Let's keep on DOC's good side...

[Hairy Little Dwarf]

Found this scary item in one of the U.S. forums, I hope DOC never get this obsessed.

 

GEOCACHING PROCEDURES

ARKANSAS STATE PARKS AND MUSEUMS

 

CACHE PERMITS:

A. Placement of a cache on Department property must be secured with a permit.

B. The person applying for a permit must provide a valid address, telephone number, email address, vehicle 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 and cultural resources.

D. The exact cache location, including GPS coordinates, must be stated on the permit.

E. All permits will be in effect for a period of four (4) months. The exact starting and ending dates will be recorded on the permit.

 

Note: If, during the four (4) month 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.

 

CACHE CONTAINERS AND CONTENTS:

A. Cache containers must be non-breakable, transparent and have some form of latch or other closing mechanism to prohibit content exposure to wildlife.

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

C. 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.

 

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 or Museum Director.

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 pace a cache.

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

F. Metal detectors may not be used in cache searches.

 

COMPLIANCE:

 

A. Failure to comply with park / museum guidelines 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.

 

A friend helps you move house. A REAL friend helps you move a body!

[Popsit & Sweets]

Ah Bureaucracy .. permits, regulations etc .. the comforter of the weak willed.. Here is NZ we are mostly still free spirited and self confident have little need of that sort of nonsense.. Still it doesnt hurt to make friends of persons and depts that can cause you aggravation.. On that note I suggest that someone make contact with DOC and act as a liason.. They will love that approach as demonstrating a responsible attitude and it might prevent 'misunderstandings' Doc will almost certainly have a few rules mostly commonsense but it will make someone feel important. I will volunteer if there is a consensus on this or there may be someone else with better contacts??

 

While On the subject of the rules of geocaching etc. I heard recently a story of a geocacher who trespassed onto a local famers property. Farmer said he couldnt go through but the Geocacher claimed a right pursuant to the "Queens Chain". Farmer disagreed and suggested a way to settle the issue .. an old fashioned kicking contest. He explained that they each kicked the other until someone gave up.Geocacher agreed. The farmer steped back and delivered the geocacher such a kick to the goolies that the cruch could be heard for miles. The Geocacher eventually stopped screaming and writhing on the ground, got back to his feet, eyed the farmer and anounced that it was his turn. Farmer said, "Nah I give up, you can can go through if you want", and walked off.

[evilC]

Here are a couple of threads about this topic from late 2001 in case you haven't spotted them:

 

http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=2860999683&m=8900962783

 

http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=2860999683&m=7120962783

[+tgsnoopy]

Heres the links to the original postings:

 

DOC, Caches, Virtual Caches etc

 

Approaching DOC...

 

Since they were made the forums have been upgraded and the old forums imported into the version we are using today, unfortunately data got lost from lots of postings in the process. Using the original postings will give the full picture.

 

Since this happened I've had a cache removed by DOC because it was on a closed section of track. It wasn't located in a dangerous section of track, and to be perfectly honest I don't know why it was closed, perhaps post cave creek paranoia or just declining DOC budget. I beleive DOC is aware of our hobby (/sport?) and basically turns a blind eye at this point in time. I would like to see official recongition, and would support Russell (Popsit & Sweets) fufilling this role.

 

The cache that was removed is here (I intend relocating it on an open section of track):

 

Sentinel Rock

[Popsit & Sweets]

Thanks Clive and Neil for those previous threads. They cover the issue pretty well.

 

I was stationed at Opotiki for a few years in the early 90's and formed an excellent relationship with the DOC o/c there who is still there. (Kevin Cannell) I have just got off the phone to him after an 'off the record' discussion on geocaching..

 

Result..

He hasnt actually heard of it before and is sure that DOC have no official policy. His personal view (he speaks for the East Coast Conservatory) is that DOC would like an approach from someone with a representative mandate (however that might be achieved) to commence discussions in order to work towards a MOU. (memorandum of understanding). I also suggest that similar MOU should be considered with TLA inc Regional Councils and significant landowners ( eg Forestry) who permit limited recreational use of lands thay might own or control). These MOU to be formulated together so that some standardisation be obtained with perhaps some local variations if neccessary. Doc have a policy of encouraging responsible recreactional use of their estate in keeping with the Conservation ethos. Restrictions within an MOU are likely to be basic commonsense ones allready covered by geocaching.com.and covering items that can be cached as well as some locations where caching would not be permitted such as areas considered dangerous or where existing restrictions apply (ie islands where wildlife is being re-established etc).

 

Sounds like an overkill? Maybe it is. There is certainly nothing to stop what we are doing now and DOC are not going to bother us. The advantage of a MOU, even a simple one, is that Geocachers become stakeholders in our public recreational areas with the consultation and flow on publicity which that provides. There is a channel formed so that doc workers know who to contact should they be planning work in a spot where a cache is located or come across one. This applies to applies probably more so to local councils.

 

The next step is probably to form an association or simply a geocaching club with voluntary membership in order to further the interests of all NZ Geocachers by the formulation and negotiation of MOU, organising events, competions and gatherings, seeking publicity oportunities and generally enhanching the sport in NZ.

 

What needs to happen next is robust discusssion and a rough gauge of support for the concept followed by a meeting at some convenient waypoint to thrash out a constitution, elect some office holders, and start the process..

 

Right now is the time to put forward ideas and comments. Maybe it is too soon for a formal organisation? What role does Geocaching.com have in this?

 

What say you all?

[+BrentC & Pam]

 

I volunteer Popsit as he has the double speak down pat.

 

Ciao,

Brent

[Popsit & Sweets]

double speak? Oh you mean the official language of Govmint bureaucracy? Its how you have to talk to anyone in the Govmint if you want to get you message accross these days.. I will translate for the Bureaucratically impaired...

 

"The bro's gotta rap wi da Man!"

[+rediguana]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Popsit & Sweets:

Lots

---

 

Well, it sounds like the time is finally here. As you may have gathered from tgsnoopy's post, thought has been given to this in the past, but the number of recreational gps users didn't seem to warrant or justify doing anything then. I really think we would have struggled to get the 15 individual members (or 5 companies as 1 company = 3 individual) required to incorporate a society. Why incorporate a society? Well then we have officially elected representatives of the society, who can be empowered to work on issues such as the DOC one, and sign MOU's. After all if a collection of people sign a MOU with DOC that is only valid for the people that sign it. This kind of neccessitates the incorporation of a society _before_ entering into talks with DOC. They are more likely to work with elected representatives of a society, than a group of individuals.

 

So...

 

1. I am going to meet with my solicitor to find out more details on Incorporating a Society and writing a constitution. Probably week after next, and anyone in Chch who is around and interested in attending this meeting can - email me and I'll let you know when it is. For some more background on IS's - MED Inc Societies.

 

2. If you would be one of the initial 15 required to support the creation of a society, please record a message here - 1 message for each person.

voting thread

 

3. Nick and I will create another forum in the very near future to discuss these issues further, as the society is more than just geocaching, and there are other recreational uses of GPS units. e.g. geodashing, minutewar and others...

 

Umm, thats all from me for now. Be interested in your thoughts.

 

Cheers Gav

[+tgsnoopy]

I knew I'd made a further comment re contact with DOC somewhere, it's contained in this string:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000032.html

 

The DOC person involved was also involved in the removal & return of my Sentinel Rock cache as far as I'm aware. She said hi whilst I was collecting it and seemed aware of what was going on. The DOC enforcement officer even said the only reason it had been removed was it was located on a closed section of track.

 

If I find any other references to DOC I'll post them here as well.