I just got the following message you should all be aware of:

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Dear Friends -

We in TN State Parks have a strict policy concerning off-trail land use - including both letterboxing and geocaching. I recently contacted the folks at letterboxing.com, and wished to share this information with you as well. If anyone wishes to place a letterbox in any state park, they must first follow the proper permit procedure. Otherwise, we will have to remove the letterbox from the park.

One user has recently placed two unauthorized boxes....Please remove these from your files. They have already been removed from the letterboxing.com site.

I have already contacted the owner of the boxes, and informed him/her of the need to follow proper permit procedure.

Thank you for your time and attention

So it looks like the state parks there in Tennessee are after you as well besides the Nashville letterboxing police. Sorry about that. As for the proper permit procedure--he hasn't given me any information about that. If anyone knows it, could you share it with the rest of the letterboxers in your state? =)

-- Ryan

This is such bad timing as we have plans to have a kid-free letterboxing weekend in TN in November. I'm so sad.

Amyrica

Sounds like a job for... Captain Mystery Clue and his sexy sidekick, WOMan!!

;-P

Do you know who the user is that the gentleman speaks of? ::is it me?::

Moon Seeker, who hopes she can get to the pitifully few she planted before they are uprooted...

I'm betting he's talking about the Redwalls. Did those ever get pulled when the note got sent to SWP a few months ago? I never did go find them. Just like yours Moon Seeker.

DS, did you get all your Dude's Duds?

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Do you know who the user is that the gentleman speaks of? ::is it me?::

No, it's not you. =) But he says he contacted the person whose boxes he pulled, so the person ought to know about it. I just figured the rest of you should be aware of the permit system for the state parks there.

-- Ryan

I'm still attempting to decipher their rules. Thanks for keeping us up to date, GT. You sure stay on top of a lot of things all at the same time...
Moon Seeker

Hey guys. Yes, the bulk of the Redwalls did get pulled. I was with She Who Plants the day she pulled what wasn't missing of them.

No, I have not been contacted. *sigh* I have never planted in a National park - I knew better - that they were off limits. The only one at risk there is DS.

I have never planted in a state park. She Who Plants has planted many in state parks though, so if you have not found those in Cedars of Lebanon, Longhunter, the Bicentinnial Mall (i.e. the parthanon), or Montgomery Bell GO NOW. Radnor Lake has all been pulled. Also in danger down the I-40 corridor are Burgess Falls and Cumberland Mountain. Chattanooga looks pretty safe. I don't think any are planted on state parks there.

As for my metro area boxes, Moon will be pulling them. I am switching over ownership of all of them to her. She graciously offered to replant them somewhere outside of Davidson County. If you are curious, here is the Davidson County park list (which includes metro Nashville parks) http://www.nashville.gov/parks/parks.htm

Yes, this is sad news indeed. Where is there left to plant? They have taken almost all parks and greenways from the Nashville area. Time to figure out those permits, or just start boxing somewhere else.

Liz

Perhaps it was the 4 Little Piggies that got contacted? I'm going to have to send out a bunch of emails to get status checks before I head that way. GRRRRRR.

Amyrica

We haven't been contacted about our 2 SP boxes, but neither has been logged as found either. I doubt it is them, though. If it is them, they are 2 hours away. The remainder of ours are local parks.

P. Banks

Oh goodie! Yours are on my list to find in November. They'll definitely have visitors if they're still there.

A

I have been off line for a while. What is going on?? Is Tenn. stopping our fun and for what reason?

I went there on vacation over the summer and went looking for 13 letter boxes. Two were missing and one I never was able to travel in that direction to even find. I even laced some hitchikers in some of those letterboxes in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.

Can you please email me at tincher5@earthlink.net and let me know what is going on and if you happen to have found any of my hitchikers?

Thanks.

I'm thinking more mystery boxes and more obscure clues may be in order too. I wrote to one place to ask about their permit requests, and haven't heard a word (but I asked about permits for GCs because I didn't want to mention letterboxes and cause them to research them and pull more boxes!). I was wondering about areas that are managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Does anybody know how strict they are?

P. Banks

First Nashville posted that they were going to be removing all unpermitted letterboxes from their park system, and now the state parks are apparently sounding a similar alarm.

You can create mystery boxes and all that, but if you want your boxes to live long and prosper, I'd still suggest only planting boxes where they're actually allowed. The Nashville authorities seem pretty strict about limiting the number of boxes, and I e-mailed the TN state parks asking about their permit system. It might be a rather painless experience--I don't know. But I'll let you know if and when I hear anything about it. =)

I can't imagine there's not plenty of other places to plant boxes, though. National forests? County parks? My hometown of San Luis Obispo used to have what seemed like a couple of dozen boxes hidden all over the downtown area. (Most have since gone missing, but some keep ticking after being there for several years now.) Trying to plant boxes illegally is going to ruffle their feathers even more if they find out about it.

-- Ryan

I know, I know... frustration more than plans speaking.

It was me! I recieved a relatively polite email requesting that I remove the boxes within 16 days. I guess I have about 9 days left. I live some distance away and probably won't make it down there to retrieve them. If any locals in the Kingsport area want to retrieve them and replant or salvage the components please contact me.

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If any locals in the Kingsport area want to retrieve them and replant or salvage the components please contact me.

I don't live in that area but it is only about and hour 30 minutes from me...
I am wondering how far LiLY is from there...
anyone heard from here or Penguin Patrol lately???

Don't worry. I'm still here. Just up in Ohio now. Moon Seeker has adopted my boxes and will be pulling what needs to be pulled accordingly. Not sure about Lily. You could send her an AQ mail.

I think though Dixie, that if you are only 30 minutes away, you would probably be the best candidate to pull them. Maybe there is somewhere else in the same city that they can be replanted at?

Good luck either way!

Liz

oh...sorry, it's 1 hour and 30 minutes from there...

I'm 2 hours away and have no time this month. I'm booked solid.....hence the reason why Knoxville isn't getting any more boxes yet.

How sad. I'm relatively new to lb's but every sp and np I've visited has received a donation from us.

To be fair, hiding in National Parks is NOT the same as hiding in state or local parks.

NPS locations are essentially 'heritage' sites and there are federal laws saying nothing can be added or removed so no matter how nice and friendly you are to TPTB, it is technically beyond their authority to "allow" boxing, caching, hunting, rock collecting, leaf pressing, whatever. You can't take or leave ANYTHING. Their rules have nothing to do specifically with boxing or caching or social trails. Even if you hid the box in the park headquarters, magnetically attached to a vending machine, it doesn't matter.

State and local parks make their own rules and can change them at will so working with them is possible but this thread seems to have started with various entities in TN suddenly, and in rapid succession, implementing rules and policies specifically against both hobbies. Work with them, help them understand, place boxes in "approved" locations within state parks, encourage the hobby. The issue here (to me at least) seem to be that it is tough to be "within the rules" when the rules are new.

First of all, I support the state parks in their endeavor to ensure trails are plain in sight for all hikers. There ARE ways to "mask" a hide if someone feels compelled to hide in a state park but there are PLENTY of places to hide, honestly, that aren't in state parks...although they ARE ideal.

As far as the national park - that's an unwritten LBing rule. You just don't plant in the state parks. It's a respect thing, IMO.

I'm new to letterboxing but am familiar with the State Park's permit process. not sure if this is still relevant to boxers here in TN, but if it is I'd be happy to post more details.

Welcome to TN Letterboxing Fugads !!!
You really reached back in the past for that message string. :)

It was me! I recieved a relatively polite email requesting that I remove the boxes within 16 days. I guess I have about 9 days left. I live some distance away and probably won't make it down there to retrieve them.

If I were in that situation, I think I might just put a big restriction on the boxes and hope that the disappearing listing satisfies inquiring minds.

Also, why doesn't anyone challenge this policy? When the Connecticut DEEP came out with a new policy that would require all letterboxes to have annual permits in state parks, I wrote to the DEEP Commissioner and explained how I had taken my daughter to all sorts of state parks solely because we enjoyed letterboxing, and that without letterboxing we would not visit these parks. I also argued that the handling of all this permitting paperwork was not a good use of the DEEP's time when they have so many budget issues. I had a thoughtful reply from the Commissioner and the policy was pulled :). These policies I think are usually pushed by one or more managers who just get into a complete control-freak mode. Most park managers really don't have a problem with letterboxes (speaking as a park manager myself).