What is the norm?

[redink]

What is the normal turn around time for an ONF cache request?

I had actually submitted a request about four months ago.
Since then I have forgotten about the request.

In todays mail I received an approval letter. It was not a
typical form letter, some hand written notes thanking me
about taking an interest in Arkansas Geocaching and using
forest resources. A very nice touch in my opinion.

I am planning on placing the cache, for those of you that like
waterfall caches, two good forty footers with pools and about 100'
of elevation drop between the falls.

[AR-HICK]

Please post the GC number when it is published.
It sounds like a good one.

Did you mean the Ouachita NF, I cannot tell you turn around on those.
The last Ozark was over 4 months for me. It got lost and I had to resubmit, then I forgot about it until I got the forms in the mail. Nothing hand written you must be lucky.

[jclaudii]

I believe mine took around three weeks because I got busy and stopped e-mailing them every other day. Would you please specify if you tired the Ozark or the Ouachita NFS? Also, could you PM me some further details, like who you talked to, did you use mail or e-mail, what all did you send them, etc.

I have set up 3 recently in Ouachita NFS and they went pretty smooth. I sent topo's of where I wanted to place them, road maps, coords, description of the area (about a paragraph) and expected traffic for these caches. They sent me the equivalent of the "permit numbers" in e-mail and sent me some letters that had the same thing in them. I called the gal back that did mine to thank her and she said they didn't even drive out to the location, they used the coords, their topo maps, and some of my description along with another rangers knowledge of the area to make a decision on whether or not they should approve the cache.

I'm wanting to keep track of how the caches get approved for the NFS so I can come back and say in a later note to them how they can do it better, reduce people time, etc. The NFS in our area has several different ways of doing it even though last time I talk to them they said they had it figured out.

Again...good job on working with them in getting a cache approved, but you might give them a call and ask what took so long. Also, don't forget to post up the gc#'s

[redink]

I guess I should have specified the Ozark Forest.

I had no verbal contact with any of the staff about the cache,
because after a couple of weeks I had forgotten about sending it in.

The gentlemen that signed the paperwork and included
the nice note was John Lane.
The note stated he was signing for a gentleman named Gary Williams.

Gary's signature was also on the approval letter.

So I guess about 4 months is the norm for the cache to be approved.
I will try to get it placed in a couple of weeks and will post the
GC# here, if I don't forget that too!

[captaincooder]

Good Lord! Am I surprised by the Federal Bureaucracy? Heck no! It's so good to know we're not all that different from Russia. It makes me so proud.