First To Fall

[Team Panda]

GC16JWE "Hickory Nuttery" has been temporarily disabled and will be permanently archived if the ONF does not reverse it's decision to charge $57.00 a year per cache placed in the ONF.

The rest of my caches in the ONF will follow as I have the time and gas money to drive around and get to them.

This is an incredibly sad development and will go a long way to erase all the gains Geocaching has made in Western Arkansas in the last five years.

[oenavigator]

:D

[QuartzCachers]

This is sad to hear. One cache that I got a FTF on, and one on my to do list, gone.
I, as usual, will remain defiant. They can't have my ammo or film cans till they pry them from my cold dead fingers. :evil:
I realize why folks would remove some or all their caches, but mine will be open for business. Come get 'em! :D

[mountainborn]

Yeh, me too, Quartzcachers, I'll hang in there, hopeing that this issue can be resolved by our leadership. Here's what my ONF cache loop looks like on the map:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13/mountainborn0/BrushyCreekRecAreaCaches.jpg
These caches are open for business and recently refreshed for the caching pleasure of everyone. I have no doubt that this cache loop has brought many visitors to the ONF in this area, the cache logs show names from all over the US.
This attraction to the ONF has cost the USFS not one thin dime and is maintained by the owner, that the ONF Management desires to tax, or put out of business.
The management of the ONF is a difficult thing to accomplish, especially with all kinds of Kooks out there picking at every small change that they see looming on the horizon.
ONF Management has done a marvelous job, and I look for them to continue to do a outstanding job of managing our forest.
I will abide by their decision, and will pull my caches at their request, or when I get a bill for nearly $2000.00 for the caches that are there. I will place no more caches to grow this attraction, unless this issue is resolved.
Should this be resolved successfuly, Butcherknife and I have plans for a second cache loop, so that a camper in the Brushy Creek Recreational area may spend a second day enjoying our national forest.
Many of the foresters from the local work center know about these caches, and it is my hope that a manager will grab a GPS and tour the cache loop, making note of the visitors that it has brought to this area.
Personal Note to ONF managers that read this:
I invite you to tour this cache loop in your management area with me or without me, assesing the impact that these caches may or may not have on the enviroment, weighing that against the list of visitors that there is written proof of.
I am confident that you will likely find that geocachers leave only footprints and take only photos. One of the caches on this loop is designed to encourage cachers to help clean up an ancient dumping place in the ONF.
EDIT to add name and phone number:
Larry Harmon
Vandervoort, Ar. 71972
479-243-5450
http://www.mountainborn.com
>
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13/mountainborn0/HarmNdill.jpg

[Team Panda]

That's an excellent sentiment well expressed Larry. You too Bruce! I applaud you for it and hope very sincerely your decision doesn't end up costing you.

Although I stand to lose a lot less than you if I chose to leave my caches in place, I feel the risk is more than I can afford.

A very wise Law Enforcement Officer I have known for many years once gave ma a sage bit of advice about the law. "A promise of non-prosecution is not the same as freedom from prosecution."

While I'm sure the folks at ONF who told us that finding existing caches was a "low priority" there is no guarantee that person will still be in that same position next year, or next month for that matter. Folks get promoted, they retire, they move on to different offices, and somebody else takes their place. We have no way of knowing how the next person to sit in that office will choose to deal with non-permitted geocaches and rather than risk the losses such a seachange might incur, I'm taking the prudent course of disabling my caches.

Hopefully though, in the not too distant future, the ONF management will realize they have much to gain by encouraging geocaching and much to lose by discouraging it.

Time will tell.

[TKcachers]

As a fairly new cacher (Jan. 2008) I have been so excited about the new and beautiful places that I have had the pleasure of finding because of geocaching. Even though I understand the reason that some of you are pulling your caches, I am also disappointed that I am going to miss the opportunity to hunt and find, not only the actual cache, but the unique hiding spots and vistas that I have come to crave. I hope this issue gets resolved in a reasonable fashion. For now, I feel rushed to get out there and find as many as I can before they are history... I don't want to miss any one of them. Thanks to all of you that are leaving your caches intact for now and hopefully much longer.