INTERNAL USE ONLY

Park Additions and Edits

Original author: AB0O

The parks in the Park List are maintained by designated representatives for each state/country. If you would like to request a park be added or edited, please refer to the Mapping Representatives list, and contact the individual listed for the state/country where the park is located. In that list, click on their call sign, and you will be taken to their QRZ page. There, you will find their email address, and you may email them directly.

Table of Contents

POTA Mapping Knowledge Bank– Administrative details and practices

POTA Mapping Knowledge Bank– Administrative details and practices

The Basics…three park qualification rules for POTA (from the POTA website)…

All new parks must be owned and operated by the two (2) highest tiers of government in the Country/Entity. If there is only one(1) tier of government, then only one set of parks is admissible. If ALL parks in the tier(s) of government use formal relationships with third parties to manage their parks, then those parks are admissible. The existence of owned and operated parks excludes/disqualifies all other third party relationship parks in that tier of government.
All parks with existing web-presence such as a formal government website including a boundary map SHALL be included in the park’s POTA info page. ONLY in the case of parks that are in Countries and government tiers with less web presence, a civil agency or GIS map can be used, or a local URL that describes the park can be used.
POTA does not create sub-parks within existing parks if both parks are part of the same government tier or agency.

While the three(3) criteria for qualifying parks for POTA inclusion are simple, there are several administrative practices that are used by Mapping Reps in order to address specific issues, questions, and one-off situations.
Those practices have been used for several years in order to maintain consistency, continuity, and allow as many parks as possible to be in the database.
These practices also form the backbone of correct responses to various park-related “what-if” activator questions, so they are also included here.

These should be shared widely within the Mapping Representative community, and they can also be published on the POTA website.
If these “knowledge bits” are lost or forgotten, then they will have to be re-learned or re-invented, which could be problematic for program continuity.
If it becomes necessary to modify or change them, then we have some history behind the practices.

Park Status Changes.

Deactivating a Park

Deactivating a park simply prevents new logs to be uploaded to it, and removes its listing and yellow marker pin from the website and map. However, all historical QSO data associated with that park remains, as do the ties to awards and any other activator or hunter statistics.

Re-activating a park

If re-activating a park is deemed appropriate, the deactivated park’s info page can be seen by going to any park info page and editing the browser URL window string to the deactivated park’s reference number and press Enter/Return. The deactivated park info page will appear and can be edited or reactivated as required.

Parks surrounded by private property

Since 2022, the POTA Admin has decided that any such parks will be deactivated. POTA does not wish to oblige activators to ask permission to cross private property. Such park “private surround” situations can evolve from urban expansion and other reasons, so please advise your Mapping Rep if you know of such a park.

Agency lakes surrounded by city/county/private property

There are several instances in NA of park agency-owned and operated lakes that are inside a city/county/private park or property. In such instances, POTA deems that access to the lake or to a portion of shoreline that is within park boundaries can be logistically complicated and administratively challenging. Accordingly, POTA has side-stepped such lakes…and does NOT add them to the database.

Park agency changes

When a National or State/Provincial Park gets donated, deeded or otherwise “demoted” to County, City, or Private status, POTA does not deactivate it…as long as the new owner/operators still welcome public access.

Temporary park closures

POTA does NOT deactivate parks for temporary or seasonal reasons. It would be impossible to review/scan 18,000 park websites on a daily basis to deactivate or re-activate parks for temporary or seasonal events. The activator is responsible for researching the park in REAL TIME, and deciding if it can be activated within their capabilities, skills and resources.

Permanent park Deactivations

POTA parks are deactivated if the agency declares that public access is permanently prohibited, or if the park is permanently closed, wiped off the map, bulldozed, re-developed, etc.

Park Qualification

Obligation to add parks to the database

There is NO obligation, explicit or implied, for POTA to add new parks or attempt to “add all possible/eligible parks”. The POTA Map Reps have the ability to add parks, but they do so in response to courteous requests and according to their personal initiative. They are NOT tasked to “seek and list” all parks, or to list as many parks as they can find, or to conduct exhaustive searches for parks.

National “Historic” properties

National Historic Places and Landmarks are very very often private property, or even private residences…so they would not qualify for POTA. Most of them are located within National or State parks, so, if they are accessible to the public, they should be activated under the “big” Park’s reference number. (Not to be confused with National or State Historic Sites, which are most often stand-alone parks.)

National “Heritage” areas

The National Heritage Areas or Regions are usually a collection of historically significant places that are owned and managed by private or non-profit groups…so they do not qualify for POTA. These areas can span 1000’s of square miles, in some cases, and include 100’s of privately-owned-managed tourist sites.

US Army Corps of Engineer sites(US)

POTA has considered the ACOE sites for years, and in 2019, decided to directly contact the Dept of the Army (ACOE Land Management) in DC to get exact details. There are several thousand recreation sites at the more than 300 COE project sites across the US, and while they are all 100% owned by the ACOE, the vast majority of them are managed by partnerships with local governments, special interest groups, and private concessioners…and therefore not POTA-eligible. These partnerships are sophisticated and not always part of the “storefront”, so a lot of time and effort is required to establish POTA eligibility. Given the large number of sites and very low qualification likelihood, POTA has decided to side-step the ACOE sites. There are a very small number of ACOE sites already in POTA, but these may have been included prior to 2019, or since, if they have been confirmed to be exceptionally eligible.

Tennessee Valley Authority sites(US)

Similarly to the ACOE sites, the TVA sites may be arguably Federally owned, but they use a wide variety of management and funding programs to run recreational sites at their project sites. They are a bit more explicit about who runs their sites than the ACOE might be, but it may still be time-consuming to research and determine POTA eligibility. Some TVA sites are explicitly managed by a State wildlife agency, which is fine.

Properties owned by “State/Provincial Schools”

Many universities that are part of the National/State/Provincial network of schools have attractive forests or other experimental agricultural sites that invite public access. However, these Schools are not State agencies, and typically rely on additional private funds, donations, endowments, etc., to operate…so they are rarely 100% government-owned, and almost never 100% Government-funded/operated…so they are rarely eligible for POTA.

Limiting to National/State/Provincial properties/parks

Per the three(3) rules, POTA has chosen the National/State/Provincial criteria in order to limit the number of parks to something that matches available resources and volunteer time. It works. If POTA were to include County, City, partnership, and private parks, it would easily triple (or more) the number of eligible parks and overwhelm POTA volunteers and IT resources.

Sub-parks within bigger parks of same agency

POTA doesn’t create “parks within parks” under the same agency. The most common example are the USFS Campgrounds within the USFS National Forests. Since both are under the same agency (USFS), then we don’t give each campground a reference number…they are all activated under the bigger National Forest’s reference number. There are other examples of this…National Monuments/Landmarks inside National Parks…Natural Areas within State/Provincial Parks…etc. Yes, you may find some “rogue” references tucked away in a back corner, but they shouldn’t have been created. As a general rule, always create the “biggest” park…forest, wilderness, grassland, etc…so any/all smaller recreational sites inside them will be activated under the big park’s POTA reference number. Note: if the “biggest” park hasn’t yet been created, then simply rename/reassign the smaller reference number to the biggest park on that site.

Un-bundling parks

We have encountered a few instances of larger parks/forests/areas that previously contained “sub-sites”, rec sites, campgrounds, etc. In some cases, the “big” park was deleted or modified, and each of the previous sub-parks have been given full park status with websites, boundaries, etc. Map reps can choose to “unbundle” the big park and create a number of smaller parks…BUT, the former “big” park should either go away, or it should be reduced in size to prevent any resulting “2-fers” with any of the new parks. Activators having credit for the former “big” park can get credit for ONLY ONE of the new parks…if they previously activated from that SPECIFIC location.

Trails, Trails, and more Trails(US)

Several USFS National Forests will have “recreational trails” that per the “sub-park” POTA rule…be activated as part of the over-arching National Forest. In the case of USFS Recreational Trails, there are instances that exit the National Forest, or cross State lines, or that join or are part of other National or State Trail systems. Because of this “multi-location” situation, POTA allows these particular USFS Recreational Trails. The same consideration might be applied to State Trails that have the same multi-location features outside of their “trailhead State Park”.

National Recreational Trails

The National Park Service “recognizes” the network of National Recreational Trails, but the NRT are almost always sponsored by non-profits, 3^rd parties, special interests, or tourist organizations and therefore do not qualify for POTA

“Commercial trails” and commercial historic tourism routes

Several States and some Provinces/Countries have business promotion departments or agencies that “designate” certain routes that link a variety of private/commercial/touristic historical sites for the expressed purpose of promoting economic development. These routes are typically “virtual” with no official markers. Since they are primarily intended for private or commercial purposes, and many/most of the sites they link are commercial or privately-owned, POTA does not include them.

Split-tract parks

There are several National/State/Provincial parks…typically prairie/grasslands and forests, that are comprised of multiple smaller tracts, often separated by miles/km. ALL the tracts of a given unit are activated under the same/single reference number of that park unit.

Different park rules for different Countries?

US-centric POTA rules may not apply in all other Countries. Other Countries may not have National or State governments, or may manage ALL their parks with different financial and/or administrative procedures. It may also be true that not all Map Reps in other countries had the benefit of coaching and training on POTA mapping practices and mapping rules as was the case in the US since 2016…or, their training/coaching was specific to their Country. How POTA park rules are applied in other Countries is a POTA Leadership policy issue, not a Mapping Rep Volunteer issue.

Existing non-compliant parks

As POTA improves quality and rigor during expansion, some legacy non-compliant parks will be corrected/deactivated and others will simply be deemed to be “water under the bridge” because the effort to correct is simply too significant. They may eventually be addressed over time. Some of these non-compliant parks include parks that don’t exist, duplicates, or that were never intended for recreation, or that were simply not eligible under POTA rules at the time they were added…

Canadian Provincial Parks funding (VE)

We have discovered that some (not all) Canadian Provincial Park agencies have entered into operating partnership agreements with local County or City governments for park operations, management, and maintenance. In the end, the County/City is made whole by the Province through other administrative/accounting channels, and the partnership is beneficial for both parties. Under US POTA rules, such partnerships might disqualify the parks…but to remove ALL major Canadian Provincial parks for this reason would not be reasonable.

NPOTA legacy parks

The Wild and Scenic Rivers, for example, while not entirely National/State operated, were originally in NPOTA, along with a limited number of other such “special” parks…and they were imported to POTA in the first group of parks. Since they are a NPOTA legacy park, they have been kept, and a few more Wild/Scenic Rivers have been added in recent years on that “honored” legacy basis. There are a very limited number of these legacy parks. We will not create any more legacy types.

“Compelling reasons” park requests

While POTA has been asked to include some very compelling sites, the POTA Admin has consistently adhered to the POTA park rules. Saying “no” to any proposed park is not a statement of the merits of a park…it is simply a matter of balancing resources and workload so that the POTA program can be sustained/maintained.

POTA park ease of access

If the National or State/Provincial agency says that a park is open to the public, then it is eligible for POTA. Park ease of access is a park agency design choice, and ALL park patrons are faced with the same access challenges…not just POTA people.
It would be impossible for POTA to set an “easy” threshold for parks, because that would mean something very different for different people.
Requests that a park be deactivated because it isn’t a “drive-up” isn’t fair to other activators who enjoy a hike or boat ride, or some form of wilderness challenge while activating. That’s the general idea/attraction of parks…wilderness…which often means trees, water, thick bushes, critters, bugs, rocks, muddy parking lots, and poor roads.

“Poser parks”

There is no civic rule that prevents cities/towns from calling their local park a “state/provincial park” or even a “national park”. There are many of these, and there are dozens of tourist “click-bait” websites that promote these parks. Map Reps must detect the true National/Provincial parks in spite of this web presence. There is nothing wrong with local pride in a park, but such parks are not usually eligible for POTA.

Tourist or commercial park websites

POTA only uses true government websites for park information. However, there are a number of 3^rd party websites that are “tourist click-bait” websites (example; “Stateparks.com”) that carry park information that is frequently inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated. POTA avoids using these 3^rd party websites.

Really small parks

There is no rule about park size…BUT…some parks are so tiny that the amount of potential activating space competes with the primary use space. We want to be good park patrons and responsible citizens, so sometimes when a park is so small that a reasonable person would say it doesn’t make sense…then we push it to the back of the line.

Native American, First Nations, Inuit, and Tribal Lands

From experience, the most respectful way to look at these lands is to consider them to be private, and not POTA-eligible. In most cases, the Leadership/Tribal Councils will indicate on their website(s) if public access is welcome, or if there are special provisions. It may also be appropriate to call the Council for guidance.

Commissions, Districts, Society, and Board-managed parks

Several States have, by an Act of Legislature, designated commissions, boards, societies, districts, etc…to manage sites or tracts of land that the State does not wish to manage. The legislative Act was required in order to create legitimacy for various investments and alignment with other State conversation/environmental laws. These designations become locally-managed and funded, and the commission/board folks are not State employees. In some cases, the commission/board members are locally-elected or may be appointed by the State from local organizations. The funding usually comes form a variety of sources (cities, counties, concessions, private land-owners, donors, volunteers) with usually very little coming from the State, except for possible matching or tax breaks. Therefore, because of the fact that they are NOT a State Agency, they are not eligible for POTA.

Mapping Details

Yellow pins for National Historic Trails

National Historic trails cross multiple States/Provinces and can stretch for thousands of miles. However, the POTA database can only have one yellow marker pin per park, so the Mapping Admin will assign pin coordinates for Trails. Typically, the pin is placed at the Ranger office for the Trail. As stated elsewhere, activators should research the Trail and choose public land to activate. Pin location matters not.

Park types are named using a menu table of labels from the database. Since 50 States, 10 provinces, and 350 Countries have 410 different names for what is otherwise a simple Conservation Area, it would be a massive job to capture all of the possible varieties and nuances of labels for all parks. The POTA database already has about 180 labels, so the closest fit label is chosen from the menu.

Placement of the yellow marker pins

The GPS coordinates for the park marker pins are assigned by the Map Rep when the park is created. Generally, the pin is placed at what appears to be the main entrance as viewed from satellite. Contrary to popular belief, POTA Map Reps do not personally visit every park, and the pin location is NOT the only activation location. We use Google Earth, agency maps, Street views, GIS data, etc…to understand the nature of the property as best we can. If activators notify Map Reps of a better activating location, the pin coordinates can easily be edited.

In-town and hallowed ground parks

There are a number of POTA parks around the world that are in cities, very small lots, or in a tight space. They may also be hallowed or sacred ground. Such parks may require stealthy setups hidden in a backpack or a simple hand-held radio with a short whip. Please plan these special activations carefully with greatest care and respect for the site/surroundings.

State/Provincial park minimum “quotas”

The number of parks that a State/Province creates is a State/Provincial choice, not a POTA choice. POTA is a national and international radiosport program, so creating a minimum quota park system for local regions, States, Provinces, or Countries would be impossible to manage. If your Country/State/Province has fewer parks, POTA will NOT (emphasis added) “compensate” by adding Country, City, or private parks…nor will POTA create parks that don’t exist.

Aeronautical/Marine mobile

POTA rules allow aeronautical or marine mobile as long as the aircraft/vessel/boat remains within the vertical projection of the park boundaries. (yes, some parks are under water)

2-fers and “n-fers”

While POTA rules provide for activating multiple parks at once, activators MUST verify that the parks are in fact overlapping. (The term “overlapping” is explicit in the POTA rules) That a State Park is surrounded by or (adjacent to) a National Forest is not valid. This overlapping criteria may not be a simple thing to establish unless the website for one or both parks explicitly describes the overlap. Accordingly, the concept of 2-fer activating is intended to be a higher skill activity for more experienced activators…so some additional rigor in park research is expected…use of accredited GIS database systems is STRONGLY advised prior to claiming an “n-fer” activation. Assuming that parks overlap because of similar names, proximity, or hearsay is NOT considered a valid 2-fer.

Setting up on a fenceline between two parks

POTA rules require that ALL the activator’s equipment be within the park’s boundaries. Obviously, setting up on the fenceline means that neither park is being activated. Furthermore, for a 2-fer to be valid, the parks must overlap and the station must be completely contained inside that overlap. This rule is simple and logical, so please do not over-think it.

Asking permission to operate

Some activators believe that stopping at the park ranger’s office and asking permission to activate is the most noble way to access the park because they believe that amateur radio is a famous, licensed hobby that people understand and respect. In fact, asking for permission will often result in a “no” answer from the ranger, while in the meantime, two dozen boats, horse trailers, quads, and mountain bikers passed the gate behind you.
Just be courteous and very mindful of ALL park rules and of nature, like any other patron. In some sensitive parks (i.e: Refuges), it is good practice to stop by the ranger station and check to see if any park areas are under special restrictions that day. However, if you are planning a big activation with 12 people, 3 antennas, food, tables, generators, flags, etc…then please apply for a Special Use Permit as you would do for a club picnic.

US National Wildlife Refuges

Of all the park types in the US, these Refuges are by far the MOST sensitive and activation practices and behaviors thought to be acceptable in other parks are NOT acceptable in a Refuge. (EMPHASIS ADDED) NWRs are managed by Rangers and by Federal Law Enforcement Officers, and many of the programs and wildlife activity in NWRs is sanctioned under the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

Wires in trees and stakes in ground

POTA guidance to activators comes from the environmental protection laws that exist Nationally, and in virtually all States/Provinces (…and many Countries), regardless of whether they are mentioned on the parks’ websites. Almost all States/Provinces have environmental laws that protect against transporting invasive species or damaging Park property. Touching trees/vegetation and pulling up stakes increases the odds of organisms and/or spores getting into your vehicle and being carried to other parks/States. Our guidance is “no wires in trees and no stakes in ground” with as small a station footprint as possible, so there is NO damage to the trees/park, no possible transfer, and no trace is left.

Parks with no parking lots, activating from the roadside

Parking/activating on the road means that you and your equipment are almost certainly not within the park boundaries. This type of park would be a “hike-in” or “carry-in” park.

Knowledge of POTA by park staff

POTA is only one of many special interest groups that visit parks. It is the special interest groups’ responsibility to understand and comply with park rules and requirements…not the other way around. It would not be reasonable to expect a Park Ranger to be fully familiar with fifty (or more) special interest groups’ activities, rules, and requirements.

Supervision, enforcement of POTA norms & rules

Rouge Map Rep behavior

Each State/Provincial/Country Map Rep is given park creation rights for their geography ONLY. If a Map Rep goes “rogue”, they will be replaced/thanked and any knowingly non-compliant parks they created will be deactivated.

Rogue Map Rep behavior- Park manipulation

If it is shown that a Map Rep manipulated their State/Province parks list to edit, add, or remove parks with the intent to favor or facilitate events, awards, individuals, or groups, they will be thanked/replaced and any park changes will be reversed. This is a POTA Leadership assessment/decision, not a Mapping Rep assessment/decision.

Map Reps’ role with respect to rouge activator behavior

POTA Map Reps have NO RESPONSIBILITY to “police” activator/hunter behaviors/practices…NONE.
If a rules violation is suspected, the matter MUST be referred to the POTA helpdesk at help@parksontheair.com. Addressing rules violations is the responsibility of POTA Admin/Leadership.

Two wrongs don’t make a “right”

In spite of good practices and good faith application of the rules and practices of POTA mapping, there are instances of non-compliant parks in the database. The park could be legitimate per “Park Agency Changes (Pg 4)”, or it could be an administrative error that has existed since 2016. In either case, the existence of a non-compliant park in the database does NOT pave the way for including all other such non-compliant parks. The State Map Rep, at their discretion, may allow a long-standing non-compliant park to remain in the database…or deactivate it upon discovery. In the event that the non-compliant park becomes fodder for a lengthy debate, then the non-compliant park should simply be deleted.

POTA Mapping Representative/Coordinator Job description

Map Reps have five (5) basic tasks…

Detect and correct inaccuracies in park information. This includes edits to GPS pin coordinates, URL/websites, names, typos, etc.
Validating qualification of new parks per POTA rules
Adding new parks to the database
Deactivating parks that have been permanently closed to the public.
Assist Activators/Hunters with park information

Map Reps are NOT responsible for, nor do they engage in debating or enforcing or “policing” POTA park rules/policy with activators/hunters. The Map Reps are Administrators and Volunteers…not owners or managers of the POTA program.
If a Map Rep says “yes” or “no” to a candidate park…that is POTA saying yes or no.
Any POTA policy/rules/practices/questions should be directed to help@parksontheair.com

The Map reps are the care-takers of the POTA parks lists/maps. This includes both new/potential parks and all the parks currently in the database.
With almost 40,000 parks in the world of POTA, there are still several parks with inaccurate GPS coordinates, names, or park type labels that we need to be audited for and corrected.
Our customers, so-to-speak, are the activators, so we try to make sure that the POTA parks data is accurate.

There is NO obligation, explicit or implied, for POTA to add new parks or attempt to “add all possible/eligible parks.” The POTA Map Reps have the ability to add parks, but they do so in response to courteous requests, and according to their personal initiative. They are NOT tasked to “seek and list” all parks, or to list as many parks as they can find, or to conduct exhaustive searches for parks.
Furthermore, Map Reps are NOT obligated to announce newly-added parks to activators.

As indicated on the POTA website and Activator’s Guide, it is ALWAYS the activator’s responsibility to research the park, to abide by applicable rules, laws, restrictions, and to exercise personal safety, as they would in any other outdoor activity.