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Table of Contents:

   1. Alberta Provincial Parks and Protected Areas

   2. National Parks

   3. Fire Lookout Towers

   4. Calgary City Parks

   5. Canada Post Corporation


 Alberta Provincial Parks and Protected Areas

 An alphabetical listing of all Alberta Parks can be found here  "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Alberta_provincial_parks">

 

Geocache Guidelines

Guidelines for Placement of Geocaches in Alberta's Parks

Geocaches (physical caches, earthcaches and waymarking) are allowed in Provincial Parks, Provincial Recreation Areas, Wildland Provincial Parks and Natural Areas under the following guidelines:

  • Cache contents - no food items, tobacco, explosives or dangerous items such as knives, firearms, etc.
  • Cache size - no larger than 30 cm (width, length or depth).
  • Cache containers must be weather-sealed, animal-proof (never used for food storage) and suitable for all weather conditions.
  • Caches should be placed
    • Near to officially designated trails (e.g. Fish Creek Provincial Park Pathways Map) or
    • For less used sites, near to established trails. 
  • New trails should not be created to place a cache.  Resource access roads, pipelines and power lines are not considered "designated trails". 
  • Caches should NOT be 
    • Buried
    • Nailed or tied to trees
    • Placed in restrictive areas or environmentally sensitive areas 
    • Placed in dangerous places to access such as cliffs, etc. that would create a public safety risk
  • Geocaching.com will not publish a geocache placement on land in the provincial parks system unless the location has been approved by Alberta Parks staff.

Notes

The following sites have reached their capacity for geocaches.  NO ADDITIONAL PHYSICAL GEOCACHES will be considered at this time for:

Process for the Placement of a Geocache

  1. A geocacher decides where they want to place a geocoache.
  2. If the location is in a Provincial Park, Provincial Recreation Area, Wildland Provincial Park, Natural Area or Willmore Wilderness Park, the geocacher contacts the park using the regional contact list and regional park map. (Check the Land Reference Manual for a full listing of Alberta Parks lands.)
  3. The regional contact provides feedback on the placement of the geocache (whether it is in an appropriate place, if any more caches are being accepted in the park, suggestions for other, more appropriate locations).
  4. The geocacher places the geocache in the park while adhering to the guidelines above.
  5. The geocacher requests that his/her geocache be posted to Geocaching.com.  If the exact cache location has been approved by Alberta Parks staff, that information must be included in the submission.
  6. If the exact location of the proposed geocache has not been approved by Alberta Parks staff, the Alberta Volunteer Geocache Reviewer at Geocaching.com consults with Alberta Parks staff.  Alberta Parks staff review the request and either accept it, reject it because it is in an inappropriate spot, or ask that it to be moved to a more appropriate location in the park.  The Alberta Volunteer Geocache Reviewer (Geocaching.com) then requests any changes. 
  7. the Alberta Volunteer Geocache Reviewer (Geocaching.com) may request changes after consulting with Parks staff.  At this point, Alberta Parks staff will review the request and either accept it, reject it because it is in an inappropriate spot, or ask that it to be moved to a more appropriate location in the park.
  8. If the geocache is approved, the Alberta Volunteer Geocache Reviewer posts the geocache, making it available to other geocachers on Geocaching.com.
  9. The Alberta Volunteer Geocache Reviewer at Geocaching.com also forwards the status of the request to the geocacher.  If the geocache is denied, the geocacher must go back to the park to either remove or relocate it.

If the Geocache Reviewer is the one who is contacting the staff at Alberta Parks the cache owner must provide one sentence describing what the container is, what is in it, and where it is placed.

Caches Placed In A National Park

Caches Placed in a  National Park.
Permission and a permit are required.

Information for creating a geocache in Canada's national parks can be found here:http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/docs/pc/guide/geocache/index.aspx.  

Contact Information: The general email address for creating a geocache in any national park is geocache@pc.gc.ca

Fire Lookout Towers

As of March 2012:  A new security policy is in place that prohibits the publishing of tower locations.

All requests within 1 kilometer of a Fire Lookout Tower, or that mention Lookout towers are to be denied.

Contact Info: For questions or concerns 

Alberta Sustainable Resources and Development
(403) 297 8800
Office Building, Main Floor
8660 Bearspaw Dam Road N.W.
Calgary, Alberta
T3L 1S4                                                                                                                                                          

Calgary City Parks

Geocaching has quickly become a fun family event. To encourage low impact, healthy activities in parks, The City encourages seeking and placing geocaches in parks, natural areas and public greenspaces, if it is done in conjunction with related bylaws, policies, regulations, and protected area management direction.

Placement of Caches

Caches should be placed in areas publicly accessible from designated trails or along approved travel routes. Caches must be situated so that they can be found with minimal disturbance to the environment.

To protect our environment, please do not:

  • Damage or disturb soil, wildlife, vegetation, or any natural or cultural heritage elements. For example, do not step on, or clear away a space; do not nail anything to a tree.
  • Place caches in animal burrows, tree cavities; and special features such as amongst limestone rock within Waterfall Valley, Bowmont Park. Please leave holes in the ground or in trees alone.
  • Dig holes of any size in any public space. For example, do not hide objects under moss, break branches or dig out rocks to place a cache.
  • Disturb nesting birds or their nests. Migratory birds are federally protected.
  • Place caches in Special Protection Natural Environment Parks except along the regional pathway.
  • Place caches in riparian zones or within watercourses or water bodies as per the Water Act, Public Lands Act and the Federal Fisheries Act if fish bearing. Riparian zones are the vegetated area on both sides of a water body that separate the water from the rest of the landscape.
  • Place geocaches within 10 metres of the top  bank of any water body.
  • Place caches in any facility, including buildings, playgrounds and park infrastructure such as sports field back stops and goal posts.

The City of Calgary Parks retains the right to remove any caches located inappropriately.

Please do:

  • Stay on designated trails.
    Official designated trails are established paths or formal trails that may be made of trail mix or shale. Designated trails are regularly maintained and can be found on a City of Calgary area map or brochure. An undesignated trail is any trail not recognized or maintained by The City of Calgary. Trail maps are available online or are present within the park.
  • Place caches within one metre of the pathway within Special Protection Natural Environment Parks. Wildlife using areas adjacent to pathways and within Community Parks are habituated to people and human-related disturbances.
  • Include in the cache either a concise hint and/or a small (no more than 10 cm) length of naturally coloured flagging in close proximity to the cache. Natural coloured flagging will not distract from the park environment, nor will it interfere with flagging used for designated purposes.

Cache lifespan

Caches must be removed once they are no longer being maintained. Parks will remove caches if they have a detrimental environmental impact, are impacting the use and enjoyment of the park by other park visitors, or have an impact on operation and maintenance.

Cache identification and contents

All caches in Calgary parks must be labelled “Geocache” on the outside of the container with the owner’s name and contact information inside. Caches cannot contain any prohibited items such as explosives, weapons or illegal substances, no food or beverage items or any other material that may attract wildlife, and must be suitable for all ages. No caches for commercial gain are permitted. Any caches without proper identification and owner information or deemed inappropriate may be removed by Parks staff.  Removed caches will be held at the nearest Parks Divisional Office. Police will be notified regarding caches that contain illegal material. Removal of a cache may occur without prior notification to the owner. Caches can be retrieved by contacting 3-1-1.

Permits not required

Permits or prior authorization is not required for cache placement providing the cache is placed in an area open to public use and consistent with the direction of this guideline.  Cache placement must be consistent with protected area management direction and placed in areas normally accessed by the public.

Cache placement in City of Calgary Cemeteries

Please do not place caches among these items in municipal cemeteries:

  1. Memorial trees
  2. Memorial vases
  3. Memorial benches
  4. Memorial rocks
  5. Memorial bronze plaques
  6. Upright monuments
  7. Flat markers
  8. Pillow markers

Geocaching events

Geocaching events may be allowed in Calgary parks with a special event permit providing the event is non-commercial in nature and has been approved by the permitting process. Please contact 3-1-1 or for more information or apply online.

Related recreation and park management

Geocaching or cache placement within Calgary parks may not occur anywhere that may interfere with other approved recreational activities or management activities (rehabilitation zones, maintenance areas etc.)

For further information, please contact Calgary.Geocachers@gmail.com or call 3-1-1, 403-268-CITY (2489) if calling from outside Calgary.

 

Canada Post Corporation

Placements on Canada Post property (e.g. mailboxes) can be considered mail tampering which is a Federal Offense.

Permission from local Postmaster would be required.

Alberta Reviewer

Cache Effect

Cache Chameleon

About This Guide

The local laws and guidelines for geocaching placement vary from place to place. As community reviewers learn geocache placement policies for a certain location, they can add it here. This site may not be a complete or accurate list of land policies. These policies are made by the land owner or manager, they are neither the reviewer’s nor Geocaching HQ’s. This guide is just for reference, if no policies for the area you’re looking for are listed, that doesn't mean no policies exist. You must still obtain permission to place your geocache from the landowner or land manager,comply with all applicable laws, and follow the Geocaching Listing Requirements.

If you have an update, email the community reviewer(s) listed.

This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

 If you contribute to this wiki, you agree to provide permission to others under this license.

If you share information from this site, you must mention "These regional land policies came from the Geocaching.com Public Wiki and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No-Derivatives 4.0 International License."

 And, you agree to keep content current by checking back regularly for updates.


 

 



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