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@tyedyeskyguy wrote:
The good news here folks is that it all grows back. All but erosion that is.
The bad news is that the vast majority of caches are hidden on public land, managed by public employees. And when these public employees find an area destroyed by one of our geocaches, the result is more regulation and more problems for everyone. They won’t care about the other 99 geocaches on their properties that are creating no problems. They won’t care that the grass grows back a year later. They won’t care that you put “Don’t tear up the area” in the cache description. The result is banning, permission forms, placement fees, licensing, and more rules.
Now nobody is saying that we can’t place difficult hides. The problem is difficult hides in sensitive areas. There is no problem with difficult hides in shelters, rockpiles, marshes and swamps, bike trails, ball fields, thorn thickets, beaches, parking lots, city parks, and many other places. But most forests (especially forests near ponds and other bodies of water) and all prairies can be severely damaged by extended seaching. Its in all our best interest to preserve the places where we play our game.
I have to agree with the sentiment on hints. You don’t have to geocache very long to get aggravated by nonhelpful hints. Examples of useless hints on active caches in Wisconsin:
- Park at……
- At the trail junction, go left and then after 1/2 mile, go right
- Across the street from….
- and of course, no hints, you don’t get a hint, etc.
Where I disagree is blaming the finders. Remember that most people who geocache do it only occasionally, never hide a cache, never post to or read a forum, and do it for fun. We cannot expect everyone looking for a cache to be responsible and “give up” if they run into a hard hide in a sensitive area. When placing caches, it is the hider’s responsibility to make sure the cache can be found without significant damage to the environment. This means you can’t place 4 and 5 star difficulty caches in prairies, bluff sides, and some forest areas, as the trampling damage will be too severe. This means that you can’t place any caches in places where hiking will cause erosion damage. This means your coordinates have to be averaged over several days in sensitive areas. This means that you probably need a real hint in sensitive areas, even for easy hides. Most importantly, this means we need to THINK about the seeking process before you place and list a cache. In populated areas, a lot of caches are found 100 or more times. Consider what sort of damage 100 people walking through the area will do. If it is not acceptable, don’t place the cache. Remember that several of us are working hard with government agencies to keep the game viable. It only takes one bad cache to tarnish the reputation of all of us.
[/rant mode off]
@brkster wrote:
I was wondering who that new approver was. Does that mean I can’t consult with you on those really tough puzzle caches anymore?
Actually, I usually just look at the type of puzzle and make sure it is solvable. So far, there has been one that I felt I needed to contact the hider for info, but the rest were straightforward enough. So, the consulting office is “conditionally open”. If I had to review the solution on the cache notes, well, I guess I can’t help. 😀
Uh, Zuma, he was asking about caches that he was co owner of where the other person was the official owner.
One addition to Marc’s note: If you use the ignore list, be sure to check the “Not on my Ignore List” box in your PQ setup. (It only took me 4 tries to figure this out! DOH!)
If you want to find “new caches before the notification comes out”, or more accurately, caches that haven’t been found when you are going out, set up a pocket query to return caches centered on your home coordinates at a 25 mile radius that haven’t been found. Then just preview the PQ when you want to check. No need to ever have it run automatically.
If you are talking about the link on the left side of the page (WI Geocache map) you can get there by going to the state page.
-Select Hide and Seek from the main GC.com page.
-Select Wisconsin from the “By Local State Page”, which will bring you to a listing of new caches, events, TBs, etc.
-Near the top of this page, by the words “Geocaching in Wisconsin”, you will see a link on the word “Map”. Click that link to get to the state map.Unless you are in a very cache sparse area, I don’t believe this map is much use, but have fun with it anyway.
Thanks everyone. Please be patient with me, as I am still “learning the ropes”. I plan on creating a second “WGA Friend” account for official reviewer postings here, but I thought I would post an acknowledgement now. Wish me luck as I head off into the abyss!
@Jay Mills wrote:
I think that this document has several problems that need to be addressed but I think this is just a proposed document and not in its final form yet if I am understanding correctly.
I think you are right, but if we don’t have someone working on the inside now, I suspect it is too late for Milwaukee County. AuntieNae has been talking with these folks, but it sounds like they were not sharing what they were actually planning to do. She was given the impression that the rules would be very similar to the DNR regulation. The proposed rule is actually the direct opposite of the DNR regulation.
Like I have said before, it pays to be proactive when dealing with government agencies. If we approach these parks boards before they believe geocaching is a problem, we can get them on our side and establish a working relationship with our organization. We cannot just assume that these agencies will act in a logical manner without any guidance.
What happens today in Milwaukee and Madison could easily happen tomorrow in Eau Claire, Waukesha, Racine and Wausau, and next week in Appleton, Sheboygan, LaCrosse, and Stevens Point. The easiest way to guarantee this is to do nothing. Governments exist to make rules and take money. If we don’t take the time to influence the governments to act in a fair manner, we will get what we deserve.
Actually, it would be the county board, not the city council. Probably your best bet is to talk to the county executive.
Go Speedy Go!
I kinda wonder about some of the terrain restrictions, specifically stream banks, and bluffs. It seems like half of the current caches in their parks are near stream banks.
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