Landowner Permission

[+Konnarock Kid & Marge]

Does anyone know of a simple explanation of geocaching that can be used when seeking private landowner permission to place a cache? Out in the country most of our folks never heard of geocaching, GPSrs, etc. I think that putting an emphasis on CITO is important in "selling" geocaching but I cannot find any simple references that would help. Sorry if I am repeating this topic in the forum but I have searched and searched and have not found anything. Please help. Thanks.

[+Anonymous']

Check this site out

[+Kealia]

If i recall right, there's also a PowerPoint presentaion on the Texas Geocachers website - don't have the link handy, but you can Google it.

[+Ghostcat78]

I tried this once also. I wanted to place a 1/5 cache on top of one of our highest hills here in nebraska known as sioux lookout. On top there was a sioux warrior statue looking out over the platte valley. You can see the hill from I-80. It looks like a giant anomaly after you have driven across the state and seen nothing but flat ground. When I was a kid we used to hike up there all the time. Even though it was private property the owner had it open to the public. Since then kids used to go out and party and trash the land and vandalize the monument. The owner got sick and tired of this and closed it down. The other day I drove up to his house and tried to explain my purpose, geocaching, and CITO. I tried to explain the people that would be finding the cache would not be punk kids, but honest genuine people who would clean up any trash that happend be on the monument as they climb it. I still got a brisk NO, and he didn't want to talk about it any more. It was too bad. It would of made a fun cache. So as soon as somebody comes up with a winning selling point I'd like to hear it also.

Edited February 1, 2005 by Ghostcat78

[Team Misguided]

The Geocacher-U brochure is great, I always carry a few copies with me. Another thing I've done is create a business card with our 'Team' name and contact info on one side and a brief description of geocaching on the back side.

 

I think the best additional suggestion I can give you is to be prepared. Take a copy of a cache page, bring your gps and be prepared to explain how it works and bring a sample cache container or two. This will help show the property owner/land manager that you have given some thought and planning to this cache placement and won't just toss a container in a bush and never return.

[+Konnarock Kid & Marge]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I went to the reccomended sites and found what I need (and a lot more). You folks are great and I can always count help when I need it. Thanks again.

[+The Puzzler]

So as soon as somebody comes up with a winning selling point I'd like to hear it also.

It sounds to me like you don't need a good sales point, as this land owner is already fed up with the public's treatment of his land. He needs to have his needs and wishes met, not some great feature that will inspire him to change his mind.

 

You will probably not get anywhere, but, what you need is a good salesman, not a good sales feature.

 

1) It is his/her land. They own it. Any public access is a gift that they are giving to the public. How do you inspire someone that has been generous in the past to give more to a group (i.e., the public) that has already screwed them over and made their life more difficult than it was when they kept the gift just for themselves.

 

2) Then, there is the liability issue that keeps me from being able to talk my parents into letting me put a cache on some of their land.

 

Here are the tacts that I would try:

First: Find out what the land owner would want or need to be willing and able to open up his/her land to a select and controlled few people. Don't offer anything until you know what they are looking for, and then do your darnedest to meet their wishes. It may well be impossible to meet their needs. If so, be gracious and try again next year.

 

Then, if they have not closed the door completely on you, and need more reassurance try these tacts:

A) Estimate the likely frequency of geocaching visitors so the owners can see how much use there will be.

B] Make sure that the only permission that anyone has is to hunt the geocache at the geocacher's own risk, while clearly displaying a geocaching logo of some sort so that non-geocachers can be prosecuted for trespassing and geocachers can be recognized. This strict stipulation would be clearly outlined on the caching page so that there would be no ambiguity.

C) Coyote Red's "Geocaching Code of Ethics" might be a good tool to share with the land owner to give him/her a feel for the essence of geocaching. Or at least the good side of the essence.

D) Maybe try and include the owner in the geocache. What would the owner like the cachers to get out of the experience, if anything. Maybe the owner has a sadistic side and would enjoy making cachers write a short essay on the history of this hill (or some such thing) before they are allowed to log the cache.

 

In the end. Just visit the owner every six months to a year and ask them what they would need to make it worth their while. Remind them what access would be worth to you and your select few fellow geocachers. Eventually, you will probably get an answer about what they need and you can go from their if it is a meetable need. If their requirements are unattainable, apologize for not being able to meet them, let the owner know how close you might be able to come, and go back the next year and ask again.

 

Good luck!