Now I am little peeved

[wikamper]

OK,

I was wondering if I making A mountain out of a mole hill… I have been waiting for a couple of weeks to wait aunt nae to get a thing going with the Milwaukee county parks system to get permission to put caches in Milwaukee county parks…well just tonight some person list a handful of caches in the parks I had all scoped out…well he had not gotten permission…So should I contact him about this??

[RSplash40]

Rough call – on the one hand you want to be able to put caches in those places so you dont want to upset the parks commision. On the other hand you dont want to burn bridges with the other cacher.

You have 3 options I think..

1. Contact the owner direct – ask if he had permission(sounds like he didnt). explain whats going on maybe they would voluntarily disable them until permission is granted.

2. Contact wga2 or cheese-wiz and let them know, they might disable until proof can be shown?

3. Do nothing.

The latter would probably cause more grief and start a statewide negative reaction to gc’rs.

I think I would start with #1 and then #2.

[AuntieNae]

My communication with Milwaukee County Parks has been positive. They are recognizing geocaching as a positive use of the parks. The policy they have in draft is modeled after the DNR policy. I was told the form would be similiar as well.

I will put an email out to my contact to ask about getting permission here while we are waiting for them to get the policy out. It does not hurt to ask.

Renee

[AuntieNae]

PM just sent.

[Uncle_Fun]

Wondering why the WGA and the Wisconsin approvers aren’t taking a little bit more aggressive position on seeking approval for placing caches. While I realize that we may not be able to create approval guidelines in addition to those of geocaching dot com. I certainly don’t see why the approvers can’t ask the simple question. “Have you sought approval from the appropriate authorities to place this cache?” and/or “Who did you get approval from?” If we want to get setting an example and creating a great place to geocache, then we need to put our money where our mouth is.

Just my honest opinion.

By the way I have nothing but respect and understanding for the WGA board and the Approvers. I appreciate your massive volunteer efforts.

Uncle_Fun

[zuma]

@Uncle_Fun wrote:

Wondering why the WGA and the Wisconsin approvers aren’t taking a little bit more aggressive position on seeking approval for placing caches. While I realize that we may not be able to create approval guidelines in addition to those of geocaching dot com. I certainly don’t see why the approvers can’t ask the simple question. “Have you sought approval from the appropriate authorities to place this cache?” and/or “Who did you get approval from?” If we want to get setting an example and creating a great place to geocache, then we need to put our money where our mouth is.

Just my honest opinion.

By the way I have nothing but respect and understanding for the WGA board and the Approvers. I appreciate your massive volunteer efforts.

Uncle_Fun

I think that in many cases folks get verbal approval, and that ought to be adequate. Speaking just for myself, and not the WGA BOD, I do not think that advocating that park departments require written notification is in the best interests of geocaching, and that we really should not get into the business of setting up complex notification schemes.

And I also understand that in many cases folks rely on implicit permission, feeling that public land is indeed public, and that hiding a geocache is less intrusive on the land than many other implicit uses of the land. For example, I have a hard time understanding or supporting notification of a geocache on park lands, when the park managers have failed to remove litter, invasive species, graffiti, and bums hanging out. Milwaukee does not not even clean the porta-potties on a regular basis, yet they want to spend taxpayers dollars on tracking geocaches?

My concern is that as we move away from implicit permission and verbal permission to explicit permission, park managers will make the process needlessly complex, and some will want to add fees to cover their ‘administrative costs’. In the long run, this is not a good thing for the future of geocaching.

I also think that those who advocate for notification schemes are causing more problems than are necessary. The problems that wikamper has run into here, is a case in point.

With that said, I will say that this is an issue that the WGA BOD is looking at, and you are right in stating that we need to take action on this.

zuma
(the above is my opinion only, not necessarily the opinion of the WGA BOD.)

[Buy_The_Tie]

I appreciate the fact that Milwaukee Parks are working on a policy (as well as some other cities). But for now, there is no policy in place, therefore there is nothing to “enforce”.

It is completely plausable that permission was obtained. It is also completely plausable that the person granting permission has no idea about the “almost” policy yet.

@The Guidelines wrote:

Prior to placing and submitting a cache you are expected to review the following guidelines. In order to post a new cache and submit it for review you must indicate that you have read the guidelines as required.
…
By submitting a cache listing, you assure us that you have adequate permission to hide your cache in the selected location. However, if we see a cache description that mentions ignoring “No Trespassing” signs (or any other obvious issues), your listing may be immediately archived. We also assume that your cache placement complies with all applicable laws. If an obvious legal issue is present, or is brought to our attention, your listing may be immediately archived.

[Lostby7]

@Buy_The_Tie wrote:

@The Guidelines wrote:

Prior to placing and submitting a cache you are expected to review the following guidelines. In order to post a new cache and submit it for review you must indicate that you have read the guidelines as required.
…
By submitting a cache listing, you assure us that you have adequate permission to hide your cache in the selected location. However, if we see a cache description that mentions ignoring “No Trespassing” signs (or any other obvious issues), your listing may be immediately archived. We also assume that your cache placement complies with all applicable laws. If an obvious legal issue is present, or is brought to our attention, your listing may be immediately archived.

OH I WAS SUPPOSED TO READ THOSE????

[AuntieNae]

Unfortunately, people are not reading that. I forwarded my contact at Milwaukee County parks to several people that have asked for it. I have not heard back, I hope they have had success.

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