Thank you for asking permission to place a geocache in a Tulsa Parks facility!
Procedure:
We ask that you choose a location and let the appropriate contact person (see below) know the proposed site before you place your cache. Your site will probably work out just fine, but we might be able to advise you of potential problems you might want to solve before you set up your cache. We'll also let you know if your cache site is not on the park's property; it's hard to maintain good relations with our neighbors if a park-approved activity has spread over onto their properties.
We appreciate the "cache in, trash out" motto of geocachers, and we'll take all the help we can get! Please let us know if you find vandalism or graffiti or the kind of trash that needs to have the police come look at it. Getting families and good citizens to use an area often reduces all of those problems, which is one reason we'd like to encourage geocaching in our parks.
With that in mind, we ask that you post information about park curfews on the cache description. Also, most parks allow pets on leashes, but Oxley Nature Center and Redbud Valley Nature Preserve do not allow pets at all. It is very tempting to break the rules "just this once" if you didn't know the park's restrictions when you chose to hunt that cache.
The people to contact for permission are as follows:
Donna Horton: donnahorton@ci.tulsa.ok.us - Please bear with her if she doesn’t respond right away. Donna is a busy person like the rest of us (in fact she may be busy geocaching).
Tulsa Parks Website: http://www.cityoftulsa.org/Parks/
The Broken Arrow Parks Department
director, Scott Esmond, said people could call him if they would like to place
caches in their parks. The number for
the Broken Arrow Parks Department is 259-8380.
Website: http://www.brokenarrowok.gov/our-citizens/quality_life/parks.htm
Tulsa River Parks: Jennifer Edwards
will act as the contact person for geocaching in the River Parks properties.
Here is her contact info:
Jennifer Edwards, Manager of Public Affairs, River Parks Authority
717 South Houston Suite 510
Tulsa OK 74127
(918)596-2008 fax 596-2004
jedwards@riverparks.org
www.riverparks.org
Website: http://www.cityoftulsa.org/Public+Works
Places like Lake Yahola and Lynn Lane Reservoir fall under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department. They may be a little nervous at having something placed near our drinking water supplies, but you might start with the number for the Water Treatment Plants (596-9848) to find out who to talk with. Some areas are open to the public; other areas are not.
Public Works also has a number listed for cemeteries: 591-4325. It rings to
an office for Surface Drainage and Vegetation. This might be a good place to
start for some of the small, old cemeteries around town (good places to set a
virtual cache with a history theme.)
New Information for Tulsa County as of 4/1/2004. Thanks bloodhoundgrl for your work on this new policy!
I received your request to allow Geocaching in County Parks. I understand you have visited with both Linda Taylor, ph# 591-6008, e-mail obrienrec@tulsacounty.org, and Rueben Boxley 591-6004, e-mail rboxley@tulsacounty.org, from O'Brien Park about placing a cache there. They indicate that they agreeable to your request. The other County Parks where you could also place a Cache are Haikey Creek, Chandler & LaFortune. Please coordinate all your request and locations with the following County Park staff. The main contact will be eLiz Hollis, ph# 596-5977, e-mail eliz@tulsacounty.org. Since you have already made contact with Linda and Rueben at O'Brien they should be ready to assist you. At Haikey Creek please contact Daryl Maxville, ph# 369-5998, e-mail dmaxville@tulsacounty.org, at Chandler please contact Pat Standingbear, ph# 591-6052, e-mail pstandingbear@tulsacounty.org, or Pat Ward ph# 5916052,e-mail Chandlerrec@tulsacounty.org. At LaFortune Park please contact Danny Hesterlee, ph# 596-8632, e-mail dhesterlee@tulsacounty.org, or Cherrie Lewallen, ph# 596-86-20, e-mail lafortunerec@tulsacounty.org. Please work with these site staff on the exact placement of any and all caches in County Parks. I am sending them a copy of the written correspondence you sent to me on March 22, 2004.
As for the policy or procedure for installing a Cache in a County Park, I recommend we simply adopt the procedure provided to you by the City of Tulsa Parks Department.
Sincerely,
Richard Bales, Director Tulsa County Parks