Happy Humphrey
2nd January 2010, 10:44 AM
See https://www.gagb.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=852.
It generally looks a good approach, but has anyone considered that some land managers might be sympathetic to the game in general, except the part about 3 litre containers with swaps inside? I was wondering whether it would be worth adding something to suggest that the size and contents are negotiable. There's no mention (for instance) than many caches are no bigger than a pebble. As we've seen, the land manager doesn't always give the reasons for refusing permission (not the REAL reasons, anyway), so this might never been stated as an issue officially but could tip the balance in favour of an agreement.
I know that some people would be disappointed if an area only had micros to find, but this type of cache is much more low-impact environmentally (from the point of view of the actual hiding place). Also, it's much easier to create caches which don't involve leaving the footpath at all. Plus, there's not the suspicion that there could be dubious items inside the cache (sharp or poisonous items or those that attract wildlife).
So, rather than have an area where caches are banned because the landowner has decided that he doesn't want 3 litre plastic containers full of tat scattered about, we could at least have some geocaching. The reviewers would find it easy to police too, as there would be a known ban on non-micro caches. And perhaps eventually, a few larger caches could be negotiated once the landowner has seen a lack of geocaching-related problems.
Thoughts?
It generally looks a good approach, but has anyone considered that some land managers might be sympathetic to the game in general, except the part about 3 litre containers with swaps inside? I was wondering whether it would be worth adding something to suggest that the size and contents are negotiable. There's no mention (for instance) than many caches are no bigger than a pebble. As we've seen, the land manager doesn't always give the reasons for refusing permission (not the REAL reasons, anyway), so this might never been stated as an issue officially but could tip the balance in favour of an agreement.
I know that some people would be disappointed if an area only had micros to find, but this type of cache is much more low-impact environmentally (from the point of view of the actual hiding place). Also, it's much easier to create caches which don't involve leaving the footpath at all. Plus, there's not the suspicion that there could be dubious items inside the cache (sharp or poisonous items or those that attract wildlife).
So, rather than have an area where caches are banned because the landowner has decided that he doesn't want 3 litre plastic containers full of tat scattered about, we could at least have some geocaching. The reviewers would find it easy to police too, as there would be a known ban on non-micro caches. And perhaps eventually, a few larger caches could be negotiated once the landowner has seen a lack of geocaching-related problems.
Thoughts?