Dane County Parks

WGA Member Joined: Apr 17, 2011 Posts: 4

I'm in the process of setting up a geocache in one of the Dane County Parks, and just learned that Dane County requires an annual permit to place geocaches, with a fee of $25. This permit has to be renewed annually to keep a geocache in place. Has anyone else placed any caches in a Dane County Park, or has anyone from the association attempted to contact Dane County Parks about this requirement? I can appreciate that a permit would tend to keep the bad cache owners out, but requiring an annual permit to keep a cache going might be a little overkill.

WGA Member Joined: 2009-08-17 Posts: 126

Looks like they aren't shy about charging -

http://danedocs.countyofdane.com/webdocs/pdf/lwrd/parks/2013_Fee_Schedule.pdf

WGA Member Joined: 2009-07-21 Posts: 1

I have six caches that I placed in three Dane County Parks last year. Since you can have 3 caches on each permit, I needed two. I don’t think they have an electronic version of the form available, so you need to have all your ducks in a row for all three of your caches (if you are going to use the maximum number of caches permitted on each permit) prior showing up at the office. While the office staff is friendly and helpful with the paperwork end of things, they have almost no knowledge of geocaching and I was surprised that they were unaware of one of the parks in which I was placing a cache (it was a brand new park, however). I am not sure that their permit system is serving them well. There are so few caches in the Dane County Parks that I have a hard time believing that they bring in much more than their office cost. At the same time there is really no review process—you pay your money and you get your cache. They do have a list of restrictions, but it is really an honor system (and you don’t need a permit for that). Maybe there is a process that I am unaware of that runs the forms by the property managers after the fact. I will renew my permits this spring when they come due, but I have heard from some others that they fill out the initial permit only. While I think the permit does not help the parks much, it does create problems for the geocacher. Certainly it does get pricey real fast. Also, last summer I found a location for a cache filled out the paperwork and then submitted the cache for review only to find that it was too close to an unpublished cache. Fortunately the reviewer and the other cache owner worked things out so my cache could remain where it was. Otherwise I would have had to return to the Parks’ office and amend my form and tie up office time again or request a refund. The other problem that I ran into was the requirement that a copy of the geocache permit be submitted with each cache. Since most of my caches were micros that was impossible. After talking with the office clerk, I simply posted a note on my cache page that I would send a copy of the permit upon request, but this is not an “official” policy. I am not sure what you are supposed to do with multis. Potentially this also opens up a backdoor for getting cords for a puzzle cache without solving the puzzle if each permit contains the cords for three separate caches. I also worried just a bit about having my address and phone number listed in a cache. As you can tell I am unhappy about the permit and fee system. It would be one thing if it appeared that it really met a need or provided help.

WGA Member Joined: Apr 17, 2011 Posts: 4

I feel the same as you do about this permit system. I am in the process of placing 3 caches, and hope to have them in place this week. Fortunately, I will have no problems with caches being nearby. Not if they are legally placed that is. (Nor did I find any while searching geocaching online.) I will be working with the local ranger too, which to me provides the benefit of having someone familiar with the park, knowing where local kids cause the most vandelism, ie the safest place to locate the caches, and a more constant eye on them. That and making it harder for "absent cache ownership", I think is an advantage of the permit system. As for leaving the permit and information inside the cache, I think there are some ways around that. Later on, I plan on spending a little more time with the Parks supervisor, and County Board if necessary, explaining what Geocaching is all about, what our reviewers look at, and try to get them to at least make this a more workable deal for all of us. I think the permit process came up due to some earlier issues with park caches. Geocaching is a fun recreational activity, but we could probably police our own a little better. I suspect that if one has to pay to place their cache, they may take a little better care of it.

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 9:41 am

I talked to the commander some time ago. He mention that he was going to look into this and have a talk with his county supervisor. I never asked him how that went.

One does have to ask what cost(s) does that fee go to cover. It is not the same type of cost associated with someone using a park building. There is no cleanup after each find. Smile

All it is doing is keeping us from bringing people to their parks. I believe that the WGA events stay out of the county/county parks because of this fee policy.

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:17 am

WStemple wrote:

... I believe that the WGA events stay out of the
county/county parks because of this fee policy.

No, not necessarily. We have stuck mainly to state parks for WGA events for a number of reasons including facilities (parking, shelter etc.), familiarity and our ongoing relationship with the WDNR. We have considered a few county parks for past events, but a state park has always been chosen as the better option.
Back on topic, are there any other counties that require fees for placing geocaches?

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:21 am

I have heard that Brown County does.

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 12:21 pm

That is not correct. Brown county considered a fee but chose not to have a permitting process at all. Only Dane County requires a fee for processing the permit.

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 12:33 pm

Team Deejay wrote:

That is not correct. Brown county considered a fee but chose not to have a permitting process at all. Only Dane County requires a fee for processing the permit.

OK. Someone had told me the wrong information before. Good to hear that there are counties that "play" fair. Fees are fine, as long as they are to offset real expenses. They should not be there to make a "profit" or to offset some other unrelated expense.

Joined: 2009-06-05 Posts: 2127 Location: Menominee, MI

I thought Waukesha and Milwaukee Counties also require fees.

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 2:44 pm

I refer you to the Website Navigation section on the left of the WGA site. Right above the bright aqua Forums section is one titled "Location Rules and Regs". Different counties and entities and their requirements can be accessed under that heading.

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 5:16 pm

Is there a fee to hold a CITO Event in a Dane County Park?

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:58 am

Todd300 wrote:

I thought Waukesha and Milwaukee Counties also require fees.

Sigh. No, that is not true, although Milwaukee county can get a bit picky where they will allow a cache.