Oh no, Casual Dave!!!

Brown Co. considers park fees for geocachers

Officials want to protect land, visitors

By Tony Walter
twalter@greenbaypressgazette.com

You wouldn't think that one of the faster-growing hobbies around would involve grown people searching for a camouflaged Folger's coffee can.

But it's part of the geocaching craze that uses modern technology to find hidden treasures that have no real value beyond the satisfaction of finding them.

"It's a high-tech scavenger hunt," said Larry Frye of Green Bay, who has been a geocacher for two years. "It's not a competition and it's a really inexpensive hobby."

Geocachers use Global Positioning Systems to locate hidden objects placed by other geocachers. Participants get the location coordinates (latitude and longitude) from a Web site and then try to find the objects. The treasures, or caches, often include a registry for geocachers to sign and sometimes have items to be exchanged, such as CDs.

The objects are often placed in public parks, and that has prompted Brown County officials to take a closer look.

The county parks department is recommending that a $5 fee be required for anyone who wants to place a cache in one of the county parks. Parks Director Bill Dowell said it's a safeguard to make sure the caches aren't put in a place that would damage the park or would pose any danger to visitors.

"We wouldn't want them near a cliff, for example," Dowell said.

The county's Education & Recreation Committee discussed the issue last week and decided it wanted more information. Specifically, committee members wanted to know what other counties are doing about it. According to Dowell, Dane County charges a $10 fee to place a cache. Dowell said his department will collect more information from other counties and present it to the committee at its June meeting.

Frye thinks that's unnecessary.

"This gets lots of people who sit behind a computer to get out in the woods," said Frye. "There's no cost to the counties, and it brings people in from all over the state. That brings in tourism money."

Frye plans to go on a 10-day geocaching trip later this month, ending up in North Carolina for what is being billed as "Geo-Woodstock."

He also gets involved placing caches.

"I've got eight of them placed right now," Frye said. That includes a coffee can near the Fox River Trail.

According to geocaching.com, there are 395,684 active caches worldwide right now.