> Have you sent in a Special Use Permit > Reconsideration Form? Didn't know there was such a thing! I'm going to sit a bit on this one. I want to give the MDC personnel involved a chance to think some more about the fact that we are a hobby that must be reconned with. The SLAGA organization has grown to a point that it cannot be ignored. And it's not like geocaching is a mystery to the MDC. Their own personnel teach geocaching classes to the public. I've been trying to get land managers who are skeptical to understand that with a geocache, they'd be able to tell who and when and how many people visit an area by the cache logs. With the ordinary hiker they have no way to gather those statistics. In general, if the area allows hikers, geocaching should also be permitted. They can still control placement and access through the form system. I sought out Rick Johnson this summer to discuss geocaching on the land that he manages. I even went looking for him on the Dogwood trail at Forest 44 where he was working on grooming the trail. We sat in the woods for 30 minutes while I explained geocaching to him. He was not familiar with it. Rick's general concern is he doesn't want extra work to do or the chance that he'll have to deal with conflict as the result of an area's multi-use. But again, if they allow hikers on the land, then should allow geocachers. We're not much different than hikers. A recent post to the email thread that I am documenting is from Teresa Kight of the MDC on 8/24/07. She sent it to me and a few others who have an interest in the issue of geocaching on conservation area land. She stated: "Links to MO State Park geocaching policy and permit attached - we should probably model our policy similarly." I infer from that statement that the MDC is not very far into developing their own policy. But I agree that the Missouri State Park geocaching policy is a reasonable one.