>I often obtained "Special Use Permits" from refuge and
> Nat'l Park land managers when setting up strange projects and
leaving
> equipment in place in Arizona.
> - John, WA
*********
Special Use Permit...
This is also the method I have used in Ohio at the John Bryan State
Park. There is a requirement not to leave the paths in John Bryan
because of the sensitivity of some of the plants isolated there by
the special environment.
An agreement was reached with the park manager to locate all
letterboxes within 10 feet of a trail or maintained area. I moved
all boxes which were further from the paths than that and put them in
agreeable locations. With 10 miles of trails, that did not crowd the
boxes too close together.
In fact, it has worked pretty well - even with the whole valley of
frogs series (27) plus an additional 4 or 5 boxes located in the
park.
It sounds like the managemnt of the Audubon Society area may be open
to an adult presentation of the risks and benefits of allowing
letterboxing. Perhaps attending a meeting of the volunteer staff
(with the carefully nurtured support of an influential member) would
turn this situation around. It is amazing what can happen when
inteligent adults sit down together instead of corresponding with an
imagined evil by email. It's a lot harder to see the other person as
the enemy when looking into their eyes.
There is a little shock to the system which occurs when called into a
manager's office. Adrenalin is a powerful drug, and I made enough to
fuel a generator when told "if you remove all the boxes we will not
press charges." But the great news is that there are a lot of
rational adults out there working to enhance, protect, and clean up
the natural areas open to the public. Most of the managers of the
areas we like to plant boxes in are in that category.
My simple (simplistic) advice is to ask permission first whenever
possible, to occasionally beg forgiveness, and to represent
letterboxing as a safe activity involving a few visitors, most of
whom carry out a sack of garbage collected from the trail whenever
they go looking for a letterbox.
Rick <><
--- In letterbox-usa@y..., John Edwards
> Hi - I'm new at this, and have noticed in my first readings on the
subject
> that one drawback is the public availability of location info. I
would
> dislike seeing your advances in popularizing this sport reversed
into
> secrecy, but that would make this kind of confrontation less
likely. So far
> as public land use, I often obtained "Special Use Permits" from
refuge and
> Nat'l Park land managers when setting up strange projects and
leaving
> equipment in place in Arizona.
> - John, WA
>
> Eric Mings wrote:
>
> > >Wanda and Pete -
> > >
> > >WOW!!!!! I am in shock. What do you say to that? I for one am
> > >going to place a box this weekend in defiance!
> > >
> > >Letterboxer2002@y...
> > >
> >
> > As they said, it is private property and they can do as they
wish. I
> > don't think defying them will accomplish anything but ill will. I
> > would suggest instead someone in that area contact them about
their
> > specific concerns and discuss the issue. Unlike government lands,
I
> > don't think there is any rational "that belongs to all of us"
> > argument to be made. Not that such an argument would go anywhere
with
> > government lands.
> > --
> > Regards,
> >
> > Eric Mings
> >
> >
> > To unsubscribe: mailto:letterbox-usa-unsubscribe@e...
> > List info, archives, etc: http://www.letterboxing.org/list.html
> >
> >
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