Caching In Delaware State Parks (long)

[+NappingBears]

I work for Delaware State Parks in the Cultural and Recreational Services section, and I thought I’d let you know what’s going on with geocaching in the Parks, especially in light of the recent discussions on the ban at Lums Pond State Park.

 

I’m normally in charge of publications and the Parks website, but I’m also a geocacher – not too many finds to my name, as I didn’t start all that long ago, and I find that I enjoy caching in the spring and fall more than summer. When I learned that the caches had been removed at Killens Pond a few months back, I asked what our policy is regarding geocaching. The answer was that DE State Parks supports geocaching and letterboxing, but because there are no rules or guidelines, each superintendent essentially handles it for his or her own park.

 

Recently -- probably because I wouldn't leave it alone -- I was asked to help put together a committee to formulate an official policy for geocaching. The committee consists of me, our Trail Guru (the guy who lays out new trails and maintains the old ones), the Natural Areas manager (the guy who knows where all the sensitive flora and fauna are), the head of Environmental Education (he oversees the park naturalists and nature center managers and their programs), and the superintendent of Killens Pond (I wanted a superintendent who didn’t seem very positive about caching so I could hear what the objections were). The parks archaeologist will also be working with us on an as-needed basis. The committee is co-chaired by myself and the head of Environmental Ed, who definitely sees the educational value of geocaching.

 

By the end of our first meeting, held a few weeks ago, the decision was made that geocaching is an acceptable use of state parkland, but that there must be guidelines put in place to protect sensitive natural, archaeological and historical sites. I was asked to put together a draft policy based on the West Virginia caching guidelines, which the committee liked; that draft is nearly completed and will be circulated for comments this week. We’ve also input Delaware cache coordinates into our geographic information system; those will be overlaid with maps showing areas with sensitive vegetation or containing archaeological or historic areas that shouldn’t be disturbed. The goal here is to be able to provide maps on our website showing good spots to place a cache and denoting areas to avoid, along with information about how to cache in the parks.

 

As I talk to superintendents and other staff about caching, it’s clear that key components of this initiative are communication and education. There are many misconceptions about caching and letterboxing – a super I talked to recently was surprised to find out that the caches in his park aren’t buried, and a staff member was surprised to find that a large number of cachers are families with kids or retirees (parks’ favorite demographic groups!), not college frat boys or computer nerds who know nothing about the woods. Many of the supers are generally agreeable to having caches placed in the parks they supervise as long as they’ve been asked for permission -- that way they know who they’re dealing with and where the caches are going to be placed. The superintendent at Killens gave permission for one cache to be placed, and then found out that three others had been placed without his permission in areas where they shouldn’t have been. Had he been asked, he probably would have been happy to point out areas that would make a good cache location. He wasn’t asked and felt it was getting out of hand, so he thought the best policy was not to allow it.

 

Cachers can be their own best advocates – get to know the park staff and tell them what caching is about. DEFINITELY ask the superintendent for permission to place a cache, although for the next few weeks they may say to wait until we get our policy in place. If they seem interested, offer to take them out on a hunt with you so they can see it first-hand. I did this with our Trail Guru and Natural Areas managers; both of them found caches and enjoyed the experience, and I think it really helped in assuaging their fears about environmental damage. Matter of fact, the Natural Areas manager wanted to keep hunting for Hanger 57 in White Clay long after I’d given up on it -- found it, too. You could also talk to the park naturalist – sign up for a program, or offer to teach the naturalist how to do it or to assist with a program for newbie cachers. Talk to the superintendent about organizing a CITO event at the park and let him know it’s a bunch of cachers who are doing the work (I know some of you have done this already). Many of you also volunteer in the parks; if you do, make sure you let the staff know that you enjoy the park as a cacher. And if you don’t volunteer but would like to, check out our volunteers' page to see the kinds of cool stuff you can do – it’s a great way to really feel at home in your favorite park. I know cachers prefer to be invisible when they’re hunting, but being invisible with the staff means they’re free to draw their own conclusions about what you’re up to, and many of those conclusions are wrong.

 

That’s not to say that there are absolutely no problems with caching; there are, and as fast as the sport is growing, there will be more unless we put some sort of guidance in place now. Caches placed just off a trail or where a trail loops around on itself are more likely to develop spur trails and shortcuts than those placed further off – this was happening with the Ice Storm cache at Killens, and I’ve seen it at other places. There’s a cache hidden in the stone wall of a historic barn at White Clay, and a letterbox in the bird sanctuary on Pea Patch Island. So educating and communicating with cachers about sensitive areas of the parks are also part of the equation.

 

Regarding Lums Pond, I found out about the ban there Friday while perusing this group; I called the super at Lums this morning. I was relieved to find out that this is a just a temporary thing. He’s aware of the work our committee is doing and says he wants to “start fresh” when the new policy is in place. I would have preferred that he wait until the policy was approved, because I know many of the caches at Lums are not a problem. But I imagine evaluating the location of every cache to assess damage would take more time than his staff can spare right now, so it’s easier just to have them all taken out. Since many of the caches there are close to trails, he’s seeing the development of spur trails – I saw them too when I was out there a month ago – and he doesn’t want them to get any worse. So for now, no caches at Lums, but I’m confident that will change.

 

I know some folks will not be happy with any sort of oversight, but the mission of Delaware State Parks is not only to provide recreational opportunities like hunting, fishing and caching, but also to protect and preserve the lands of which we are stewards. We do that in a variety of ways, from rerouting trails and letting old trails return to their natural state, to reforestation, from counting migrating horseshoe crabs to managing deer hunts at Brandywine Creek. Because of the growing popularity of geocaching, it’s very hard to argue in favor of allowing cache placements without input from Parks personnel.

 

In the meantime, I’d very much like to hear your comments. Please feel free to reply to this post here or on the Delaware geocaching group (I posted this there first, in response to a thread), to e-mail me at christine.polo@state.de.us, or to contact me by phone at (302) 739-4413 (I’m in Dover).

 

Chris Polo

Delaware State Parks Geocaching Committee

[+Mopar]

Chris,

Thanks for the work you are doing! I remember the Killen's Pond caches well, and you are correct, it's a nice park but there were problems. I pointed out the social trail problem on Killen Me Softly back in January 2003. Looks like you are getting things back on track down there, good work.

[+Howie57]

Chris, thanks for taking this on. I talked to Mike Ott, who I consider one of the premier cachers in Delaware about this way back when we had our picnic in April. We thought then that we should get a hold of the parks in Delaware and let them know about us and what it is that we do. Not digging holes! would have been a good start. We didn't get with them and finally they put their foot down maybe for some of the wrong reasons but then again ignorance breeds contempt so they say. I'd be willing to help in any way that I can but I couldn't take the lead on this as things in the real world are a mess right now. Please drop me a line if I can help.

Bet that guy felt good about himself when he found Hanger57 huh?

 

Thanks again, Howie

[+NappingBears]

Thanks, guys -- very nice to see positive comments! I had a very nice discussion with Mike Ott yesterday morning, who's also offered to help, and gpsfun has given me some great information on making things work smoothly with geocaching.com.

 

I sent out the first draft of the proposed policy to my committee yesterday, and we'll see what happens. There will definitely be comments and changes between the first draft and a version that we can send out for public comment, so I can't say too much about it for now, but we do want to keep hassle at a minimum, both for cachers and our way-too-busy superintendents. Our intent is mainly to avoid placements in sensitive areas and to prevent the development of unauthorized trails, and we can do that in large part by providing cachers with more information about the parks, opening lines of communication between cachers and park staff, and formally instituting rules like "don't dig holes" and "don't leave explosives as an exchange item." That last part is mostly for the superintendents' peace of mind, IMHO, as they're in many ways reiterations of the guidelines already posted here at geocaching.com.

 

And yes, Howie, the Natural Areas manager was pretty smug about finding Hanger 57! Particularly since he got a really great picture while we were looking for it of me pointing off to the right, obviously saying "I think it's over here," and if you look real closely, you can SEE the danged thing to my left. I'm not sure, but I think we may have a new cacher in the making -- you don't hang in there that long looking for a cache unless you're having a good time!

[magellan315]

The only thing I would change in the VA guidlines you are using is the moving or removing a cache after a year. Unless the area where the cache is is showing signs of wear there should be no need to remove it. The permit should be renewed every year, to ensure the cacher who placed it is going to remain responsible for it.

[+NappingBears]

Thanks for the input on the 1-year permit-- gpsfun also pointed that out as a problem. I may be able to get folks to go with the re-permitting after a year idea -- you're right, there should be no reason to move it if everything looks OK.

 

BTW, looks like we're going to be able to provide free geocache stickers for permitted caches like PA does.

[Gizank]

Chris,

 

Thanks for the informative post. The removal notices on the Lums cache pages were short, and left a lot to the imagination. With what you've said, I have a much better feeling about our parklands being protected responsibly and shared fairly. I will definitely look into getting involved in some way.

 

Thanks, too, for making the effort to get this all sorted. It's great that the sport has such good representation here in li'l old DE. Sharing information about locations of sensitive plants and animals is pretty valuable anyway, but to suggest safer spots for caches is a great service.

 

I'm very new to caching, but am really enjoying my hikes and searches. I hadn't been out to the parks much lately, except a little disc golf, so this new activity has been wonderful. I started to feel (admittedly as knee-jerk as I assumed Lums reaction to be) that we were edging toward being banned from State parks in Delaware, and that part of my reason for getting out and seeing some of these areas I'd never been to was going to dry up.

 

I'm pretty busy in general, but I would like to get involved. I'll take a look at the Delaware Geocachers info and the volunteer page for parks. If I can lend a hand, I'll do what I can.

 

Thanks again for the info.

[+wimseyguy]

Chris, thanks for the great info. I am preparing to meet with the NC State Parks and Rec. department to amend the current restrictive policy. I would like to use you as a positive example of how it can work with proper education and communication from both groups involved; park admins and cachers.

[+NappingBears]

Chris, thanks for the great info. I am preparing to meet with the NC State Parks and Rec. department to amend the current restrictive policy.

Good contacts for you to look for at NC Parks and Rec might be the environmental educators and/or park naturalists, who are pretty quick to see the educational possibilities of geocaching, any superintendents whom NC geocachers could recommend as "cache-friendly," and geocachers who also volunteer at favorite parks -- it always helps to have friends on the inside, if you can get 'em. Good luck!

[MapheadMike]

Isn't it time for an update on this subject? I see that all the caches in Lums Pond are still posted as disabled and nothing has been replaced in Killens Pond.

[+Brianslost]

I haven't tried yet to hide one in Lums pond SP. I did place one recently in White Clay Creek SP. I decided to go and hide it and then tell the rangers where it was and remove it if they wanted. The asst. superintendent returned my message as he wasn't in when I stopped by. He wasn't thrilled but as I talked to him it was the fact that hunting goes on out there that turned him off of it. That and the fact that he didn't seem to know much about it. A few caches had been placed in historic ruins and he didn't like that. He warmed considerable when I explained that geocachers are mostly like any other outdoor group with good and bad participants and that hunting safety was a frequent topic. I had also recently been to one of his talks on whitetail deer. I think that helped a lot toward putting down the "bad sport" feeling. As I did at Lums Pond I offered to run a program for staff and/or public on geocaching. I'm hoping someone there takes me up on it.

[+NappingBears]

Isn't it time for an update on this subject? I see that all the caches in Lums Pond are still posted as disabled and nothing has been replaced in Killens Pond.

A policy proposal and background info were submitted to the Delaware State Parks managers and Division director several weeks back; it came back to me at the end of last week with word that the content was fine, and to reformat it and resubmit it as a policy directive (that's basically a much shorter form that will be added to the Division's policy book). I submitted that document this past Monday; I'm hoping they will give it a final review and say yay or nay next week. That's my hope, anyway -- it depends on whether those who weigh in on it are all available on Monday to make the decision.

 

Yes, the wheels of government turn very slowly sometimes -- I'm doing my best to keep this from getting delayed, but once it gets to this point, there's not much more I can do than wait!

 

Keep your fingers crossed that it won't be too much longer --

 

Chris Polo (NappingBears)

Delaware State Parks