Jason;

I would like to respond to your response to the article written by Christina
Leonard on August 7th.  I think the title of your response was
"Archaeological Sites - Maybe They Caused the Problem Themselves?". 

The article that you linked to, was an article about the new trail to Willow
Springs.  If you haven't been to that area you should, particularly after we
get some more rain.  It is a year around spring that is a great oasis in the
White Tank Mountains.

Speaking for the Maricopa County Parks Department, we welcome park visitors,
and we encourage our visitors to get out and hike our trail system.  I think
that there is a clear difference between a Park System, particularly an area
that requires a fee to enter.  And, the thousands of acres of open space
around Arizona.  

In the county regional parks system we have a lot of park visitors, around
two million each year.   They pay us a fee, we provide picnic sites, ramadas
and campsites, clean restrooms and a maintained trail system.   We also have
Interpretive Rangers, Park Police Officers, maintenance workers, etc.
Because of the numbers of park visitors we need them to stay on the
established trails, our trail system takes hikers, mountain bikers and
equestrians to locations throughout our parks.   To prevent the
deterioration of the vegetation in the park and for their own safety.   If
you choose to come into a Maricopa County Park, you have to pay five dollars
per vehicle.  We provide all the services and facilities that I listed above
and if your car is still in the parking lot when the park is closing, we
begin a search for you.  If injured or lost, we will find you and be able to
provide first aid and eventually advanced medical care if needed.  

The above "Park" scenario is much different than most of the other open
space in Arizona.  Most of Arizona does not have maintained trails, does not
the large numbers of visitors that the parks do.  One of our greatest
concerns is the spider webbing of new trails.   It appears to us that
searchers will follow a trail to a point parallel to the cache and then
trail across country to the location.   A couple of weeks of this and there
becomes a trail or series of trails that converge near the cache.
Non-searchers then see the trail split, or see a path leading off the trail
or see searchers looking wonder what they see that is so interesting and
wonder over.  This then become a problem for us.  If you are in a non-park
environment, spider web trails are not an issue.  If there is not a trail
system, then light paths are not a problem.   Everywhere, there are paths,
cow paths, game trails, etc.

We are asking that if a cache is placed in a Park, place within three feet
of a designated trail.  If a cache is placed near or on a sensitive site we
acknowledge that most searchers will not intentionally cause any damage.
The vast majority will come and go and leave only their foot prints in the
soil.  However, if people will through trash out their car window, they sure
as heck will be up shards or touch a petroglyph if no one is around.  Yes,
the petroglyphs are interesting, the archaeological sites clearly add value
to the cache site.  They provide a bonus to finding the cache.  They were
created 600, 700, 800 years ago and in some cases much longer.   I don't
know how many are in Arizona, and whatever the number I suspect others are
around but have not been found.  There are a lot of archaeological sites in
Arizona.  That's good because they have to last forever.  Petroglyphs are
not being created any longer and everyone damaged or stolen is one less site
for the future, for ever!

I personally don't think it is worth the risk.  You won't cause any damage,
I won't, our friends probably won' t and if we can count on 95% percent of
the Geocachers to not cause any damage then I ask you this question.  Who
will show that 5%, who will cause damage, where our archeological sites are?
Will they have to find them on their own, will they follow the new spider
trails, or will they find the interesting sounding sites on geocaching.com
to discover the remaining petroglyphs.

Why place a cache on a sensitive site?  The game is great, let the discovery
of the cache be the reward in and of its self.  

Thanks for your time to read this lengthy rambling response.

Rand Hubbell
Marketing Coordinator
(602) 506-1114