Bad Cache Placement

[+Lostby7]

I'm curious, how often are caches placed in areas later deemed unfit by the park officials or property owners?

I know you are supposed to obtain permissions but I'm sure there have been one or two caches placed without permission over the years. What have the repercussions been; anything serious (fines and such)?

[+Touchstone]

Impact on the cache owner can range from having the box removed and nothing being said, to having the Fed's knocking on your door. It depends on the percieved seriousness of the situation. If it involves impact on a sensitive area (i.e. nesting grounds for an endagered species, native plant restoration), they may just remove the cache without a word. If it involves a public safety question where the bomb squad gets called in (i.e. caches near airports, schools, nuclear power plants), then someone might get the knock on the door.

 

You have to use (now here's the hard part) Your Common Sense! If Briansnat chimes in, he'll tell you about the, "Frisbee Rule". If you can throw a frisbee in the park, you should be able to place a cache.

 

A good place to start, is to read the Code of Ethics. That should give you an idea of what's acceptable and what's not.

[+robert]

Definitely pays to have permission. It was several years ago, but one cacher in California (IIRC) had his license taken away for an extended period of time, a hefty fine, and I don't remember about jail time, but it might have been probation/community service.

 

Definitely pays to have permission.

[+FtMgAl]

 

You can't read this very well here but the penalty for individuals is $5000 and 6 months in jail per person per violation. The penalty is $100,000 and 1 year per offense for a corporation which presumably implies Groundspeak. I have to assume they mean the officers of the corporation do the jail time and not just the certificate of incorporation

 

Some individuals are real touchy about their property even when it isn't their property. The government entity here is REALLY POed that people can actually walk on the public property they are charged with administrating. For many years they have taken every opportunity to exclude the public from this reserve and beach. Right after the recent hurricane they demanded a 24 hour National Guard posting to make sure no one put footprints on their beach until they could put up fences to keep people off the beach. The guard drove Hummers up and down the 3 mile stretch cutting deep ruts even though the state prohibits motorized vehicles on the beach. This is federal land so the state has no right to tell them what they can and can not do. Here we are over 3 months later and you can now park in the parking lot and walk to the water through a fenced chute. You are then informed that you will be arrested if you venture inland more than 50 feet from the surf. Note it says surf and not water's edge. The dictionary defines that as where the waves break which is about 300 feet offshore.

 

As far as I can tell, the poor guy who dared put a cache here is still in hiding. The cache was just off a well traveled and MARKED trail and causing no problem at all. There were trail guides at the trail head and sign posts along the way. But what was missed was that the administrator only allowed those things because his supreiors said that he had to. He didn't have to allow a cache bring in lots more unwanted people trampling his sand.

 

So sometimes there are strong deep undercurrents you need to be aware of before placing a cache. Public property doesn't always belong to the public. Sometimes it belongs to some pea-brained power-mad bureaucrat.

 

P.S. Yes, this guy is serious in enforcement also. The parking lot is small and if you dare park on the side of the road he will and has called a tow truck. You better have a cell phone because it's about 15 miles back to town.