Guidelines for Placing a Geocache in City of Ann Arbor Natural Areas
- To place a cache in any City of Ann Arbor Park or Nature Area a person must first obtain a permit. These can be obtained, at no cost, from the Natural Area Preservation (NAP) office by mail, fax, email, or in person.
- Containers must be transparent. Do not use ammo boxes, PVC pipes or other containers that might cause alarm. The cache must contain the permit and information on Geocaching in case any non-participant finds the cache.
- Offensive, illegal, or dangerous items are not allowed in any cache.
- When placing a cache do not disturb the surrounding environment in any way. This includes digging holes, cutting vegetation, or attaching the cache to live trees.
- Place the cache in a safe area. Think about the safety of people who will be looking for your cache and use common sense.
- A cache must be located at least 200 feet from a “preserve” area. Preserves are indicated on aerial maps that will be given to people who apply to place a cache. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the NAP staff.
- Place the cache so people can use the established trails as much as possible.
- When hunting for or hiding a cache you must abide by City of Ann Arbor Park hours and regulations.
- After one year the cache should either be removed or relocated at least 500 ft. away. This should be done in coordination with the NAP staff.
Please be aware that if a large number of caches are placed NAP may have to put limits on the number of caches allowed in each park.
The City reserves the right to remove any cache that is in an inappropriate location, causing undo impacts on the ecosystem, or deemed unsafe.
These guidelines were written to protect the well-being of our natural areas, the safety of all park users, and allow for the future use of the Ann Arbor park system for geocachers.
Geocaching Permit Application (pdf)
