state permits

[redink]

When applying for state permits or permits fot Nat'l forests, do all permits have to got through US mail, or can they be faxed or emailed? maybe someone that has place caches in these boundrires can enlighten me.
tks red ink

[flannelman]

I think for the sate park you can just go to the visitor center for that park if there is one. If not I guess you would need to contact the nearest office.

[OldRiverRunner]

By state permits, I assume you mean geocache permits for the state parks. I have many caches hidden in 4 different state parks. Usually, if it's the first one I've hidden in a particular park, I will visit the park office in person to drop off the permit application. This gives me a chance to talk with the park superintendent and explain what I'm doing, as well as see if they have any specific restrictions or guidelines for placing the cache. After that, I will usually just fax or mail in the application. On my first cache in Mt. Magazine State Park, I just called the park supt. and then faxed the application. She was OK with that. So, I think it just depends on the park, and a phone call to their office is your best bet to see how they want you to do it. When I renew my cache permits, I almost always use the fax.

I've not applied for any national forest permits, but I would assume that a phone call to them would be helpful in determining if a fax is OK. Based upon my interactions with the NFS, however, I have found them to be a lot slower and less responsive to geocaching questions than the state parks. Perhaps it's the federal government bureauracracy thing that makes them slower than molasses. The state parks have enthusiastically embraced geocaching, however, and usually approve a permit application the same day it is received. -- ORR

[HikerRon]

ok, i'm a newcomer to Arkansas. a person needs a permit in order to place a cache in a national FOREST in Arkansas?

in colorado, no permits are required for caches in National forests.
national PARKS, yes.
National Monuments, yes.
State parks- it's up to the individual park manager.
but national forests, no permit needed.

[SpankytheWizard]

HikerRon has it right. This is something that always comes up in forum discussions and gets all convoluted. The only thing I will add is that I understand that NO National Park or Monument allows any type of geocache. Forbidden.

National Forests are NOT National Parks. STW

[SJClimber]

Well, not all geocaches are forbidden in National Parks/Monuments. There are numerous "Earthcaches" in National Parks within Colorado. I think one cannot leave a container of any sort in the National Parks/Monuments. SJC

[cfd29]

The US Forest Service started a little over a year ago requireing permits for geocaches in the National Forest. I am lucky here in that there is a local office here, I have put 10 caches out in the National Forest and took all of about 10 min to get all of them approved. In fact the dist ranger seem excited that there were caches out in the forest so that more people would get out on the FS roads and look around. I am sure you could mail them or fax them, but that would take longer, but I just walked into the office and walked out with the permit numbers in about 10 mins...

[OldRiverRunner]

Not ALL national forests require a permit presently. For example, the Ouachita National Forest does not require a permit, yet, to my knowledge. And, as cfd29 state, the Ozark NF started their permit system about a year ago. I visited the Ozark NF headquarters in Russellville at that time to find out what was going on. I asked about the Ouachita NF and was told that they were working on a geocaching policy and permit system, but didn't know when the work would be complete. I was given the name and phone number of the man working on the policy at the Ouacita NF headquarters in Hot Springs. I made at least 4 calls to him, never reached him, left a message each time, and never got a call back. I gave up trying to reach him. But I do check the Ouachita NF webpage every once in a while to see if a geocaching policy is listed (the Ozark NF webpage does). Nothing there yet, so I'm assuming that a permit is still not required. If anyone knows any different, it would be good to know.

As far as other national forests across the U.S., the fellow at the Ozark NF told me that it was up to each NF to set their own policy, and that most were moving toward requiring a permit. It would just be a matter of time. -- ORR

[cfd29]

CORRECT, and you know, I was looking today to try to find the link to thier geo permit form on the Ozark National Forest site and can't seem to find it any more, so, they may have changed their policy and are not requiring a permit any longer or I am just not looking at the right web page, or I am blind, (the later is true)
They are so busy with the off highway vehicle thing, I think they may have put geocaching on the back burner.. :lol:

[OldRiverRunner]

CORRECT, and you know, I was looking today to try to find the link to thier geo permit form on the Ozark National Forest site and can't seem to find it any more, so, they may have changed their policy and are not requiring a permit any longer or I am just not looking at the right web page, or I am blind, (the later is true)

You may be blind!!! :D

Try this link: http://www.fs.fed.us/oonf/ozark/recreat ... ching.html (http://www.fs.fed.us/oonf/ozark/recreation/geocaching.html)

This was found by going to the Recreation link off the home page (in menu on left margin). On the Recreation page, the link to the geocaching page is found at the lower right side of the page. -- ORR

[cfd29]

I told you I was blind, just looking in the wrong place, I had downloaded the form and saved it..
Now I know why I can't find caches, jeezz, If I can't find it on a computer screen, think how I do in the woods.... :roll: :oops: