a permit none would be grandfather in. When doing the permit process all caches that were undesirable by the Park mangers would not be approved and would be archived. This process would take about 30 to 45 days. I assured him that we at geocaching.com would do what there wishes were on this matter again no problem with the state parks people.

 

The only problem I am having is trying to find out which caches are where so I can contact each cache owner and explain the new state park policy and assist them getting a permit.

 

At this time I would ask that you solohiker back off because too many cooks will burn the beans for us all.

 

Tennessee Geocacher

Geocaching.com Admin.

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We got our permit today!

 

Had to work at it though: 1/2 mile trip each way x 4 @ 95 degrees = whew! What a day! Especially after just doing a maintenance check on this a few weeks ago!

 

But the Parks personnel were overwhelmingly cooperative and this was the first permit they issued so we worked through it together! LOL

 

Big Bluff Cache, Bull Shoals White River State Park, Waypoint GC8D02

 

Do you need the permit number?

 

The Asst. Superintentant even suggested a few more locations that we might find interesting for futher caches. Go Arkansas State Parks!!! Hopefully all Parks personnel will be as helpful as the ones in our area!

 

Geocaching expands your horizons - not your butt!

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Today I drove over to Arkansas to scout out a location for a geocache in Lake Chicot State Park. After I did that I found the Ranger, who (he was very helpful and nice) told me I need to talk to their Nature? Interpreter (who was out of town for a few days). The ranger had heard of this but didn't know a lot about it.

 

My question for Arkansas cachers who've been through the application process is this:

 

Who do you turn the application in to? Do you leave it with the "Designee" at the state park or do you have to send it to Little Rock (I'm assuming that's where it'd go).

 

I still lack the "approval" by the park designee to place the cache - I am just wondering after I get that (I'm hoping I will get approval) - what do I do?

 

southdeltan

 

"Man can counterfeit everything except silence". - William Faulkner

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