Page on Geocaching listing official views of geocaching by state?

[FoxholeAtheist]

I just saw the threads on 'caching in Florida State Parks, and the article out of California regarding environmental damage, and had an idea. Would it be possible for there to be a page created on the geocaching site listing each state's official policy regarding geocaching? I'm not suggesting that the mods should go through the trouble of contacting all of the state environmental offices, but as individual cachers write in, they can post their results and/or the home page of the state's office. I'm going to call the folks at Mt Wachusett tomorrow regarding my first cache (didn't call them before placement, but will make up for it now) and am thinking about emailing the state DEM to find out what their official policy is.

 

Just an idea....

 

Fox

[magellan315]

UIts going to be hard to do that, in florida parks are run by the county, city, and state. Each of which can by their office or individual park can agree to or choose not to allow Geocaching.

[+SherwoodForest]

Same thing in Ohio, you run into the problems of Federal, State, County, and City park districts, each of which can (and do) have different policies regarding geocaching(if they even have a policy yet). But there is a thread in the geocaching.com discussion about having a separate forum where we can gather information about what the policies are for different agencies, so that geocachers have a place to check for the policies, and maybe even who to contact. For the most part, parks in Ohio have been quite receptive to geocaching, but there are two major areas with bans (Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and Lake County MetroParks), and one may have been avoided if there had been open dialogue between cache placers and park managers before cache placement, but that's something that happens with a game like geocaching, and the sudden growth that it has had since last summer or so (when it first really made it here in Ohio). Fortunately, when Cleveland Metroparks stumbled upon a cache within their parks, they jumped aboard and have really been a leader in positive interaction between cachers and land managers.

 

"You will kneel before her in her altar in the trees" - Tara MacLean, Let Her Feel The Rain

[+SherwoodForest]

Same thing in Ohio, you run into the problems of Federal, State, County, and City park districts, each of which can (and do) have different policies regarding geocaching(if they even have a policy yet). But there is a thread in the geocaching.com discussion about having a separate forum where we can gather information about what the policies are for different agencies, so that geocachers have a place to check for the policies, and maybe even who to contact. For the most part, parks in Ohio have been quite receptive to geocaching, but there are two major areas with bans (Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and Lake County MetroParks), and one may have been avoided if there had been open dialogue between cache placers and park managers before cache placement, but that's something that happens with a game like geocaching, and the sudden growth that it has had since last summer or so (when it first really made it here in Ohio). Fortunately, when Cleveland Metroparks stumbled upon a cache within their parks, they jumped aboard and have really been a leader in positive interaction between cachers and land managers.

 

"You will kneel before her in her altar in the trees" - Tara MacLean, Let Her Feel The Rain

[+The Leprechauns]

As noted just above, recently I started this thread in the geocaching.com forum, asking for a new forum section that would collect contact info. and policies, and also allow for debate and lobbying.

 

Foxhole Atheist, your idea is even more "permanent" than a separate forum... a section of the site itself... which is great because many people don't check the forums, and the page would be better-organized. But I also think we need a forum to allow for open discussion. We are sure seeing a lot of postings lately! I would love to have both features, and would settle for either one.

 

As I promised in that other thread, I am compiling a complete list of every thread that discusses park policies/permission, all organized by region and state. When I'm done with the last chunk of the USA I will post this list of links, as it is unlikely that Jeremy et al. will get around to implementing either the site page idea or the new forum idea anytime soon... even if they agree with it!

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Daddy, are we there yet? No, .17 to go. Are we there yet? No, .16 to go....."

[Milgren]

This sounds like a good idea to me. I think part of the reason I haven't really scoped out places to hide a cache is that I'm not sure where they'd be allowed. That, and I need to find several more before I could do it right. A page like this would be helpful to many people, plus it might encourage newcomers to the activity to check with their local "authorities" before placing caches.

 

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Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore,

You will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea.

[Cape Cod Cacher]

FA, I talked to them a year ago. They had no clue what I was talking about and got no reply. The head honcho in my town ( Yarmouth, 02675) has been very receptive, as has the local Historical Society. My caches are all over a year old now, and with the exception of the recent plundering of 'The Big W', not a problem.

 

However, I will temper this by noting that 'Big W', 'Bass Hole' and 'Crab Creek' are not on some fragile land. BH is in an abandoned apple orchard, and was mowed to a field as recently as15 years ago. The trails used to be known by locals only, and a stone wall was altered to make it more accessable. CC is in a long gone cranberry bog, and the deer still run within 6 feet of the cache. I had thought of some pruning along the trail, but the town beat me to it by widening it to 4' wide. The Big W is pretty much man-made...OK, actually TOTALY man-made.

 

Good luck with Waaaa, Wa-Ah-Wachusett. I don't leave the Cape much in summer, but get that way for business fall-spring. A skiable update might be a cool idea.

Cache on, CCC