Coosa Valley Cachers

Sand-Man · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:32 pm Post subject:

According to the info provided to me from, I'll call him Billy, because I still don't have permission to post his name or number, the cache on the WMA area is probably the biggest concern. Because Berry leases this land to the Ga Wildlife Federation, they have to get concurrence from them before permissions are handed out. That in it’s self was the reason for changing the horseback riding policies. I was pretty clear to me that at this time, no one has been given permission to hide anything on Berry Property. However, they are talking with the WMA folks to get their approval and are working with the Berry Board of Directors to let the game continue on Berry. Even if they do give permissions, and this is my opinion, the cashes would have to be along approved trails. Even the rules say that hiking activities are restricted to approved trails. These folks aren't trying to kick us out, nor am I. They are trying to figure out how they can accommodate us and still stay within the rules of Berry and the WMA.

Now, If I ruffled feathers over this issue by any of my actions, that was not my intention. I am ignorant of any prodigal for reporting infractions of the rules. And my meeting with Berry was impromptu and not a scheduled event nor did I at any time represent geocaching.com or Coosa Valley Geocaching. And like I told SledeHampster, if the cahce owners get mad at me, maybe they should have followed the rules to start with.

Sandy

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Sandy

gridlox · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:41 pm Post subject:

Sand-Man wrote:

Here is the latest Recreational Use Policies for Public Use of Berry Property.

Quote:

Well that didn't work....

I'll see if I can get an eleectronic copy and post it. In the mean time..

Sandy sent me the image file he had so I could place it on our server and repost it, but it is the same thing that is on page 4 of the .pdf file posted on the Rome News-Tribune website.

Just refer to it so you can also view the maps that was included in the .pdf release. Wink

http://www1.romenews-tribune.com/Files/Documents/berrytrails.pdf

D-man Cool

gridlox · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:57 am Post subject:

Sand-Man wrote:

... maybe they should have followed the rules to start with.

Sandy

In defense of the Lavender Green cache, the WMA rules that are in place now weren't even thought of when it was originally placed, since it's the one of the oldest caches in Floyd County. (placed since 2004)

Anyone know exactly when the WMA regulations took effect? I know it's been sometime in the last few years, but exactly when Question

Unfortunately the "Ask Permission First" rule has pretty much been allowed by GC.com to be a ghost-requirement to place a cache until lately. And that's the reason we now are seeing more & more places like Berry, WMA, State Parks,.... placing restrictions on what they allow to happen. I'm not saying that is the only reason, but it is in the case of caching.

I've been told that a lot of the trail use rules being put into place on the Berry campus are due to horseback riders and off road cyclist creating their own trails through fragile ecological areas. One of the biggest complaints that I heard against the horseriders is that they were taking the horses "into" the reservoir to let them drink and cool down.
While cachers pose a less threat to damaging the eco-system that horseback riding and off road cyclist, social trails to a cache will develop if a cache is allowed to stay active for a long period of time. Sad

Maybe something that should be considered when we meet with the folks at Berry is possibly placing a time limit on how long a cache will be active once it's placed.
Say "1 year"?
After which time, the cache will be archived and removed.

Also, a more strict cache density rule than the .10 mile that is imposed by GC.com should be considered. ? That way we don't have a mass of caches in one area. But, rather more spread out to keep off trail foot traffic down in those areas.

I know this is going to sound self-serving to the CVC, but maybe only caches submitted by CVC group with assitance from the folks at Berry should be allowed on the campus. ??
That way we can work one on one with the powers at Berry to make sure caches aren't placed in eco-fragile areas unknowingly by someone that doesn't konw any better. (Like me! Shocked

)
Unfortunately, I coudn't tell you what would and wouldn't be an eco-fragile area. While I would think, "Hey! Cool! Let's bring everyone out to see this beautiful area of the woods", I could be in effect bringing folks "tromping" right through some rare fern growth and cause unfixable damage. Crying or Very sad

Just some food for thought.

D-man Cool

Sand-Man · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject:

The horse riding problem was brought up by the Berry folks and it was the main reason for changes. The forestry folks wanted to be able to accommodate everyone while watching out for the Berry community and staying out of hot water with the WMA folks.

Another reason for changes was that as you all know, Berry has some Agricultural classes. They sometimes do studies and projects out in the wilderness areas. A person out there for what ever reason could screw up a semester’s experiment tromping through....

As far as the WMA... I'm not sure but I think they have had a big piece of Lavender Mountain leased for over 20 years. There were WMA signs posted around where I lived and hunted when I was a teenager.... well, that was a little over 20 years...

I ride horses and have ridden with the Western Saddle Club, which BTW seems to have caused most of the horse related problems. Someone tried to swim a horse in the reservoir a few years ago and drowned the horse...Berry gets it's drinking water out of there....

When you guys figure out how to control the amount and the whereabouts of the caches out there you may want to consider asking the cache owners to add a link to the Berry rules on the listing. A couple of things I noted were: "day time use" and "enter thru the front gate".

Gridlox asked me to post a note that the set of rules I sent him were a draft set of rules and may or may not be the same. hould be pretty close though. So it might be a good idea for the caching community to check the rules now and then. Since he is going to buy me lunch next time I am in Rome I figure I’d do it…

.

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Sandy

gridlox · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:38 am Post subject:

Sand-Man wrote:

Since he is going to buy me lunch next time I am in Rome I figure I’d do it…

2 Cheese Krystals & a Small Diet Coke for everyone!! Laughing

Sand-Man · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 5:15 pm Post subject:

I guess that would only sound good to folks who don't live where Krystal burgers are anymore... There are none in Ok. I miss those little square boogers....

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Sandy