Need some ammunition to save my caches

[labrat_wr]

Back in June or July I had posted a follow-up question to a topic from 2002 regarding Cache placement in Waushara County Parks. When I started caching in March 2006, I had noticed somewhere on the WGA site that Waushara County was not allowing cache placements in Waushara County Parks land. When I did the follow-up post it was because I could no longer find that Policy. The answers I received from the forum basically stated that if they come in under their radar go for it so I made some hides. I guess that I knew that if the policy was still in place, that I may need to remove my caches from these parks but so far so good….. until now. One of the caches I had placed on County Park land was held up by a reviewer because according to the mapping software they were using, this cache came up as though it was on DNR managed land so the required cache placement notification needed to be submitted. Now, three months later the DNR guy notifies me that he does not have jurisdiction to authorize the cache because it is on Waushara County Park land. So he notifies the Parks Department who, in turn contacts me that they don’t currently allow caches to be placed in their parks. I don’t really blame anyone but the parks department as they, back in 2002 denied an application to allow caches to be placed on these parklands.
So, I now need to remove my park caches and then I can appeal to the county parks department to allow cache placements. My thought is that back in 2002, geocaching was in its early stages and there may have been questions that the petitioner did not answer or the parks department was ignorant of the benefits of allowing caches.

I don’t really understand all the politics involved and would appreciate any input or presentations that could be taken to the Waushara County Parks Commission to explain Geocaching.

I will be disabling these caches within the week to abide by their wishes so if you have a chance to log these before they go away, please do so.
I am hoping that the appeal will be successful so I will not archive them, unless I can unarchive if they can be replaced upon a successful appeal.

I think that there are 6 of my caches that this will affect.
I don’t understand why Waushara County wouldn’t want to have people visit the parks here. Many of them are quite nice.

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[AuntieNae]

I will be doing a presentation at our Wisconsin Park & Recreation Association’s Annual conference the first week of November. Email on it’s way to you.
AuntieNae

[AuntieNae]

Good Afternoon
I received a very positive reply to my email this afternoon. I am providing some background information on geocaching to them. Email being sent to the respective folks.
AuntieNae

[labrat_wr]

I would like to thank Renee for her championing this effort to educate the Waushara County Parks Committee. All the correspondence recieved has been positive and it looks promising that the County will adopt a policy of notification similar to the WDNR placement notifications. apparently in 2002 the state didn’t have a policy in place and lacking that guidance, they denied the request at that time.

It is great how the geocaching community comes to the aid of other cachers in times of need. 😀 😀

Updates to follow.

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[labrat_wr]

I would like to take this time to thank Renee and Diane for all the information they provided to the Waushara County Parks Committee in the effort to explain Geocaching benefits to the area. Their efforts appear to have paid off and we hope to have a long lasting relationship with the parks department.

Below is an email that I received from Diane Ruhland who was able to take two of the committee members out for an afternoon of caching to give them first hand experience of what it is all about.

The committee held a board meeting this afternoon and Diane was able to attend and then provided me with the news.

Peter,
The Waushara County Parks Committee passed a motion to rescind its former ban on geocaching in the parks and to allow it with certain stipulations.
Hiders are to follow geocaching rules, of course, and to follow the rules
of the particular park. People hiding caches will have to fill out a
permission form, similar to the one the DNR has. I think this form will
be posted on the County Parks website. I am so happy and excited about this.
The committee was unanimous in its vote. The 2 people that had gone
caching with me (and I think all members of the committee) want to have people visit our parks. One of the members of the committee is a cacher also and promoted it as a family oriented sport. The meeting was very positive and I thanked the committee members for me and geocachers in general.

Diane

I hope that Renee’s presentation at the Wisconsin Park & Recreation Association’s Annual Conference goes well and reinforces the idea that geocachers are interested in ecology and the preservation of the environment.

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[PCFrog]

😀 Great news

[greyhounder]

Nice work Lab Rat!!

Bec

[labrat_wr]

The “NICE WORK” goes to Auntienae and Diane for there work on this ❗ ❗ ❗ .
I was just the one with the problem. 🙂

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[greyhounder]

Nice work to Diane and Renee too!

Bec

[kbraband]

Excellent! A big “thank you” and congratulations to everyone involved in this effort.

[3 Hawks]

GREAT NEWS!!! With ever restrictive policies being adopted around the State, it is nice to see common sense prevail. What a wonderful approach on this one!! Now we just have to see if the same approach will yield the same result in the future.

[labrat_wr]

The Waushara County Parks Department now has their Geocache Notification Form on their web site.
http://www.co.waushara.wi.us/parks.htm.

I will be submitting my disabled caches soon and once they are approved I will be replacing and re-enabling them (or some of them as two are in a park that is closed for the winter).

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[Author]

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