Since When!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was vorn and brought up in this state and have left only on a few occasion and always glad to be home. I the past few years I have seen this state set guide lines as to who what when and where a resident can do it the wild. This planet has sustained it's self for thousands of years with out people getting involved.

Now, you are allowed to hunt and fish and drive and harvest timber and snowmobile and paddle in the allagash. Since when did a Geocacher do more damage than a Skiddah. I think that it is pathetic that a person can not place a ammo can in a forest as vast as the Allegash however can run a skidder and a logging truck through the woods. I think it is pathetic that you can not just walk through the woods but you can hunt there. So my take on the allagash is that you can drive through it and paddle down it but you cant stop and get out of you vehicle.

I think that if 10,000 people have walked a trail and created a means of getting some where (ie. tramway) the damage is already done. Why not embrace it and finish the trail and make it a part of history that all can enjoy. I think that if they are going to charge you to you the North Maiine woods than you should be able to walk the trail to the tramway. I also think that one whole third of the state that is in the north west is only accessible through the north maine woods assocation and you must pay a fee. Public land use is a farce. You can use it if you want to pay for it. As a Maine tax payer this land should be avilible for me to use.

I still dont think that a ammo can and the follks that visit it will ever do nearly as much damage as the tools that we use to harvest wood however they are there and no body cares

Just a thought

Dave

Sabby, certainly we should obey the law. What we are saying here is that we are challenging the decision of the manager because we do not think the cache placements are in violation of Maine statutes. I think everyone agrees that permission must be obtained in advance. That is not the issue. Also, a cache should not be placed where it is going to damage the wilderness waterway.

I think one central issue is access. In order to be classified as a Wilderness Waterway, the access must be severely limited. Any access not listed in the Maine statues is, by law, illegal.

This is the third cache in the AWW (that I know of) to be removed. The one of the other two was in a designated camping area and had legal access, so access is not the only issue. Another central issue is limited use of the waterway.

Geocaching is not the only group that is in conflict with the AWW management. Actually, the AWW management is a lightning rod for all groups from sportsmen to local hics :) to out-a-state do-gooders to timber companies to ATV and snowmoblilers to historians. It is very confusing when the AWW management endorses visits to the train yard on one website but then complains when Geocaching gives directions to find it.

Geocaching is in the unique position where we can make a positive contribution to the river management. We could place a cache that helps explain what policies are in place and why they are important to uphold. Perhaps the best part of this is that, by far, most people get informed and very few will ever visit the area. We should have no problem proving that this will not substantially increase use. And, use is automatically documented. Perhaps more people would respect the access and use policies if they knew why the policies are in effect.