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Dan,
With all due respect, your negativity towards this issue is not doing anything to make the situation better. The thread you’ve mentioned has been read by several board members and there are already dicussions about who we need to contact and what needs to be worked out.
The policy has been implemented. There will be bugs to work out. Sit on your hands and give it some time.
@geopink wrote:
… Sit on your hands and give it some time.
I would disagree. Dan has voiced his concerns and it is important for these to be addressed. His arguments may be from the point of view of a devil’s advocate, but they are objectively presented with specific examples. He needs the opportunity to vent as any other concerned member of our organization.
Dan’s arguments have given us the opportunity to explain how important it is to realize that the land we use is not our own personal property. We share the parks with thousands of other users. Land managers must insure that activities on these lands are in the best intrests of all users. Hence, we must seek permission to use these lands.
I may seem to be 180 degrees off of Dan’s thoughts, but I welcome his input and encourage him to not abandon his Ideals. ~tb
I have just received permission to place my first cache which happens to be located on DNR owned property. The process of obtaining permission first before placing the cache I feel was effortless. The form was incredibly easy to fill out; it took me one phone call to get the name of the local wildlife manager. I left him a voice mail, he left me a voice mail, I faxed him the form along with an informal letter and a few days later I received the notification form back signed and approved in the mail. The land manager even wrote a short note to me. Sure it would be a little easier and faster to just go place the cache on my own; I feel there is nothing wrong with this procedure and see only good reasons for having it.
Glad you had good results!
As with dealing with any organization … some locations are going to be a piece of cake, some will be a fair amount of effort and some will just say no. Fact of life is that they manage the properties, they have a right to know what’s on the land they’re taking care of and we need to respect that authority granted to them.
I completely agree, as a landowner I am responsible for what goes on on my land. The same is true for DNR land managers, sure they might not own the land, but it’s their job to know what’s going on. Maybe because I am new to this hobby is why I don’t find this to be a problem at all – I’m not sure. In any event, it was quick and easy and I can’t wait to place my first cache this weekend, and start thinking of future hides.
As a consensus, the founders of WGA and the charter members had the vision to see that there would be issues between government and geocaching. I don’t think anyone of them liked the notion of seeking permission to enjoy our hobby, but reality is our guide.
Without getting into whether or not geocaching has evolved into what I or anyone else wishes it would have, I’m here to voice my support and appreciation for the work to get this agreement done. It is a whole lot better than what we originally expected to get from the DNR!
Unfortunately one could do a lot of work in creating a cache only to have it shot down. It remains to be seen if the DNR handles the agreement fairly.
Steve Bukosky
former WGA board memberWell, summer is over and I’m again taking time to look around the wi-geocaching web site.
My first stop was this thread; I knew that the DNR registration forms had been in the works. I found this to be a somewhat unusual discussion in that, despite diametrically opposed viewpoints being offered, I find that I agree with all sides of the arguments.
I was hoping though, to find more comments about how the cache notification form procedure has been received by local property managers. But I guess I shouldn’t complain about others not doing something that I haven’t done myself…
So I filled out two forms for my caches in Kohler/Andrae State Parks. I drove to the park and checked both of my caches, just in case the property managers wanted a tour; I wanted them to be ship-shape.
I then stopped at the park office where I found both the property manager and the property superintendent in the reception area. I told them my name and explained that in compliance with Wisconsin Administrative Code NR 45, I had stopped in to present them with two completed Forms 2500-118 (R 6/06). The property manager drew her sidearm, threw me against the wall and frisked me. Glancing at the forms, she said, “Oh, these are the new geocaching forms. Sorry, I thought a 2500-118 (R 6/06) was something else.” She gave me back my cell phone, PDA, GPSr, and Glock. “So you want to place geocaches in the park?”
“Well no, they’ve been there for two and a half years. I’m submitting these forms retroactively to comply with the new ruling.”
The property superintendent came over and looked at the forms. They had heard about them, but these were the first they had seen. Where were the caches? I guess that for some non-geocachers it’s not easy to visualize a location by glancing at Lats and Longs; it might be a good idea to attach/bring a topo map to show the location.
The property superintendent made some additional notes on the forms about the locations, signed them, and went off to make copies for my records. Meanwhile, I answered some questions about geocaching in general, and the other caches in the park; would the owners be stopping to file their forms? Were the other caches in the SNA? I explained that this was a rather new requirement, that it might take a while to get the word out to file the forms, and told them where the other caches are hidden. They seemed to be fine with that.
So folks, there’s really nothing to it. Just be prepared to answer a few questions about caching in a positive way. DNR property managers want to keep their attendance numbers up, and if caching is perceived as showcasing their parks without detrimental effects, they don’t have much cause to say no.
TS
Thanks for the input TS. I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience.
I submitted two notices for my Lapham Peak hides about two months ago and not heard boo back…I guess silence is golden.
I dropped of 2 notification forms today to the local DNR office. I talked to the Property Manager for about an hour. I found out that he and his son also caches,thou he just hunts for them and does not log anything.
He thought that the 2 spots I had chosen were great locations.
He also told me that he had tried to get the ball rolling on the DNR Policy before the was a policy so there would be no problems in the future.He also pointed out some new location that woulds be a good spot for a cache. I asked him about a canoe landing that is owned by the DNR on the Namekagon River(which is part of the NPS Scenic River way).
He stated that the NPS would have no authority of the landing and that he would have no problem if a cache was placed at the landing, but I should check with the NPS just to get a clarification. I asked him this because a cache was just archived because it was also on the river way,but on a city park. Does anyone know of anything about this policy, as in caches being placed on public property adjoining the scenic river way?
Just a note. I called the local NPS office and asked them about the questions I had asked up above. They said that the NPS has no jurisdiction to land that is owned to county,city or state properties that border the Riverway, and that it would up to those municipalities and their geocaching policies. I asked for that in writing and the will email me it ans will submit it to the WGA for reference.
While camping on Rock Island State Park last weekend, we submitted Cache Placement forms for the existing Water Tower Cache and a new cache that we placed there. When the park manager returned on Monday, he signed them, made a copy for us, and thanked us.
@cheezehead wrote:
I dropped of 2 notification forms today to the local DNR office. I talked to the Property Manager for about an hour. I found out that he and his son also caches,thou he just hunts for them and does not log anything.
He thought that the 2 spots I had chosen were great locations.
He also told me that he had tried to get the ball rolling on the DNR Policy before the was a policy so there would be no problems in the future.He also pointed out some new location that woulds be a good spot for a cache. I asked him about a canoe landing that is owned by the DNR on the Namekagon River(which is part of the NPS Scenic River way).
He stated that the NPS would have no authority of the landing and that he would have no problem if a cache was placed at the landing, but I should check with the NPS just to get a clarification. I asked him this because a cache was just archived because it was also on the river way,but on a city park. Does anyone know of anything about this policy, as in caches being placed on public property adjoining the scenic river way?
Howdy cheezehead! If this is the canoe landing/wayside across from the ranger station in Hayward, we put a cache there but it wasn’t approved and we had to archive it and remove it “immediately” because ” It was on the National Scenic Riverway”. We had done this shortly after we placed our Eagle Nest/Cache Nest one which also turned out to be on the National Scenic Riverway but at a public park, which turned out to be OK. It’s my opinion that a cache could be placed at this canoe landing if the DNR had no problem with it.
Two of our newest caches are on DNR property and we submitted form 2500-118 via email and had them signed and approved after a short delay. (first time this particular DNR person got a caching request) Check out cache Slough Gundy GC18E2 for the additional text we had to add to our cache description. Team Crazy4 leader.@crazy4 wrote:
@cheezehead wrote:
I dropped of 2 notification forms today to the local DNR office. I talked to the Property Manager for about an hour. I found out that he and his son also caches,thou he just hunts for them and does not log anything.
He thought that the 2 spots I had chosen were great locations.
He also told me that he had tried to get the ball rolling on the DNR Policy before the was a policy so there would be no problems in the future.He also pointed out some new location that woulds be a good spot for a cache. I asked him about a canoe landing that is owned by the DNR on the Namekagon River(which is part of the NPS Scenic River way).
He stated that the NPS would have no authority of the landing and that he would have no problem if a cache was placed at the landing, but I should check with the NPS just to get a clarification. I asked him this because a cache was just archived because it was also on the river way,but on a city park. Does anyone know of anything about this policy, as in caches being placed on public property adjoining the scenic river way?
Howdy cheezehead! If this is the canoe landing/wayside across from the ranger station in Hayward, we put a cache there but it wasn’t approved and we had to archive it and remove it “immediately” because ” It was on the National Scenic Riverway”. We had done this shortly after we placed our Eagle Nest/Cache Nest one which also turned out to be on the National Scenic Riverway but at a public park, which turned out to be OK. It’s my opinion that a cache could be placed at this canoe landing if the DNR had no problem with it.
Two of our newest caches are on DNR property and we submitted form 2500-118 via email and had them signed and approved after a short delay. (first time this particular DNR person got a caching request) Check out cache Slough Gundy GC18E2 for the additional text we had to add to our cache description. Team Crazy4 leader.After talking to both the Hayward DNR and the NPS Office in Trego, I got a “YES” that the DNR would have no problem with it(I will if ya put it back there cuz it’s a 1/4 mile from my house and I want that spot! 😛 ) the NPS has no jurisdiction as that property is not theirs. As it was explained to me , the cache can not be placed in the high water mark of the river(It would be very hard to do anyways I believe.)So it is my understanding that the Hayward DNR would allow a cache at that location.
I did the leg work to get Eagle nest cache reinstated as that is also 1/4 mile from house.You must understand thou. that the reviewed have to go by what info they have(like different maps and such ) and the reviewer had contacted NPS to get their approval for the cache after he disabled the cache. That is there job.
The reviewers are not from this area so they do not always know the details of a piece of property and have to go with what they have.
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