Geocaching Worse Than Horse Apples

Geocaching Banned

The Arizona State Trust Land Department takes a dim view of geocaching, banning the activity on the lands they manage. Arizona Sonora News recently quoted Bill Boyd a policy administrator for the trust as saying: “By policy, one of the things you can’t do is leave things on trust land and by its very nature, geocaching does that.  The purpose of state trust land is to generate revenue, not for recreation.”  Apparently the Trust, or at least Boyd, fails to recognize the economic value of recreation or even that they charge fees for people to recreate on the land they manage.  It would seem recreation is indeed a purpose of these lands.

Arizona has around 30,000 geocaches and a fair number are on these lands that total about 12% of the state’s entire land base.    The land has fences, stock tanks, windmills, solar power plants, and many other appurtenances that could be considered refuse under this interpretation – but are not.   Likewise equestrians and cattle are allowed to use the land without removing the manure that most would consider refuse.  All in all, the stance on geocaching is pretty odd.

Fortunately over 42% of Arizona’s land base is managed by the Federal government.   Federal agencies like the Forest Service and BLM take a much more enlightened view of geocaching.

If you enjoy geocaching in Arizona,  you might want to contact the governor and the state land department and ask them to reconsider their position.

Arizona State Land Department
1616 W. Adams St
Phoenix, AZ 85007
phone:  602.542.4631

Governor, State Capitol
1700 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Contact Form

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