[kag] Ontario Parks policy (I know, again!)
- From: "Steve Koopman" <skoopman1@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <kag@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 22:12:47 -0400
Hi guys,
I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but thinking about the Ontario Parks
policy got me interested in the topic again. When I received an update from
Cache Tech that Divergence Returns Again was being archived, he included the
link to the groundspeak forum that specifically discusses the matter.
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=37849
<http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=37849&st=50&#entry1464
621> &st=50&#entry1464621
It's a good read to glance over again, and I came across the following
posted by "OGA - Admin" on May 6, 2005:
One VERY IMPORTANT point in the BAN
QUOTE
Advises owners of existing unauthorized virtual geocaches that they are
required to apply for authorization, using the attached contract, within one
year of the implementation of this procedure.
Park Superintendent
Advises owners of existing physical geocaches that they must remove their
caches within one year of implementation of this procedure.
After one year of implementation of this procedure, removes all remaining
physical geocaches
NO ONE has to remove their cache for a YEAR! And they have to contact you
too! That is their rule. I guarantee you that my only cache in a Provincial
Park will be sitting in the same spot until the 15th of April 2006. And
unless I get a contact message from the PARKS SUPERVISOR, I won't be
touching it at all. If they touch it before the 15th of April 2006 and/or
have not contacted me I will put it right back again and advise them to READ
THE POLICY!
So, if you have a cache in a Provincial Park, or know someone that does...
tell them that they do not have to remove their cache until the 15th of
April, 2006.
Even then, I'll wait till the last possible second to remove it, or should I
say relocate it. There are many places in the Park that are not actually
Ontario Parks land. Hydro Easements are a good example. And then Ontario
Parks would have no jurisdiction to remove my cache. It's not on their land,
and not affected by their policy/BAN.
OGA - Admin
Is this rule still in existence or has it been amended? If not, Hoover, I
would be asking for Lloyd Chapman to personally return all multicaches
belonging to Loads of Toadstools!!!
If I'm wrong, can someone please correct me? While I can understand where
some of the mindset exists with the Ontario Parks administration, I feel
it's so simplistic and short-sighted. Reading further in the
above-mentioned forum there was a post regarding parks I believe were
located in the Detroit area (didn't know Detroit had any greenery still in
existence!) that actually promote and encourage Geocaching as another
activity.
All I know is that my two young children look forward to venturing outdoors
in the wilderness, exploring nature while being taught to respect it, make
minimal impact upon it, and clean it up while you're there (CITO). And all
of this is being accomplished under the guise of finding "treasure" at the
next geocache. In my opinion Ontario Parks policy is simply encouraging
children to continue to sit in front of the television and become even more
obese and sedentary, as they are taking away the extremely motivating and
novel activity of geocaching.
I was just wondering, has anyone tried to go public with this topic, to
debate it more openly? Does the Ontario Parks administration believe we are
simply and only a small subsection of an online and obscure little "club" or
"cult"? If so, they need to become better educated.
Sorry for the rant, but this has been bugging me for the past few days. If
I'm discussing a topic that doesn't need to be revived, just tell me so, and
I'll simply resign myself to searching for caches in places outside of areas
that are so wondrous and close to us that our government, intelligently
enough (for probably an extremely brief moment), thought to preserve and
share it with the rest of us. Being a geocacher and entering a Provincial
Park in the future, I will almost feel like a second-class citizen. I'm
concerned that if I were brave enough to discuss my hobby with the staff,
I'd be considered a danger and kicked-out "tout-suite."
"Ontario - Yours to Discover (except for you deviant geocachers!)"
Hope every one had a great summer!
Koopy
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