As Brian has already noted, it is evident that Shelly Rasmussen wrote
this before the meeting of September 27th. I believe the article needs
to be read keeping that in mind. And, as Brian also mentioned, her
statement that the State Land Department, which administers the State
Land Trust, prohibits Geocaching is inaccurate. It is worth noting,
though, that the Land Department does specifically prohibit "...visiting
archaeological sites (historic and prehistoric)..." (see:
http://www.land.state.az.us/programs/natural/rec_offroad_permit.htm).
I think those of us who attended the meeting, and particularly those of
us who got involved in the informal discussion after the meeting was
formally adjourned, would all be in agreement that Ms Rasmussen's
position allows no compromise. Having met with her "boss", Mary Estes,
since that meeting, I am also very confident that her position does not
reflect the attitude of the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO),
which is responsible for the Site Steward program.
If I understand SHPO's position correctly, they create no policy
themselves. Rather, their job is to execute the policies of the agency
responsible for the land on which the site lies. In other words, if the
US Forest Service (or the City of Tempe, for that matter) builds a trail
on their land to an archaeological site and posts signs about the site
or direct people to it, SHPO can't turn around and prevent people from
visiting that site.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't follow our own rules. Whether the land is
USFS, city, or some other agency, we should be securing permission from
the appropriate agency to hide a cache on their land. If we're asking
for consent, presumably the agency will tell us if the location we have
in mind is sensitive, whether it's because of an archaeological site or
some other reason they may be concerned about that area. But with
permission in hand, we would have no reason to believe we are
threatening sensitive sites of any kind.
Ms Rasmussen may well continue to sound the alarm, as is her right. I
believe our most powerful rebuttal is to practice responsible
Geocaching, when both hiding and hunting.
Steve
Team Tierra Buena
(text/plain)