Permits and Permissions
Advocacy for geocaching in Alaska is one of GeocacheAlaska!’s core functions. Much of the land in Alaska falls under some level of government management. Recreational public lands may be managed by city, borough, state, or federal entities. There are also private lands owned or managed by individuals, businesses, corporations, trusts, and Alaska Native tribal entities. GeocacheAlaska! Inc. works to try and secure specific permits or permission for individual geocachers to place and find geocaches on various public recreational lands.
Some land managers require written permits to be applied for and granted for geocaching activity. When a land use permit is required, it usually comes with specific restrictions and stipulations on its use. GeocacheAlaska! Inc. has obtained and maintains a blanket geocaching permit for Alaska State Parks through the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation.
May 2026 NOTICE of Updated Alaska State Parks Permit!!!
The previous Alaska State Parks permit was effective 2021 through 2025 for specific geocaches within the Alaska State Parks lands under permit number 21-KA-4267. This permit has expired and is no longer valid for any cache placements within Alaska State Parks.
The following is a letter from the GeocacheAlaska! Inc President outlining the updates to the new Alaska State Parks Permit:
GeocacheAlaska! Inc.’s 2026 permit for geocaching within Alaska State Parks
GeocacheAlaska! Inc. applied near the end of 2025 for the annual permit to place geocaches within Alaska State Parks for the year 2026. New permitting processes and requirements and a newly revised assessment of the impact of geocaches on Alaska State Park lands has led to major changes in gaining permission via a permit in order to continue geocaching activities across Alaska State Parks (ASP). Please read all the way to the end to see how GeocacheAlaska! Inc. is proposing to meet ASP requirements so we can continue to geocache across Alaska State Parks.
Geocaches placements are now described as noncompliant use of public lands, because the geocache container is private property being left on public lands. The new Permit details are listed here for your review. I’m going to draw attention to significant changes, and how GeocacheAlaska! Inc (GCAK) plans to help meet the new permit terms. While GCAK has negotiated the permit and paid its expense so we can continue to play our game across Alaska’s State Parks, it remains the responsibility of individual cache owners to conform to the terms of the permit. GCAK is asking cache owners to comply by August 31, 2026, to give time to prepare year-end reports.
There are eleven special stipulations, in addition to the new $1,350 three-year permit fee.
1 – Caches are prohibited in all State Historic Parks (such as Totem Bight and Independence Mine); a full list of such ‘historic’ parks is under development now and will be shared soon.
2 – Geocaches are no longer allowed in any designated campgrounds, meaning existing caches in campgrounds must be archived and removed immediately.
3 – Inside Chugach State Park new size restrictions limit caches to preforms or smaller; anything larger must be removed or replaced with compliant sizes. We suggest archiving large caches now.
4 – There is a new exclusion zone within Chugach State Park’s new Wilderness Zone (shown on an attached small-scale photo), where caches are prohibited (and any existing caches must be archived and removed immediately).
5 – The fifth stipulation reinforces the exclusion of food or scented items from geocaches.
6 – ASP is prohibiting caches from being placed on, in or tied to bear boxes, latrines, cabins or any other park facility or structure. Current caches placed like this must be archived immediately.
7 – This is going to get perhaps the most attention – it requires an annual cache inspection to be documented on the cache log and online by the cache owner – and violation of this provision is grounds for immediate archival at the end of year reporting date if it hasn’t been done.
8 – GCAK is going to be conducting EduVents to train cache owners and users regarding proper caching behavior. The first of these EduVents will occur in mid-June.
9 – This is a desperately critical requirement that limits the number of caches allowed across all state parks to not exceed 500 caches total – meaning more than 550 caches must be archived by year’s end. This is one of our most challenging requirements to achieve.
10 – This reinforces the ammo-can as a maximum cache size (except in the already-stated Chugach State Park zone where preforms or smaller are required).
11 – The eleventh provision requires an end-of-year report from GCAK to ASP.
12 – Item twelve reinforces the need to inform all cache owners of the new provisions, with a target of compliance by the end of August so as to give GeocacheAlaska! Inc time to review compliance.
13 – Item 13 was added by the state to encourage geocachers to become members of GeocacheAlaska! Inc. – the permit holder – in an effort to support permit costs and compliance. However, this item is invalidated by Groundspeak Inc. legal policies which don’t allow regional permit holders to require organization membership to be involved in geocaching on permitted lands.
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How is GeocacheAlaska! Inc. going to attain compliance with the new permit?
The biggest challenge lies in getting cache placement numbers below the 500-cache limit. This will be accomplished in a number of ways – all of which depend on individual cache owners for action. Here’s a list of suggested actions for individual cache owners to help us get under 500:
1) Caches inside Chugach State Park? If they’re inside the Wilderness Zone, they must be archived and removed immediately. All other caches larger than a preform should be archived and removed to help reduce cache numbers and build compliance no later than August 31st (note that downsizing and editing the cache page will affect Challenge and Treasure statistics). Any caches in a designated campground must be archived immediately and removed.
2) Caches placed on ASP facilities and structures must be archived; this in preference to trying to relocate the existing cache placement due the cache quantity limit.
3) Owner maintenance visits must occur and be logged on ASP caches by August 31st. This is a major issue with caches placed in state parks – inspections by park rangers are revealing a very low compliance rate with previous permit requirements to inspect and log owner maintenance on cache placements in ASP. Rangers will be holding individual cache owners accountable for this requirement. It’s suggested that if you own a cache that you have a hard time getting out to for the owner maintenance requirement, archive it!
Let’s keep ourselves accountable for the best effort possible to keep our geocache placements in excellent condition. There is no shame in self-archiving geocache placements which have become too difficult to maintain.
If you own geocaches inside State Parks, this summer must find you getting your caches into compliance with our permit or getting your caches archived.
GeocacheAlaska! Inc. volunteers already have dozens and dozens of hours invested in this project and are expecting to spend hundreds more in follow up and reporting. We’ll be reaching out cache by cache as needed to try and gain compliance with permit requirements. Contact Wes Skinner if you have questions (president@geocachealaska.org) and be watching for EduVents coming soon. Note that our state park rangers are genuinely interested in seeing geocaching happen across Alaska State Parks – but it has to happen in compliance with the permit! Individual cache owners could be subject to fines as high as $350 for noncompliance!
Alaska State Parks has issued this permit with its stipulations in order to make it possible for geocaching to continue to be played across Alaska State Park lands. Please help us continue access for geocaching by helping achieve compliance with the ASP permit provisions!
Wes Skinner, President, GeocacheAlaska! Inc.
The following is the full text of the new Alaska State Parks Permit:
LAS 35694 – Geocache Alaska – Additional Stipulations and Information (Three year permit)
Authorized Areas of Operation
Geocaching operations within the following Alaska State Park Regions:
- Mat-Su
- Chugach State Park
- Northern Area
- Juneau/Southeast
- Kenai/Valdez
Fees
- $100 non-refundable application fee
- $250 incompatible use fee per region
- ($250 × 5 regions = $1,250)
- Total = $1350
Permit Term – January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2029
A three-year permit is being issued due to the number of operational and compliance changes required, as outlined in the Special Stipulations below. An end-of-season report documenting progress toward compliance will be required by December 31, 2026, and will be used to inform future permit issuance. This end-of-season report is required annually.
Special Stipulations
- State Historic Parks
Caches are prohibited in all State Historic Parks (including, but not limited to, Totem Bight State Historical Park, Independence Mine State Historical Park, and Big Delta State Historical Park). Any caches located within a State Historic Park must be removed no later than December 31, 2026.
Alaska State Park boundaries can be viewed using the Alaska Mapper system:
https://mapper.dnr.alaska.gov/map
Instructions for using Alaska Mapper are available here:
https://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/permit/akmapperinstructions.pdf
- Designated Campgrounds
Caches are prohibited in all designated Alaska State Park campgrounds. Any caches located within a designated campground must be removed no later than December 31, 2026.
- Chugach State Park – Cache Size Restrictions
Within Chugach State Park, only micro-sized caches (e.g., film canisters, bison tubes, preforms, or similar) are permitted. The permittee shall notify cache owners and ensure that any caches exceeding this size are removed or replaced with compliant micro-sized caches during the 2026 permit term.
- Chugach State Park – Wilderness Zone
Caches are not permitted within the Wilderness Zone of Chugach State Park. The permittee shall notify cache owners and ensure that any caches located within the Wilderness Zone are removed no later than December 31, 2026.
- Food and Scented Items
Food items, scented items, or items that may attract wildlife are prohibited from being placed in caches due to the potential to attract wildlife. Any container that has previously been used to store food is prohibited from being used as a cache.
- Placement on Facilities and Structures
Caches are prohibited from being placed in, on, or tied to bear boxes, latrines, cabins, trees, picnic tables, or any other park facility or structure. Caches found in these locations may be removed and disposed of by Alaska State Parks staff.
- Annual Cache Inspection
All caches must be inspected annually by the cache owner to ensure they remain intact and free of litter. Caches that are damaged, deteriorated, or no longer intact must be removed.
- Education and Resource Protection
The permittee (GeocacheAlaska! Inc.) shall provide clear education to cache owners and users regarding proper cache placement, including requirements to avoid the creation of side or social trails and to minimize impacts to park resources. The permittee is responsible for all caches placed under this permit and shall ensure each cache location and placement method comply with all permit conditions and park rules. The permittee shall provide clear education to cache owners, and the permittee shall monitor cache locations as needed to prevent resource impacts and shall promptly relocate or remove any cache that results in, contributes to, or is reasonably likely to cause side/social trail formation or other resource damage.
- Cache Quantity Limit
Caches are limited to a maximum of 500 total caches across all Alaska State Parks. This limit is intended to ensure manageability, resource protection, and consistency across State Park units.
- Cache Size and Marking (General)
Unless otherwise specified above, caches are limited to the size of an ammunition can or smaller. Caches shall be marked in permanent marker on log and/or container as: “AK State Parks Permit / GeocacheAlaska”. No permit number is required.
- End of Season Report
An end-of-season report from GeocacheAlaska! Inc. is due no later than December 31, 2026.
The report must include the following:
a. A summary of which stipulations (1–10) were successfully addressed during the 2026 permit term.
b. Identification of any stipulations that were not fully addressed, including an explanation of remaining issues and a plan for achieving compliance during a subsequent permit term.
Download a PDF copy of the permit here.
Additional Requests for Cache Owners with Alaska State Parks Caches:
If you intend to archive your cache by August, but are leaving it in place until you can make a trip to the cache site to retrieve it, please post a Note to your cache page stating that you will be archiving your cache and what your anticipated timeline is. Please do NOT use the “owner maintenance” log type if you intend to archive your cache! This request comes from Greatland Reviewer, who is handling the Groundspeak Reviewer workload for all of the caches currently in the parks. He has nearly 1,100 caches that he has to track through this process, so let’s try to keep things easy on him.
Second, please do NOT archive your cache and leave the container in place! The Chugach Park Rangers are actively inspecting physical cache placements and will continue to do so throughout the summer. If they find an archived cache container is still in place, they may issue a citation with a fine of up to $350 for littering. There is a digital ownership chain for every cache placement. Archival does not delete that information. Please plan to go get your cache or if you are not physically able to go get your cache, please reach out to the GeocacheAlaska! Board of Directors so that we can try to help you out. We have several geocachers who are willing to go pick up containers if the owner gives them permission to do so.
Finally, if your cache is already in compliance with the permit terms for location and size, and you intend to leave it in place under the new permit, you still need to physically visit the cache by the end of August 2026. You must permanently mark the cache container or the log with “AK State Parks Permit / GeocacheAlaska” and write in the log that the Owner visited the cache for maintenance. AFTER you complete this physical visit, you must log on the cache listing an “Owner Maintenance” log stating that you visited the cache and verified it’s status and that it is in compliance with the 2026 Permit stipulations. Please do NOT enter any “Owner Maintenance” logs prior to making the physical visit, but you are encouraged to enter a standard “Note” log stating that you will be visiting the cache and intend to keep it in play.
This ZIP file contains the a full set of GPX shape files for most of the Alaska State Parks parcels. This does not include the new Chugach exclusion zones.
Additional Permissions for other areas of Alaska
Many areas, such as some city parks, public forests, and DNR lands allow geocaching activity by default. Other areas strictly prohibit geocaching activity. An up-to-date listing of permits, blanket permissions, restrictions, land boundaries and map files is maintained by GreatLand Reviewer on the regional Alaska geocaching Wiki at the following address.
https://wiki.groundspeak.com/display/GEO/Alaska