MnGCA

drat19 · Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 6:34 am Post subject:

I'm an EP resident for as long as I'm here on this long-term consulting gig (have been for 2+ years now). I've already heard from Dornole and am planning to attend the May 7th meeting...perhaps to provide some perspective from someone who has traveled/cached nationwide for the past 5 years, to discuss the benefits geocachers provide, in contrast to the detriments that the city officials perceive.

Da Bloodhound · Geocacher Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 78

Doc and I attended a CITO event last Saturday in Eau Claire, WI. We have some great photos of mountains of cleaned up debris. Perhaps Mr. Stuart Fox would take a second look at geocaching if that approach were taken. If not the same photos and a letter (or perhaps MANY letters) would get the attention of the Mayor and or City Council. Perhaps a notification system with review like WI DNR uses would work in EP.
Good luck all you unfortunate Eden Praire residents and neighbors.
Your friends across the creek hope you are successful in reversing this policy.
DOC. and Da Bloodhound :lol:

dornole · Geocacher Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 353

I submitted a packet of info yesterday to EP Parks Manager (Stu Fox) consisting of:

--2 page explanation of geocaching (reviewed by Pear Head)
--newspaper article on caching
--US Forest service study of cachers that puts us in a good light
--7 letters of support from EP residents who cache (thanks everyone!!!)

This info will be forwarded to Parks staff and Parks Commission members prior to their next meeting.

I will be giving the MNGCA powerpoint on caching (modified for EP use) at the next meeting, Monday May 7 at 7pm in Eden Prairie City Center on Mitchell Road (I believe it's in the Council Chamber) and answering questions. Some resident cachers are also hoping to attend in support if their schedules permit.

Stu says it will be near the start of the meeting under "petitions" and should be low key. (It is fine to scam out after, you don't have to stay for the whole thing). It will probably be the start of an exploratory process for them where the Commission asks Staff to draft some kind of policy for their review. Then in June or July we could potentially comment on that draft when the Commission takes it up again. If we're nice enough maybe we can weigh in during the draft process.

I am getting the vibe from Stu that we will likely get to cache in EP again but they will put some restrictions on locations, container marking and stuff like that, maybe even registration. It's the Commission's decision but in my experience they give a lot of weight to Staff's opinion. So we will just need to not screw up and try to get the most open policy that fits with their needs.

I look forward to putting some names to faces, though it won't probably be your real names that I remember! I'll be there at 6:45 to deal with the AV equipment if you want to say hi.

Peace,

dornole (Deb)

Pear Head · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:31 pm Post subject:

Thanks again for taking this project on!
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Hmm...

EskoClimber · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:36 pm Post subject:

Thanks dornole, for making the effort and taking the time to head up this project. It is appreciated.

TheGilby4 · Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:22 am Post subject:

dornole · Geocacher Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 353

It's tomorrow--looking forward to meeting some new people and ultimately starting the process to cache on!

GeoPierce · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 2:35 pm Post subject: Re: tomorrow

Red_Devil35 · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 2:43 pm Post subject: Re: tomorrow

Marsha and Silent Bob · Past MnGCA President Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 6261

Regardless of what is said tonight make sure it doesn't deter you from the final positive outcome that will occur if you keep on them.

Best of luck and thanks for all that you are doing for geocaching in Minnesota.
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Sad state of affairs.

TheGilby4 · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 4:48 pm Post subject:

Late notice Dornole, but if you get this in time, I plan on attending also.
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"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods..." - Lord Byron

dornole · Geocacher Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 353

We had a bit of a late night at the EP Parks Commission -- some of the agenda items before us were quite lengthy--but overall I think it went well. We had a great turnout and the Commission and Stu Fox seemed willing to work with us and got a better idea of what caching is all about. They've invited us to work with Parks staff and a couple of the commission members to craft a policy. Stu's estimate was that it would not be a real lengthy process and that we could get something done in 4-6 weeks.

I think there are still some concerns about conservation areas that we'll have to dialogue about, but there was also one commission member who was ready to just reinstate caching in the interim. So I do think it will move quickly and not be more restrictive than it needs to be. We have a seat at the table to give our point of view.

THANK YOU to everyone for coming, helping strategize and hanging out till almost 10 pm! It was really fun to meet everybody. Maybe I need to get to Weeknight Caching Crew one of these days.

Thanks--

Deb (dornole)

Marsha and Silent Bob · Past MnGCA President Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 6261

Deb,

ROCK ON!

Thanks go out to you and everyone else that showed up to show their support.
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Sad state of affairs.

dornole · Geocacher Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 353

Here's the article that ran in the Sun Current:

http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2007/05/11/news/ep10geocache.txt

Deb

GeoPierce · Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: EP News article