Discussion: Environmental issues and Orienteering

Dear Orienteers,

Last week, several members of Orienteering Cincinnati, and USOF Executive Director Glen Schorr met with officials of Cincinnati Parks Dept to attempt to resolve several issues of concern which resulted from Flying Pig XIII last April. I'd like to thank all who wrote notes thanking the Parks Dept for our use of their Parks.

The good news is that OCIN will be planning one or more fall events in Cincinnati Parks, and although we will be subject to a more lengthy permit process than previously, it looks like the face-to-face meeting did a lot to help both sides understand each other.

Anyway, following the meeting, Glen and the OCIN officers came up with the idea of creating a sort of manual or list of "best practices" which clubs can follow in planning and organizing events. A lot of this information doubtless already exists in various clubs around the world and in IOF's Environmental Committee and their recommendations.

If you have one or more "best practices" which clubs should follow to minimize environmental impacts and maintain good relations with land owners and managers, please share these here or on USOF Clubnet, and we'll see if we can generate a list or manual. I think that Glen will have more to say on this subject soon.

From the matter at the source—clubs/organizers should request a list of out-of-bounds areas from the park in writing/shown on the map, attach it to the permit application, and if none was given, state it so on the application. Also, request the schedule for park facilities, and their access hours and conditions for access; attach to the application.

Orienteering in Western Australia has the following policy, based on IOF and OA policies.

OAWA Environmental Policy

Hope it has some useful ideas.

From experience in Tasmania, the key is to get a managment agreement with the landowner/manager/govt. department whoever. The number one thing is to formulate a management plan much like they have done in Tasmania that syas what you are going to do to minimise the environmental risks to THEIR land. So you have to have controls (not the orange and white kind) that specifically tackle the risks that are important to the person who can say yay or nay to your event. As suitable forest areas become scarce, this is THE number one risk facing traditional bush orienteering.

What may work well in WA (e.g. pit toilets), I suggest would not be approporaite for orienteering in environmentally sensitive areas, e.g. peaty or boggy land, most of Aus is pretty dry, so watercourses are nothing more than blue lines on a map.

The Land Managers will probably have their own plan which you will have to fit into.

As for Orienteering WA, the policy actually gives effect to the move away from pit toilets to what is now normal practice at Bush events here - hiring and towing a portable toilet to most events. WA's Water Corporation is over seeing a vast area of catchment for Perth's drinking water and it's getting less rainfall in a time of population growth. Hence there are quite strict rules on allowable recreation activities, including a complete ban on any recreation (including walking) within 2km upstream of a drinking water dam.

Oh, and this isn't the place to start a discussion of Australian mapping of "watercourses".

USOF's land use policy adopted Aug. 18, 2006.

Mike, you could list numerous items that clubs could do to curry favor with land owners. But as the earlier Pig discussion thread showed, it is us orienteers ourselves that need the education, not the land owners.

And adding one more USOF document to the large pile that is already ignored by most meet directors won't accomplish much. For instance, for the past 20 years I have annually prepared website public transit instructions for attending CAOC meets, and used them myself. But in all that time I have never seen or heard of any orienteer arriving other than by car, and parking...wherever....