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Next Steps for Geocaching Policy
Following adoption of a geocaching policy by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s board of directors on November 1, 2008, ATC staff developed this guidance to the Trail clubs on implementing the policy.
The policy attempts to strike a balance between the value of geocaching as an outdoor recreational activity and the potentially significant negative impacts to natural and cultural resources that unmanaged geocaching can cause. To that end, A.T. land-managing agencies are encouraged either to manage and monitor geocaching activity, or to prohibit it.
Geocaching Guidance to Appalachian Trail Maintaining Clubs
Clubs should disseminate the geocaching policy and this guidance to their members, especially trail maintainers and corridor monitors, and ensure that information is available to members who have questions about the policy. Clubs should refer questions and comments back to ATC.
- Trail clubs are not responsible for monitoring geocaches. However, volunteer help in finding and mitigating caches impacting natural or cultural resources is greatly appreciated. Club members who locate geocaches on Trail lands in the course of other Trail duties (such as corridor monitoring and trail maintenance) are requested to document and report their findings. Ideally, club members should document the placement of the geocaches (as well as any visible impacts) as precisely as possible with field notes and photographs and report their findings through their club to the appropriate land-managing agency and ATC regional office.
- Trail clubs are not responsible for managing geocaching requests. Geocachers are responsible for determining land ownership and obtaining permission before placing caches on public or private land.
- If a club receives a request regarding placement of a geocache on A.T. lands, it should direct the person making the request to the appropriate land-managing agency. If the club does not know which agency to contact, it should direct the person to the appropriate ATC regional office.
- If the request pertains to lands managed by the NPS-Appalachian Trail Park Office or other lands where the club knows that geocache placement is not permitted, the club should inform the person making the request that geocaching is prohibited on those lands and encourage him or her to contact the appropriate managing agency for more information.
- Club volunteers are not responsible for removing geocaches. If club volunteers find a geocache where they believe that such activity is prohibited, or in an area of sensitive or historic resources, or where it seems to be creating impacts (for example, social trails), the volunteers should notify the appropriate land-managing agency. If the location and the prohibition can be verified, the agency staff may ask the volunteers if they are willing to help by removing the cache.
- Volunteers are asked to notify their ATC regional office if they become aware that a cache is being considered for removal. ATC will attempt to contact the appropriate cache owner as well as GroundSpeak (founder of Geocaching.com, a Web site with listings of geocaches and other information on the activity) to apprise them of the situation in order to better educate the geocaching community about existing agency rules and regulations and foster a better working relationship.
- Clubs should examine their sections for areas that they believe are particularly inappropriate for geocaching, using criteria such as existing natural and cultural resources and intensity of use, and highlight these areas of particular concern in their local management plans for the Appalachian Trail. Clubs are encouraged to work with their partner agencies in highlighting such trail-management concerns for their consideration. Conversely, clubs may feel that certain unrestricted areas are appropriate for geocaching and may work with partner agencies that permit and monitor the activity to highlight opportunities and consider options.
Contact information
NPS-Appalachian Trail Park Office Chief Ranger Todd Remaley 304-535-6171
Appalachian Trail Conservancy Regional Offices
New England 603-795-4935 (until March 17; 413-528-8002 after that date)
Mid-Atlantic 717-258-5771
Virginia 540-953-3571
Southern 828-254-3708
ATC partner awards for New England
Bob Spoerl was named 2008 agency partner of the year at the fall meeting of ATC’s New England regional partnership committee (RPC). As a land agent for the bureau of forest lands in New Hampshire’s department of resources and economic development, Spoerl was instrumental in the recent acquisition of the final A.T. tread tract on the historic summit parcel in Mt. Washington State Park. He also was influential in a land exchange securing the former Sentinel Mountain State Forest as part of the A.T. management area in the White Mountain National Forest. Earlier, as a staff member of the bureau of off-highway vehicles in the department, Spoerl’s diplomatic skills enabled him to minimize conflicts among various trail users and organizations and build relationships with hikers, snowmobilers, bicyclists, and equestrians alike.
Larry Ely was selected as New England volunteer of the year. A long time A.T. volunteer in the White Mountains and member of the Appalachian Mountain Club, Ely has worked as a volunteer Trail steward, and served as a leader of other volunteer stewards in his area for several years. He is active in A.T. management—currently serving as a representative to the New England RPC and having previously served on ATC’s Stewardship Council. His recent work with local communities in the Mahoosucs has been instrumental in creating a growing region-wide initiative to coordinate land use and outdoor recreation opportunities.
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