Table of Contents

North Dakota State Parks

Effective January 2011, the geocaching policy in all North Dakota State Parks is that the park manager or designated park employee owns and manages the geocaches within that particular State Park.  Individual geocache ownership is not allowed.  Here is a link to that geocaching policy.

National Park Service Lands

Properties operated by the National Park Service do not allow physical geocaches. This includes all monuments and areas operated by the National Park Service.

National Wildlife Refuges

Geocaching is banned in National Wildlife Refuges AND Waterfowl Production Areas, lands managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Maps of these areas (for the entire US System) may be found here:  https://gis-fws.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/fws::fws-national-realty-tracts-simplified/about

National Wilderness Areas

All areas within the boundaries of all National Wilderness Areas located in North Dakota are off limits to all geocaches and geocaching activities.  These areas include:

Maps for these lands may be found here:  USDA Forest Service FSGeodata Clearinghouse - Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers & Wilderness Study Areas

North Dakota Wildlife Management Areas

North Dakota recently banned caches in all of its Wildlife Management Areas, lands managed by the North Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks. Here is a link to that rule. (PDF file)

Cemeteries

At this time there is no prohibition concerning geocaching within cemeteries in the state of North Dakota. There are some municipal cemeteries that specifically ban any recreational activities within the cemetery grounds.  It is the cache owner's responsibility to verify those regulations before placing a geocache within any cemetery.  Geocaches must be respectfully placed around the perimeter away from any graves or markers.

Army Corps of Engineer managed properties

Geocaching is allowed on CoE managed property but require are subject to specific permitting processes prior to placement.

Native American Lands

Geocaching is allowed / not allowed on Native Lands per the following conditions:

• Cache is within a public park in town - allowed
  
• Cache is along along an established county or state road ROW (maintained by State or county DOT) - allowed
  
• Caches are NOT allowed on BIA named or numbered roads are off limits, or other off road areas without specific, verifiable permission from the reservation land manager.

Cemeteries

At this time there is no prohibition concerning geocaching within cemeteries in the state of North Dakota. There are some municipal cemeteries that specifically ban any recreational activities within the cemetery grounds.  It is the cache owner's responsibility to verify those regulations before placing a geocache within any cemetery.  Geocaches must be respectfully placed around the perimeter away from any graves or markers.

School Grounds and Proximity

The guidelines specifically state "a geocache is problematic due to its proximity to a public structure. Examples include highway bridges, major roadways, dams, government buildings, schools, military installations, hospitals, airports and other areas defined in the Regional Geocaching Policies Wiki."

Generally - should some one seeking a cache be visible from the school buildings, parking areas, and/or playing fields - I consider the cache to be "too close".

This restriction applies even with verifiable permission - as this permission can not be clearly communicated to all "stakeholders" of the school - including the administration, teachers, students, staff, and parents.

We will not publish caches that are on or adjacent to school grounds or school property without express written permission on file from that school administrator. A statement of permission must be placed on the cache page, along with any restrictions for that location.

Tree Climbing

Caches will not be listed if ladders, special equipment, or climbing is required to reach the cache.  These will require specific, verifiable permission.  All caches in city parks must be reachable from the ground, or be placed under the tree.

Additional Map Resources

• Fargo ND GIS https://gis.cityoffargo.com/Link/jsfe/index.aspx
• Cass County ND GIS http://gisweb.casscountynd.gov/WAB/Link/
• Minot ND GIS http://gis.minotnd.org/FMv2/default.aspx?enc=2mzOcMiaXwip8TUCt11mtQzFB5roYocql4Ti%2fadJcYcWOavahlloMSleqfnxnXPNlk71nzl3iQgugWdNioN5lw%3d%3d&=
• Grand Forks ND GIS https://www.gfgis.com/Html5Viewer/index.html?viewer=PublicViewer

Event Stacking

Event stacking refers to holding multiple events that are close to each other in location and time with the intent of the same audience attending. Events are social gatherings of geocachers that encourage social interactions and support the geocaching community and as such offer more than simply a smiley. If an event is submitted and another event is either already published or also waiting for review and there appears to be stacking, the following guidelines will be used when one or both events are within Morth Dakota:

Typically, events will be published within a similar time period only if they are more than about 30 miles or an hour's drive apart. Events closer to each other than these times/distances will only be published if the end time of the first event is at least 2 hours before the start time of the next. 

A CITO event may either be preceded or followed by a regular event (but not both). The main activity should be the CITO event, and the regular event is for CITO attendees to socialize together before or afterward. CITO events may not be used to clean up after another event. 

On the day before and the day after a Mega/Giga event, only events that are part of the Mega/Giga will be published within about 50 miles or a two-hour drive from the Mega/Giga event. 

On the day of a Mega/Giga event, no events will be published within about 100 miles or a three hour drive from the Mega/Giga event except for a single additional event hosted by the Mega/Giga committee.