Nighthawk700: The Lake Roland series has now been pulled. Thanks to KlawPaws for picking them up for me. My thanks as well as to several others who offered to pick them up for me; everyone wanted to make sure they had a chance before pick before the 15th deadline. I also thank everyone for their awesome logs. I'm glad you all had a chance to enjoy the series. And my apologies to those who were not able to get out in time to do so.
As for what happened: I take the full blame on this one. I was thinking of Lake Roland / Robert E. Lee Park as the same as the other Baltimore County Parks I've had experience with. Well, I forgot two things. 1) The park is actually a hybrid, owned by Baltimore City, operated by Baltimore County. Maybe because of that, or because of other factors, 2) There is a much larger and active ranger contingent active in the park. Shortly after I placed the caches, the head ranger got a hold of me, and asked that the caches be taken out while the park develops their formal geocaching policy. I quote below:
We are working on a geocache policy for the park, until we have one established we will be removing unauthorized caches. Please remove your caches from the park by August 15th. After that date park staff will remove them if they are still present.
This fall we will be working on a policy, so next year if you are interested in placing a cache please send me an email for more information and to get approval.
I appreciate your enthusiasm but we need to monitor and control park activity for the safety of animals, plants, and park visitors.
After the park develops their geocaching policy, I'll take a good look and see if I'll be able to put any of the Lake Roland series back up. If so, I'll work with the rangers and make sure that no animals, plants, or park visitors will be endangered by the placement.
Even if you don't go out to gather any geocaches, I encourage you to visit, and maybe take a paddle out on the lake. It is a beautiful place, and plenty of wildlife to observe!