Illegally placed geocaches in NPs

[team novo]

Hi all. Sorry, but I'm not sure if I have placed this topic in the correct folder or not.

Can someone confirm WHEN the requirement for National Parks approval came in for caches hidden in National Parks? If we think we have come across a geocache which was hidden in a NP without permission, do we leave it or report it? I only ask because, IF someone has illegally hidden a geocache in a NP and it gets found out by NPWS, that could cause problems for us down the track and, maybe even cause the abolition of caches hidden in NPs altogether?

A lot of work by Geocaching NSW has gone into the procedure. It would be a shame if that were to ever happen because people are not bothering to follow the procedure..?

Cheers...

[caughtatwork]

Geocachines were banned in NSWPWS in 2002. I believe the policy to seek permission was done sometime in 2009 and anything after that should have permission.

You should ask yourself why you think a geocache in a NP has no permission? Just because it's there does not mean it has no permission. It may also not be in a park area that has been identified as NSWPWS land. A lack of permission on the geocache page also does not mean no permission.

The best thing to do it ask your local reviewer about the specific geocache for them to check whether it has permission. Anything more is pure speculation on all of our behalfs.

[team novo]

The reason I ask is that I know the ranger of the NP in question... from when I put my application in. Mine is apparently the only one with permission.

[Richary]

From memory since the policy/agreement was made, the GC reviewers are supposed to ask to see the permission note before publishing if they know it is NSW National Parks. Of course there are caches that predate that period, as well as some that might be close to the border and not obvious. Also back in the day it wasn't a requirement to list the final of a multi/mystery so the reviewer may not have been aware the final was located inside the park.

Interestingly I tried publishing one on this site a few years ago and had a warning triggered it was inside a national park area - there were no signs to indicate this from the access I drove in from via the local cemetery at Woolgoolga and walked down towards the lake.

[team novo]

That is correct: there is NO WAY that a geocache can be hidden in a NP nowadays without the reviewer sighting the consent. I know the GCA site has the same procedure in place, albeit you attach the consent in good faith. I'm willing to bet it gets checked though at some stage. I have three NP hides on GC.com so I've gone thru the process a few times now. HOWEVER, with mystery caches, I think some hiders might be giving the reviewers dummy GZ coords. I suppose it can't be stopped. But in the case of some of the locations up this way where Aboriginal sacred sights are strictly monitored by NPWS for example, if hiders were found to be fibbing to NPWS by NPWS, that could be a real threat to being able to hide in a NP in future. That is more my point in all of this. I am interested to know GCA's (and the geocaching community in general's) position on what one should do if one suspects (within reason) such practices?

[CraigRat]

If you think a particular cache is illegally placed, you should post a SBA and provide the final co-ords in private with whomever (GC Reviewer, GCA Support).

I am interested to know GCA's (and the geocaching community in general's) position on what one should do if one suspects (within reason) such practices?

The site holds no position on what to do on other sites. If it's illegal (as in against the law) or on property without permission and listed on our site, we I archive a listing at the request of the complainant (if the complainant is the property owner or manager).

Personally, End of the day, a SBA on a cache is the way to do it. It'll attract the right eyes to review and assess.

I get several cache takedown requests a month:

If it is a GCA cache in question I will usually:
[*]Contact the CO, request clarification
[*]If no response , Archive, If no proof, Archive
Archiving isn't a big deal on GCA, once proof is provided then it just gets unarchived.

If we get notice of a GC cache(the majority of takedown requests) I will:
[*]Tell them to contact GC support, I no longer chase or notify GC Cache owners of issues, GC have paid staff to do that.

[team novo]

Ok cheers.

[caughtatwork]

My opinion and the mantra of the site is that while we have no rules, we do not do illegal stuff.

So if you see something illegal report it to the listing site (either GCA or GC) via a Needs Archived log or via any of the support lines. Provide information as to why you think it's illegal and action should be taken including potentially referring the question anonymously to the CO.

It may then be the CO who makes the final call. As a site we don't get involved in these sorts of issues unless they are blatant and even then state to state somethings are legal in some and not in others (bouys being on example, another is drains, can't do that in Victoria but other states get away with it.)

So one persons sense of illegal needs to be backed by cited fact and not just "hey that's illegal to do x, y or z".

With GC, refer it to the reviewer.
With GCA, if you're not comfortable posting the log, send it in via the support desk.

[gmj3191]

https://wiki.groundspeak.com/display/GEO/Australia