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Town of Barnstable
Geocaching Guidelines
13 March 2024 SECOND DRAFT
The town reserves the right to place reasonable restrictions on the time, manner, or place in
which an activity on Town property is conducted. These guidelines are the result of instances
where individuals left private property on town property under the general uses related to
Geocaching. These are frequently unauthorized uses on Town property that could pose a threat to
natural resources, wetland and habitat protection, cultural resources, public safety, and property
damage. For these reasons, the Town of Barnstable has implemented the following guidelines
around geocaching on town property.
• To place geocaches on town property, individuals must obtain permission from the town
office responsible for managing the land upon which the geocache is to be located. The
latitude and longitude of approved geocaches should be emailed to the town office that
oversees the parcel.
• Geocache locations are prohibited within 100’ of a wetland resource area.
• Geocache placement cannot create a new path (intended or not).
• Geocachers shall not be placed more than 5 feet away from or off of existing, legal trails
or developed areas on town property. Developed areas may include conservation areas,
recreation fields, beaches, etc.…
• There shall be no cutting of vegetation (trees, shrubs, groundcover) and no moving dirt.
• Geocaches shall be a minimum of 50’ from private property.
• The movement of already downed leaves, twigs, bark, and other vegetation is allowed.
The Town of Barnstable prohibits the movement of rocks to make a cairn, removing bark
from a tree to use as camouflage, and/or relocating a living plant. Excavating soils,
cutting vegetation, moving or removing natural objects (including: living plants, animals,
minerals, fungi) or archeological artifacts or features is prohibited. Human-made objects
of non-archeological significance (e.g. a plastic water bottle) are considered trash and
may be removed without prior notice to (or permission from) the Town of Barnstable.
• Geocache locations must be accessible from a safe and legal parking location whether
that is along a public street or within a public parking area. If not readily evident, cache
owners should include recommended parking directions on their cache page.
• The intent of these and other guidelines is to protect the Town’s natural and cultural
resources. Trails are a disturbance in natural ecosystems. Any additional disturbance by
going off the trail can increase the dispersal of invasive plants, cause damage to
underlying vegetation and wetlands, and disturb wildlife. For the protection of natural
and cultural resources, the Town does not authorize people to go off trail. Established
trails within the areas are usually sited far enough away from sensitive resources in order
to protect them. Behavior of going off the trails encourages users to go into these
sensitive resource areas.
• Geocaches shall not be attached to any living or non-living natural resources in such a
way that there is any possible damage to the resource. Loosely attached containers that do
not restrict growth or cause damage to the resource may be used. Any attachments such
as string, twine, wire, or tie wraps that clinch tightly to the resource are prohibited.
• Geocaches shall not be attached to any human-made town amenities in such a manner as
to damage the object or to impede its proper usage, physical placement, or attachment of
caches to any buildings, sheds, regulatory signs, or informational signs is prohibited.
• Geocachers must abide by all Town of Barnstable rules, regulations, and other
restrictions.
• Caches shall only be placed in safe locations not unduly causing patron risk.
• Geocachers must strive to cause no damage to the ground or vegetation that may result
from cache searchers accessing the location. If damage is noted, the geocacher must
contact the Town of Barnstable’s Conservation division for further information.
• The geocacher assumes some risk in undertaking their activity. The Town of Barnstable is
in no way responsible for any damage to or loss of caches of equipment that is caused by
others. The Town reserves the right to have cache owners or Town of Barnstable staff
remove any non-compliant caches. The Town will remove and dispose of all
unauthorized caches if unable to contact the owner of the cache to remove it themselves.
• Caches placed on Town of Barnstable land without written permission prior to March
2024 are subject to review and may be removed if they are found to be non-compliant
with the Town of Barnstable guidelines.
• The prior statement notwithstanding, the Town reserves the right to remove any
geocaches from its lands at any time for any reason, without notice. Permission granted
can be revoked at any time by the Town.
Town of Barnstable
Geocaching Staff Contacts for Permission
Ed Hoopes
Conservation Agent
Email: edwin.hoopes@town.barnstable.ma.us
John Gleason
Recreation Director
Email: john.gleason@town.barnstable.ma.us
Grayce Rogers
Property Manager
Email: grayce.rogers@town.barnstable.ma.us
List of Town Properties for Geocaching
Conservation Areas
Recreation Areas
Other Town Property