27 April 2022, Covid 19 restrictions - subject to change

Currently we're publishing caches, events where the facility can meet social distancing and crowd requirements. 
Maintenance expectations are somewhat suspended.  Please disable your caches that seem to be missing. Once they're disabled, they can remain disabled as long as there's owner response to reviewer inquiry.

Table of Contents

State Agencies

Florida State Parks

Permission is required to place any cache in a Florida State Park.  Verbal permission is acceptable as long as the hider provides the name of a contact person. A list of parks can be found at Florida State Parks. The Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway is currently allowing free placement of caches.

Florida State Forests

Florida State Forests are issuing permits for caches. Florida State Forest Geocaching Policy can be found here.    For the Little Big Econ State Forest and Charles H Bronson State Forest contact geocacher Clan Riffster for permits.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection aka FDEP

Permission is required to place a cache on any property managed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. This includes
state parks (see above),  Greenways and Trails  and Aquatic Preserves. 

FWC Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) or Wildlife and Environmental Areas (WEAs)

FWC Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) or Wildlife and Environmental Areas (WEAs) and Mitigation Parks where they are the lead
manager require a permit  FWC lead manager lands.  here is the FWC Geocaching guidelines and permit.  

Many WMAs are not primarily managed by FWC, but by FL Division of Forestry or other agencies.  Some of these other agencies require permits.

National Agencies and policies

U.S. Army Corp of Engineers  Jacksonville District , manage the L.O.S.T. trail around Lake Okeechobee and a few other rec properties in Florida. Here is their policy, transparent containers.

National Parks and Wildlife Refuges Explicit verifiable permission from park management is required for publication. The physical caches in Florida's National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges at this time have all been placed by staff or volunteers.

National Forests As of May 2011, the three National Forests in Florida: Ocala, Osceola, and Apalachicola are considering a geocaching policy. In the meantime cachers do not have to obtain permits and they are not required to contact local management offices for informal permission, per Denise Rains, Public Affairs Officer with the US Forest Service in Tallahassee. Per Mike Herrin, District Ranger, for areas designated as Federal Wilderness, further restrictions on geocaching are required. Virtual caches are allowed in most wilderness areas.

U.S. Post Offices and mailboxes  permission is required from the local postmaster for both virtual stages inside post offices and for any placement on or in a mailbox being used for mail delivery, per a reviewer who is a U.S. Postmaster.

Railroad property - physical caches on property of a railroad require explicit permission, this includes the railroad right of way, crossing guards, depots, parking lots at depots, display pieces along tracks like cabooses. 

Cracker Barrel restaurants  per national headquarters policy, no longer permit geocaches  - at one time, per national policy they did.  You may still see an old Cracker Barrel cache (Off Your Rocker, Barrelin') with the old permission note on it.  

Counties

Caches on  playground equipment, inside or on fences surrounding playgrounds need explicit permission from park management.  Some parks explicitly prohibit adults not supervising children from entering such areas

The following county agencies ask that geocachers get permission and or a permit:

Brevard county

• Brevard Environmentally Endangered Lands. On this page is their online geocaching application. 
• Wickham Park, there is a no geocaches zone around the campgrounds and archery range. See map here   
• Erna Nixon Park includes some environmentally sensitive land, caches need explicit permission. Stay near trails, contact Cheryl Caldwell,  Environmental Program Supervisor of Brevard County Parks and Recreation  cheryl.caldwell@brevardfl.gov   West Melbourne sign, NE corner of the park, facing Evans Road, is a NO CACHE location.

 The Compound Palm Bay is closed to recreational activity, per city police.   LINK to article. Synopsis : Today, the area known as the Compound is mostly privately owned and zoned for residential use, although the City of Palm Bay owns the paved roadways. Of the area’s 2,784 total acres, only 235 acres are City-owned. The area known as The Compound is not zoned as a recreation area open to the public.
Anyone entering private property without consent of the landowner is trespassing. The public may access the City-owned paved roadways.

Broward County Parks and Preserves contact info on this page out of date as of Feb 2022, broward.org/parks/thingstodo/pages/geocaching nstead use bjustice@broward.org or lbriggs@broward.org or naturalareas@broward.org

Collier County Parks are issuing a geocaching permit. Here's a link to their permit application.

Collier County Conservation Lands are issuing a geocaching permit Also see the account ConservationCollier

East Lee County Water Control District would like cachers to clear caches with them.

Hernando County Preserves ask that geocachers get a free permit email  ESL@hernandocounty.us or phone(352) 754-4737.

Hillsborough County Preserves   please contact Chris Kiddy email kiddyc@hillsboroughcounty.org

or Sheryl Bowman bowmans@hillsboroughcounty.org

Lake County Parks please contact them before placing a cache. Geocache Policy and the Lake County Parks GC.com profile

Lake County Water Authority email to info@lcwa.org

Lee County Parks and Preserves, online geocaching permit they want transparent containers. Joe Kaiser, Geocaching Liaison for Lee County Parks. JKaiser@leegov.com

Lee Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation own and run a number of preserves. They ask that geocachers get permission for caches.

Leon County Parks all Leon County parks need permission.

Manatee County Natural Resources and County Parks , please contact them about caches on preserves and parks.

Marion County Parks issue a permit  Read their Geocaching Policy noted on the page below the permit.

Miami Dade County Parks Contact individual park managers.     Caches in containers that are not glass or cardboard, identifiable as a geocache. Participants should stay on trails as much as possible - no bushwhacking is allowed, climbing or other activities that are prohibited in the parks or preserves. If responsive Sonya.Thompson@miamidade.gov

Okaloosa County Parks has a geocaching policy. You need to contact manderson@co.okaloosa.fl.us and get permission.

Orange County Parks Permit applications may be obtained at each park office.

Pasco County’s Environmental Lands –   Geocaching is allowed in the following preserves but does need a permit before the listing can be published. These are Aripeka Sandhills Preserve, Boy Scout Preserve, Pasco Palms Preserve, and Upper Pithlachascotee River Preserve.Geocaching is not allowed in the following Preserves/Conservation Areas: Bailie’s Bluff, Crockett Lake, Cypress Creek, Jumping Gully, and Tierra del Sol.
Please contact:
Pasco County Environmental Lands Division
Environmental Lands Program Coordinator
Land Manager
Email: cesposito@pascocountyfl.net

Palm Beach County parks and preserves are not regulating geocaching. Their general use rules say bike trails for bike, horse trails for horses. They've complained of caches on horse trail. Keep caches in foot access areas. 2022 the county board passed a new rule that adults not supervising children cannot be in or near playground areas. Okeeheelee Park South has a lot of horse trail, and in the past management has complained of caches there.   http://discover.pbcgov.org/parks/Publications/Okeeheelee%20map.pd

Pinellas County Parks  Email pubpkreq@pinellascounty.org include park name, cache owner name and contact info, cache description, location, and coordinates.

Pinellas County Preserves require explicit permission from a manager.

Polk County Environmental Lands. Contact Tabitha Biehl 863-668-4673 tabithabiehl@polk-county.net (better by phone) container preference: small and regular (no micro), caches near trails.

Sarasota County Park and Natural Areas They issue a free permit; Geocache Placement Permit Application, Sarasota County Parks and Recreation 941-861-5000. 2018 https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/c9719da2e5cc49eda2a23e6b257fd1e2    Nathalie Smith, Parks Naturalist Email: ndsmith@scgov.net

Seminole County Natural Lands Geocache permits, ammo cans only. Contact Amy Raub or Lori Hartsock at the Ed Yarborough Nature Center, 3485 N County Rd 426, Geneva Fl. 32732, 407-349-3048.

St Johns County Parks The contact person at St Johns County Parks dept is Will Smith (this is subject to periodic change) email is wsmith@co.st-johns.fl.us

Water Management Districts

These Water Management Districts require a permit:

St Johns Water Management District Lands and their online geocaching application.

South Florida WMD Lands their geocaching permit application is on this page. It assumes caches placed only on a few of their rec lands, often caches are along canals. They will give the okay to these. No container preference, not on their equipment or structures (locks, dams).

Suwannee River Water Management District
Contact Suwannee River Water Management District
9225 County Road 49
Live Oak, FL 32060
(386) 362-1001
Fax: (386) 362-1056
Toll Free 800-226-1066 (FL only)

Cities

City Park Departments 

Gainesville's Nature Operations Division  has a geocaching policy and a permit is needed to place a cache on their properties.  Please go to their web page, which has a link to their geocaching policy  (please read it carefully) and a link to their Permit Application Form.

Jacksonville Parks and Rec requires that you contact them before placing a geocache. The last contact person that I have at Jacksonville City Parks dept is Brian Burket (this is subject to periodic change) email is is bburket@coj.net

Ocala City Parks. I am working on getting links to their application and their Geocaching policy.

Miscellaneous: utility, cemetery, private conservancy organizations, Eglin Air Force Base etc.

Utility companies have complained about caches near their facilities and on their equipment. Caches on transformer stations, within view of power plants, on power poles, meters, electrical lockers, etc cannot be published absent explicit permission. Permission from someone with the authority to grant it. Not a repairman or contractor.

Cemeteries are generally private properties not intended for recreation. If the cemetery is publicly owned, please provide the name of the public owner (city, county).    If the cemetery is privately owned (church, cemetery association, for profit ownership) please provide the name and contact information for the person who gave you permission. 

Cracker Barrel restaurants per their national office, no longer want geocaches on their property. For a time, they did expressly allow them.

The Nature Conservancy manages property in Florida, as do other private conservation groups. Permission is required

University of West Florida requires permission for cache publication.

Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin has a large area open to recreation of all kinds provided you have an annual permit in your possession. Be sure to check your map that you get with your permit. It shows closed areas and a geocache will not be published if the cache appears to be in one of the closed areas. Also you must put the following disclaimer on the cache page.  Be sure that the link at the end of the second paragraph is working as a link when you submit your listing for review.

**** Note **** Note ****

This cache is located on the Eglin AFB reservation. Hunters and or wild life may be in this area as well as military personnel conducting maneuvers. It is possible unexploded ordinance could be in the area so be aware of your surroundings.

****Also note due to training and missions other areas may be closed at certain days of the week or times. Please check this site for closures in the area before going after the caches on Eglin Reservation. Before entering the Eglin AFB reservation, you must check the current day's Jackson Guard PDF map at http://jg.eglinforcesupport.com/

A permit granting you legal access to the Eglin AFB Reservation is required to seek and find ANY cache on Eglin AFB Reservation!!! You must have this permit and it must be in your possession. The Jackson Guard will check. For $12 you get an outstanding map and a year-long Recreational Permit. The yearly permits are valid from Oct 1 thru Sept 30 each year. You can get your permit from the "Jackson Guard" either in person or by mail (send a copy of your driver's license).

Address: Eglin AFB Natural Resources Office
107 Hwy 85 North
Niceville, FL 32578
Phone: (850) 882-4164
Coords: N 30° 31.49' W 86° 29.57'
Hrs: Mon-Thu 0700-1630, Fri 0700-1800, Sat 0730-1230, Closed Sunday.