Can you place a cache in a national forest?

[+alpinerabbit]

Hi everyone, I was thinking about placing a cache in a national forest. Is that allowed?

[+Viajero Perdido]

Can we assume USA for this question?

 

Edited March 15 by Viajero Perdido

[Pup Patrol]

1 hour ago, alpinerabbit said:

Hi everyone, I was thinking about placing a cache in a national forest. Is that allowed?

 

It depends...

 

where are you thinking of placing it?  (Specific country, and state or province.)

 

Pup Patrol

[+cerberus1]

Did you look at the   Geocaching Regional Placement WIKI for Montana ? 

Much info online is from 2004-2009, so most probably not good anymore.

Wherever you hide, you need to ask for permission anyway, so a simple call or email to where you had in mind is a good start.  

[+lee737]

Here - NSW, Australia, you can - but you need to show the reviewer you have sought and obtained written permission to do so - it isn't *that* arduous, but to be honest a nuisance.... it differs between jurisdictions from 'don't bother' to 'go for your life' it seems.....

[+kunarion]

21 hours ago, alpinerabbit said:

Hi everyone, I was thinking about placing a cache in a national forest. Is that allowed?

 

Which forest?  Are you close enough to your intended hiding spot to check the cache frequently?

 

There is no blanket policy.  Those areas each have their own.  And they change.  Here's an example for the Chattahoochee and Oconee National Forest.  To abide that policy, you'd need to be able to visit your cache regularly, and be very diligent.  Just as important, all cache hunters must also treat this as a special place.  Note the requirement to remove a Geocache after one year.  Suppose that a finder arrives at day one on the following year.  Do you see Geocachers always being very careful to not destroy property when they can't find a cache?  If so, you have a special set of Geocachers.  Which is good, because that's what you need to keep Geocaches being allowed at all.

 

Here's a thread with some information, at least on the first part of the thread.

 

Here's a Tread Lightly pamphlet that the Forest Service site refers to.

 

Edited March 16 by kunarion

[+Goldenwattle]

18 minutes ago, kunarion said:

Do you see Geocachers always being very careful to not destroy property when they can't find a cache?

That's an argument to make the find VERY easy. A very detailed hint for example. A spoiler photograph with arrow maybe. The visit being the important thing here, not the challenge of the find. Caches that are hard to find, can cause more damage, so a good point you made.

 

As an aside from that, caches in muggle busy places can cause attraction to them, if people spend too long looking for them. Unless hiders want attention drawn to their cache in such places, and then more likely have the attention to attract muggles to it, don't make the cache need a long time searching for it. I have one such cache. Initially it was okay for people to spend time searching, but 'my' grungy back lane became gentrified with cafes opening. Therefore I added a detailed hint with a spoiler photograph, as I didn't want finders to spend ages searching for the cache, and attract muggle attention.

[+barefootjeff]

8 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

9 hours ago, kunarion said:

Do you see Geocachers always being very careful to not destroy property when they can't find a cache?

That's an argument to make the find VERY easy. A very detailed hint for example. A spoiler photograph with arrow maybe. The visit being the important thing here, not the challenge of the find. Caches that are hard to find, can cause more damage, so a good point you made.

 

Yes, I have four caches placed in national parks with permission and I've made the hints pretty explicit to try to minimise prodding and poking in places the cache isn't. Those caches are also accessed from the walking track across rock shelves or open ground to avoid damaging vegetation or creating geotrails.

[+JustFindingOurWay]

You can place a cache nearly anywhere - as long as you have permission!  It's one of the first subjects covered in the Guidelines.

[+MNTA]

In general the western US have no restrictions on National Forests or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land unless it is designated as wilderness area. If there was we would be sad and vast swaths of the states would be empty of caches. The wiki page and the reviewers are the definitive source of information on publishing. Personally I love forest service roads (when not covered in snow) lots of fun and own a cache on BLM land.

 

National parks, national wildlife refuges and Native American reservations are all pretty much a no go and may require permission for virtual type caches.

[+JL_HSTRE]

In Florida the NFs don't require explicit permission.

 

They have the advantage of lots of free access public land, but lots of problems with reckless hunters, parties, offroading, and illegal dumping. Plus parts are periodically logged, destroying the caches within.