First Cache

[Guest moghedian]

We are interested in placing our first cache. We thought about a hiking trail in our area, then about half-way thru, branch off from the trail and place the cache. My question is how do we find out who exactly owns the land? I know it is not private property which this trail runs through but am unclear as to who to ask. You can look at a map, etc. but I guess our question is How can you find out which authority figure to ask for permission to place a cache? If it's placed off a published hiking trail, I would think fellow Cachers would leave less of an impact on the surrounding enviroment than the typical hiker, biker, week-ender would. I believe I am rambling at the moment, but I hope the general idea gets through....Whom Do I Ask Permission?..............

[Guest jc364]

land. As far as I know no one has asked permission or have run into problems over it.

[Guest Ttepee]

Another thing you could do is scope out the trail and explore a bit... many trailheads will have an informational notice including contact information. Scope out a spot to hide the cache.. then assemble the cache.. and call them in preperation to hide the cache. That is theoretical right now... kind of working my way down that path and have collected the phone numbers... next the calls.

[Guest Cape Cod Cache]

Check with city hall, they have maps of every bit of land in your area. Should be in the Engineering department or whatever it's called in Cranston. My town gave me 3 photocopies of a couple areas for free. All towns have detailed surveys for construction etc.

[Guest T-storm]

quote:

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Originally posted by jc364:

If its State or Federal, forget about asking.

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I think it is a mistake to say, "forget about asking." This is the kind of feeling that will keep federal agencies set against our activity. And you never know about the state until you ask.

 

Someone in Texas has approached the state offices of the Dept. of Parks and Wildlife and actually had a fairly friendly reception. If I recall correctly, the answer was that TPW had no problem with the concept, but that the final answer would lie with individual park managers who are in the best position to judge the location and proposed placement for impact on sensitive flora, fauna, and archeology (which makes perfect sense, even if it isn't the easy blanket answer). The suggestion has been made to request something in writing from the state office to share with local folks when approaching them for permissions.

 

Ask, and if the answer is "no", no matter how disappointing, try to take it with good grace, find a friendlier home for your cache, and consider further education/communication with the agencies/authorities for whose decision you have respected to see if you can change their minds with time and an even, respectful approach!

 

Good luck,

 

T-storm