National Parks
Geocaching is not permitted in protected areas managed by the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service. Discover what is allowed in National Parks, how you can avoid stumbling into 'no-go zones' and keep up-to-date with news regarding the policy.
Geocaching NSW has recently obtained the latest Estate Data from the DECC for all lands controlled by them. It has been converted into a compatible KML for Google Earth. As geocaching in any form is not allowed in National Parks and other lands under the DECC's control, it makes it invaluable when plotting where you may be going to place a cache.The following is from the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change website.
Geocaching is not permitted in protected areas managed by the NPWS.
As an activity organised from the internet, geocaching events have indefinite time frames and undefined numbers of participants, rendering management of the activity ineffective.
While it is recognised that geocaching shares some common attributes with orienteering and rogaining, there is also an insufficient nexus between geocaching as a recreational activity and the conservation purpose for which NPWS protected areas are reserved or dedicated.
A full copy of the policy is available at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/policies/orienteeringpolicy.htm
Geocaching NSW recently began negotiations with NSW Parks and Wildlife Service regarding the current ban of geocaching on their managed land.
Since our initial meeting in January 2009, there have been some developments.
The good news is that the Executive Director of NPWS has agreed to a review of the geocaching policy, which may result in some changes.
NPWS have informed us that the next step will be a meeting of the Policy Reference Group, who are responsible for any changes to NPWS policy. The timing of this is yet to be determined, but is expected to occur in the next month.
At this stage, NPWS are unable to provide any indication of what possible restrictions (i.e. form of regulation) might be imposed if the ban is to be reversed, but will keep us informed.
NSW National Parks have just this month released their updated boundry data that shows all areas in NSW that are managed by National Parks.
We have converted the new data into a Google Earth compatible KML file for your convenience. You can download that file here.
On Thursday 12 November 2009 members of the Geocaching NSW committee met up with representatives from the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) policy unit to conduct an onsite visit of geocaches in the Sydney region.
The purpose of the visit was for NPWS to gather information that they could use to answer questions and concerns raised from within the service regarding geocaching. It was also an opportunity for Geocaching NSW to raise questions regarding the use of National Parks and other matters relating to the environment.