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I’m in the process of setting up a geocache in one of the Dane County Parks, and just learned that Dane County requires an annual permit to place geocaches, with a fee of $25. This permit has to be renewed annually to keep a geocache in place. Has anyone else placed any caches in a Dane County Park, or has anyone from the association attempted to contact Dane County Parks about this requirement? I can appreciate that a permit would tend to keep the bad cache owners out, but requiring an annual permit to keep a cache going might be a little overkill.
Looks like they aren’t shy about charging –
http://danedocs.countyofdane.com/webdocs/pdf/lwrd/parks/2013_Fee_Schedule.pdf
I feel the same as you do about this permit system. I am in the process of placing 3 caches, and hope to have them in place this week. Fortunately, I will have no problems with caches being nearby. Not if they are legally placed that is. (Nor did I find any while searching geocaching online.) I will be working with the local ranger too, which to me provides the benefit of having someone familiar with the park, knowing where local kids cause the most vandelism, ie the safest place to locate the caches, and a more constant eye on them. That and making it harder for “absent cache ownership”, I think is an advantage of the permit system. As for leaving the permit and information inside the cache, I think there are some ways around that. Later on, I plan on spending a little more time with the Parks supervisor, and County Board if necessary, explaining what Geocaching is all about, what our reviewers look at, and try to get them to at least make this a more workable deal for all of us. I think the permit process came up due to some earlier issues with park caches. Geocaching is a fun recreational activity, but we could probably police our own a little better. I suspect that if one has to pay to place their cache, they may take a little better care of it.
I talked to the commander some time ago. He mention that he was going to look into this and have a talk with his county supervisor. I never asked him how that went.
One does have to ask what cost(s) does that fee go to cover. It is not the same type of cost associated with someone using a park building. There is no cleanup after each find. 🙂 All it is doing is keeping us from bringing people to their parks. I believe that the WGA events stay out of the county/county parks because of this fee policy.
@wstemple wrote:
… I believe that the WGA events stay out of the
county/county parks because of this fee policy.No, not necessarily. We have stuck mainly to state parks for WGA events for a number of reasons including facilities (parking, shelter etc.), familiarity and our ongoing relationship with the WDNR. We have considered a few county parks for past events, but a state park has always been chosen as the better option.
Back on topic, are there any other counties that require fees for placing geocaches?I have heard that Brown County does.
That is not correct. Brown county considered a fee but chose not to have a permitting process at all. Only Dane County requires a fee for processing the permit.
@Team Deejay wrote:
That is not correct. Brown county considered a fee but chose not to have a permitting process at all. Only Dane County requires a fee for processing the permit.
OK. Someone had told me the wrong information before. Good to hear that there are counties that “play” fair. Fees are fine, as long as they are to offset real expenses. They should not be there to make a “profit” or to offset some other unrelated expense.
I thought Waukesha and Milwaukee Counties also require fees.
I refer you to the Website Navigation section on the left of the WGA site. Right above the bright aqua Forums section is one titled “Location Rules and Regs”. Different counties and entities and their requirements can be accessed under that heading.
Is there a fee to hold a CITO Event in a Dane County Park?
@todd300 wrote:
I thought Waukesha and Milwaukee Counties also require fees.
Sigh. No, that is not true, although Milwaukee county can get a bit picky where they will allow a cache.
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