Petitioning for change

[chevyole]

Within the last year, park and rides and Wisconsin Department of Transportation reststops have not allowed new caches to be placed.  I am not certain of the policies behind this but great park and grab caches like Ranger Boy’s Sisyphus and 94th on 94 will never be allowed to be republished unless something changes.  Dane County also charges a high yearly fee to place a cache in our public parks.  How, if at all, would you work on changing these anti-Geocaching practices on public lands?  Thanks

Please note: my comments are mine alone and may not necessarily reflect an official stance of the WGA Board of Directors.

[AuntieNae]

Chevyole, for WGA to move forward, we really need all BOD members to be active, participating and leading.  I say this because when it is not happening, members will only see what I would call the standard operations happening with very little extras.  It takes a crew to plan, organize and lead, not just attend, the various events.

For changes to happen related to geocaching policies, it pretty much just needs someone to take the lead and get started.

 

[Walkingadventure]

Good news cheyole, the Commander has been working on the removal of fees for Dane County and if it is not completely removed, it will be very soon. He has taken this one on as his personal project and has been posting the updates here on the site. Here’s the link: http://wi-geocaching.com/forums/topic/dane-county-park-fee/

Not only does every BOD need to be involved with the projects to make them successful, we need the members to be willing to help out and like you did here, bring this to our attention. From where I live the nearest rest stop is 40 or miles away.

Which do you think has a better chance of success? 9 Directors working towards a happy result or 346 members working together. I know I am limited on any contacts within the DOT, any government contacts I have are in the DNR but maybe we can use those to put us in touch with the right people.

I am always up for working on a project but the thought of trying to change a government entity’s policy by myself is kinda overwhelming. How does one start the process?

Following the signals from space.

[BeccaDay]

I think that there are two ways that the WGA can help out with these sorts of situations.  I think that the first place to start is by educating newer cachers, and possibly reminding older cachers, about geocaching etiquette.  I remember when I was a newer cacher and certain things just didn’t occur to me because I was inexperienced.  But by teaching Leave No Trace policies and general respect for private property and safety concerns we can help property owners in feeling confidant that geocaching isn’t a threat to their property.  The second place would be for the WGA to act as a liaison between property owners (Dane County Parks, the DOT, etc.) and speak to them about their concerns and how we can come to some sort of an arrangement or agreement.  The WI DNR had concerns years ago and the WGA came up with the form that is on the website now, maybe this is the solution for the mentioned problems.

As WA said, The Commander has been working closely with Dane County this year.  I know that I have spoken with a few of the state parks when issues arose and smoothed things over in the past year.  For example, the land manager at Lakeshore State Park had some concerns about the geocaches on his property and so I spoke with him and described where they were and about his preferences and then updated the WGA State Parks page accordingly.

I also would like to say that the WGA Board should lead by example and help as much as we can, but members can do these things as well.  I have heard plenty of great stories of WGA members stepping up and being informative contacts to authorities in their area.  This sort of thing is very helpful and productive for the game we all enjoy so much.

Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien

[Team Northwoods]

I have been working on an angle with the MnDot. Maybe this will give somebody some ideas.  I have more information than this but here are the main parts of what I have done and communicated.

Here is the email I sent to the reviewer. — Copy of email sent to Gat R Done —
Good Evening,

GC5JA5T Heritage Lake Multi

Are all MN Dot lands considered rest areas? It is not possible to get to this cache from the rest area and there are 3 other geocaches on the same piece of property. This one would be between them.
Thank you,

Team Northwoods

Below this is what I have been working on with the MnDot and forwarding the info to the reviewer.

Now this cache is not accessible from the way side and resides on 475 acres behind the rest area. The cache is only accessible from the bike trail that runs along the north side of Highway 94 near the 95 exit to Hastings.

The cache is also on a separate piece of property but still owned by the MnDot. Now I was hoping that because it was not on the same exact piece of property (a property with a different deed) it might be allowed but no luck so far. My contact has been Alexia from the MnDot.

Here is the parcel the cache is on.

Parcel Number:  33.029.20.32.0001

Property Address:

WEST LAKELAND TWP, MN    MAPS

Class:  Exempt

Legal Description:  PT NW1/4 SW1/4 SD SEC 33 & PT NE1/4 SE1/4 S32T29R20 BEING PRCL 2 MNDOT R/W PLAT 82-48 TRK HWY SP8282 (94=392) 904 &IO94-3 (304) 248 TOG WITH ALL RIGHT OF ACCESS SHOWN ON SD PLAT Section 33 Township 029 Range 020

You can find the this information at the following website. http://maps.co.washington.mn.us/PropertyViewer

You may want to bookmark the link I added above. It may come in handy to anyone trying to hide a cache across the border.

Now I do not know if the Wisconsin Dot has rest areas that are 500 acres and broken into different parcels, so that maybe the parcels behind the rest area that are inaccessible from the rest area can have caches placed in them. Now I know that this will probably not help you get a geocache into the immediate rest area but it is a starting point.

I am reaching out and giving all the information that I have to the MnGCA to see if it can help further their ongoing probe into the Minnesota ban on geocaches in rest areas and get the Heritage Lake Multi published.

It is worth a shot.

***Opinions expressed are mine alone and will change based upon new information. ***

[Author]

Posts