Park Liaison Program, Pairing members with parks for mutual benefit Options

[hydnsek]

In the Park Liaison Program (PLP), a WSGA member is paired with a park system to help them with geocaching activities. In recent years, parks have come to recognize that geocaching is a popular, family-oriented activity, and are looking for ways to support it with limited staff and resources. The PLP helps parks embrace geocaching without compromising their goals or adding to their overhead.

The Park Liaison Program is another way in which WSGA is working with Washington parks at all levels (city, county, state, federal) to create mutually beneficial relationships and ensure continued access for geocachers – part of the club’s founding mission. The Liaison puts a face on geocaching and provides a go-to person for park personnel. In turn, WSGA builds trust with the park system by self-managing our activity, ensuring greater support and faster resolution should problems arise. Groundspeak has expressed its appreciation and support for our program, and offered to help if needed.

There's a PDF version of the Park Liaison Program announcement / particulars, if you want forward it to someone or need a printed copy.

I piloted the liaison approach in 2008-2010 at Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, the flagship of King County Parks. Its success has cemented a positive relationship with KCP, from the director down to staff at its 180 parks. This led to other park systems asking to participate, and the Park Liaison Program was born. To date, the Liaison Program has mitigated issues in several parks, persuaded Seattle City Parks to reintroduce geocaching at Discovery Park, and led to the first physical caches in North Cascades National Park. Other parks see the mutual benefits of this program and are asking to participate.

Below are the park systems currently in the program, with their liaisons and inception dates. In most cases, there are specific parks in the Liaison Program, with the backing of their larger park system and plans to expand it into other parks. (Updated 2/26/13)

• King County Parks (Cougar Mountain) – hydnsek; pilot, 1/08
• North Cascades National Park Service Complex – hydnsek; 10/08
• Snohomish County Parks (Lord Hill and Paradise Valley) – GrievousAngel; 2/10
• Seattle City Parks (Discovery Park) – rodgowdy; 3/10
• Kitsap County Parks - Jomer & Traci, 4/10 - vacant
• Richland, Pasco, Kennewick city parks (Tri-Cities) - enjoydmoment, 8/10
• Bellevue City Parks - hydnsek, 8/10
• Ferndale City Parks (Whatcom Cty) - Radmando & Sons, 10/10
• Anacortes City Parks and Community Forest Lands (ACFL) - Jimmerbowl (Ponder&Wander), 8/12
• Everett City Parks - Johnny_Boy_, 2/13
• Washington State Parks (WSPRC), statewide - hydnsek, 5/12
  
  • Camano Island and Cama Beach – Rey del Roble; 3/10
  • Rockport and Rasar - BrewerMD; 2/12
  • Saint Edward (Kirkland) - PhilNi, 6/12
  • Larrabee (Bellingham) - PNWbrat, 7/12
  • Upper Cowlitz area: Ike Kinswa, Lewis & Clark, Seaquest, Mount St. Helens, Matilda Jackson, Jackson House - rocketglider, 1/13
  • San Juan Islands parks - Moran, Lime Kiln Point, Spencer Spit, et al. - las3dogs, 1/13
  • Green River area: Nolte, Green River Gorge, Flaming Geyser, Kanaskat-Palmer - TheMcMorrows, 2/13
  • North Whidbey area: Deception Pass, Joseph Whidbey, Fort Ebey - Crouchcrew, 2/13

We are also working with park systems outside the Park Liaison Program, including those in Renton, Kent (rodgowdy), and Burien; and Mount Rainier National Park (K2D2). In addition, we coordinate with cachers working with park systems outside of WSGA, including Olympia City Parks (ohjoy!).

What does a Park Liaison do? The specifics vary from park to park, but may include:

• Ensuring geocachers adhere to park regulations. If a park says “no off-trail use,” all caches must be by a trail (specific distance defined – at Cougar Mountain, it’s 10 feet). “Day use only” – no night caching is permitted. If certain park areas are off-limits due to sensitive habitat or safety issues, no cache placements will be allowed.
• Ensuring geocachers adhere to geocaching.com guidelines on placement, especially those under Off-Limit (Physical) Caches. We don’t bury caches, screw things into trees, deface property, contribute to habitat destruction, etc. Mantra: “What would the ranger think?”
• Working with park personnel to create and/or implement caching guidelines for their lands. These may be informal, enforced by the Liaison, or written up as a public document. In most cases, cache placements can be overseen by the Liaison without a formal permitting or approval process by the park, as has been demonstrated over the past two years at Cougar Mountain, which has a strict no-off-trail policy.
• Physically visiting cache placements to ensure they adhere to guidelines and minimize environmental impact (e.g., social trails, foliage damage).
• Monitoring caches and addressing problems if the owner is not responsive, up to and including removing caches if required.
• Contacting cache owners and working with them to mitigate any problems that arise.
• Keeping park personnel informed about cache placements on their land, and promptly addressing any problems identified by park staff.
• Educating park personnel about geocaching and its benefits, such as raising awareness, educating visitors, and increasing attendance.
• Taking park personnel geocaching to familiarize them with the activity, show them cache placements in their parks, and get their feedback.
• Helping park personnel place caches to further their educational and outreach goals.
• Streamlining the park’s interactions with Groundspeak by serving as a conduit to the company and reviewers. This is particularly helpful if the park needs to clarify its boundaries, request cache removals or moratoriums, or otherwise present an official request.
• Hosting CITO (Cache In, Trash Out) volunteer work parties to help the park. In addition to debris cleanup, a CITO event could be invasive-plant removal, native plant restoration, even trail-building - basically, whatever type of volunteer work the park needs.

Many thanks to the members of WSGA’s Parks Advocacy Committee who have volunteered as Park Liaisons. If you’re interested in participating, or know a park system you think would benefit, please contact me. Most parks currently in the program are in the Puget Sound area, but we hope to see it expanded across the state.

Follow-up: Bryan and Jenn at Groundspeak both responded that they love the Liaison Program. Bryan said: "What a wonderful program! Congratulations to the WSGA. We will share it with the reviewers and let you know if there are any suggestions. Of course, if there is anything that Groundspeak can do to assist, please don't hesitate to contact Jenn or myself anytime."

[hydnsek]

The WSGA Parks Advocacy Committee is looking for additional folks to serve as Park Liaisons. Please contact me if you can help.

* Kitsap County Parks wants to join the Liaison Program - they have exciting news:

"My name is Lori Raymaker. I am the Park Stewardship Coordinator with Kitsap County Parks. I would love to have a liaison with Geocaching. We just received a grant through Puget Sound Starts Here to create and locate 60 geocache sites within the County. Most will be in the County Parks. We are just starting this program and could benefit from some expert advise from a seasoned geocacher, someone who knows all of the ins and outs and etiquette of geocaching. With a liaison I'm sure we will avoid making a lot of the "first timer" mistakes. Please feel free to contact me via email or phone. I look forward to working with your group.

Update: Thanks to Jomer & Traci for volunteering as our Kitsap County Parks Geocaching Liaisons. I know they'll do an outstanding job.

* The City of Burien is also a fan:

"Burien Parks is a fan of geocaching and believe it's a great way to recreate in our parks and a great family activity. We would like to promote geocaching in our parks so have decided to offer several classes on the subject. Thanks!" - Michael Lafreniere, Director of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services

Update: Globalgirl was the geocacher doing these classes.

[hydnsek]

I'm thrilled to announce that, thanks to the ongoing efforts of the WSGA Parks Advocacy Committee and our new Park Liaison Program, today Caching Again in Discovery Park was published, the first cache in Seattle's Discovery Park since caches were banned there in November 2007. Read some background here.

After two years of disconnects, we met with Seattle City Parks on March 3, at which point they joined our Liaison Program and agreed to rescind their ban and reintroduce geocaching on a trial basis. WSGA member rodgowdy became their Geocaching Liaison. Thanks to rodgowdy, we now have a cache in Discovery, a CITO in the works, and a couple more caches in the wings. You go, guy!

This discussion is continued in the Caching returns to Discovery Park thread.

[hydnsek]

I'm pleased to announce that two more park systems have joined WSGA's Park Liaison Program.

• Bellevue City Parks is now on board, with me (hydnsek) as the geocaching liaison. This is a very positive development, as Bellevue had been considering severely restricting geocaching, and last October forced the archival of most caches in Mercer Slough. Initially, they were developing guidelines that would require permission for placements and limit locations, sizes, etc. We met last week, and after some discussion, they reconsidered and agreed to join the Liaison Program, relax the new guidelines, and allow us to manage caching activity as we do with other participating park systems. I expect the final guidelines to be published within a few weeks, followed by resolution of the Mercer Slough caches, and then followup regarding a few specific caches they are concerned about in other parks (e.g., Kelsey Creek).
  
• Richland City Parks is our first system in Eastern WA, and meandbrea is their caching liaison. Meandbrea is a staff member with Richland Parks, and is sponsoring Richland's current Geocoin Challenge, which showcases the city's 100 years of history. She's also the newest member of WSGA's Parks Advocacy Committee, representing South Central WA.

In other news:

• The first two physical caches were just permitted in North Cascades National Park Service Complex. As you know, most National Parks continue to ban geocaching, but the NPS geocaching directive leaves it to individual park superintendents to make the final call. I've been working with North Cascades for two years as their geocaching liaison, and they've allowed earthcaches to date. Last week, after ongoing discussions, the superintendent signed off on my proposed physical placements, one in the South Unit of the park (Cascade Pass Trailhead) and the other in Ross Lake NRA (Gorge Dam Overlook). This is a huge win for geocaching in National Parks and the Pacific Northwest! More info in separate thread.
• I met with Washington State Parks' designated geocaching representative, Kathy Hale, last week. Her role is statewide, mainly to ensure awareness and cooperation with WSP's geocaching directive among its parks, and to address any overarching issues. Specific geocaching concerns are left to the discretion of the individual parks. She invited me to submit a new blurb on geocaching for WSP's Activities page, saying she knew the current one could use updating. It's great that WSP has assigned a staff member as a geocaching contact, and that she's encouraging us to provide appropriate communications about our activity.

[hydnsek]

A big shout-out to new WSGA member Radmando & Sons, who initiated a geocaching discussion with the City of Ferndale (Whatcom County), and now Ferndale is the newest member of our Park Liaison Program, with Randy as their WSGA geocaching liaison. He even drafted a document explaining his geocaching liaison arrangement with Ferndale. You go, Randy!

In his words:

My name is Randy Kaech (handle: Radmando & Sons). I've been living in Whatcom County since 1979, work at the Ferndale Post Office as the head clerk, coach chess in the Ferndale School District, and just got hooked on geocaching a few weeks back. So I emailed the City of Ferndale to see if I could place a cache in Cedar Creek Park. "What's geocaching?" They knew nothing about it.

I sent them an informational email with the usual links -- the YouTube video introducing geocaching, and the requirements for placing a geocache from geocaching.com. I also included a link to the Park Liaison Program and offered to be their Geocaching Liaison. Talked to the Public Works Director and the head of parks maintenance. I sensed a somewhat mixed reaction when I pulled up the Google map showing all the caches already existing on city property. Eventually, they agreed to allow geocaching and accepted my offer to help them. Of course, I wasn't assigned the role because of my geocaching experience, but because I'm an established member of the community whom they know and trust. (We work right across the street from each other.)

We drew up the simple document (below)* explaining my role. They also asked for a blurb to put on their website, also below.**

There you have it. Strange but true, newbie becomes Geoaching Liaison. Hope I didn't mess anything up by taking the initiative here in Ferndale. My next task is to thoughtfully and diplomatically introduce myself to the cache owners in town. I'll take any advice you may have! On anything!

--------------------
*Proposed Roles of Ferndale Parks Geocaching Liaison:

--Requests for geocache placement get routed to Liaison, removing burden from City of Ferndale.
--Liaison receives and files email from Geocacher that includes the following:

Geocacher's contact information
Geocacher verifies that s/he has read, and will abide by, 1) Cache Listing Requirements and Guidelines 2) How To Hide A Geocache
Proposed/actual location of the cache

--Liaison works with the geocacher to educate them if guidelines above are not being followed, or if other issues arise.
--Upon request, liaison provides City of Ferndale with list and/or map of cache placements.

**Blurb for City of Ferndale website:
The City of Ferndale welcomes geocaching as a popular, family-oriented activity. Persons seeking permission to place a geocache must contact the City of Ferndale Geocaching Liaison, Randy Kaech, at kaech@frontier.com.