parker2

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I would be a good thing for GC to put together a "media kit" so to speak that fellow cachers can give to the media before an interview. At least this way we can get a bit more out of the interviews and be a bit more informative to the viewers / listeners. Could also have the possibility to encourage more media coverage through mail outs of faxes as well. parker2

Hey wolfmaster..... Go to the CBC link I posted previously in this thread. I beleave you can buy the transcripts from the show. I would of recorded it, but I was at work when your wife was on. parker2

Well the interview was ok. Just went into the basics. Wish there would of been a bit of input for the Federal policy. CBC posted the link to Geocaching on there site CBC Hopefully this will start a bit of a media buzz in Sask. as well as the other provinces.

Any cachers loose a cache with the rivers being so high? I just got back from Saskatoon, and I think there might be a few gone. lol Did not have time to go caching, but I remember a few that were prety close & low to the river. parker2

balloonatic - I should hopefully be in the city for the airshow. I usually get vip tickets from a friend at the PCS mines. Hopefully will catch ya there.

Thats some nice writing Circle of Confusion.... couldn't of said it better

Excelent post mtn-man..... I have mentioned this a few times. I have drawn up a couple of ideas and emailed Claire of PC in respect to caching on Federal Lands. I know what kind of position they are in, along with the Provincial CO's. They are getting so spread thin that it will be a burden on them to police another activity let alone the poachers and kids destroying the campgrounds. In my opinion we as a group should come up with some key points and hand it to PC and get there feed back, before they draw up a one sided policy. I know that they have received a fairly large amount of email on the interm policy, and are watching as many of the boards as time permits (including the poor taste posts and the bickering), but this will not be enough. We need PC to realize that we can so called "police" the caches places on federal lands without issues. There is no problem in locating caches in any of the parks. I have located 2 in our province without issues. There are so many variables that will have to be in place as well, and some will have to be put in the hands of the person(s) placing the cache. It will have to safe for the ecosystem (ie no nesting/breding areas, x amount away from riparian zones, inspected frequently.... so on and so forth) and fair for both the GC community and PC. Since I received the interm policy in my email, I have been reserching policies from all over the world and PC is not too far off from there decision..... we just need to find a way to work together to make this work for everything that is involved..... especially our enviroment. I know that there was a topic brought up about rogue trails.... but in my opinion this will not be a factor as there is very low cache log counts in the parks as it is. Well that was my 2 cents again Lets come together to make this work out parker2

I have had a chat with Claire McNeil with Parks Canada. She is the #1 person to chat with on the making of the Geocaching policy. She would like to have as many comments (good/bad) as well as any input that you might have on the making of the Policy. She does not have too much time to just watch the boards on all the caching sites to see our opinions on the interim policy. So feel free to email her at rec.activities@pc.gc.ca. In my opinion, we really need to buckle down and come up with a solid policy to hand to PC that we can work around. I have looked at over 100+ policies on geocaching on all types of lands and most of them are about bang on with the interim policy with the exception of physical caches. There is room in the PC policy for physical caches, but with some strict guidelines that must be hammered out with the Canadian Geocaching Community. Hopefully we can come up with something soon before PC just decides to make there own decision without the input there should be from the community. parker2 geocaching@parker2.com

With the recient posting of the interm policy from PC.... Why doesn't someone from the GC admin or the aprovers contact PC and get all the locations of the lands involved. I thinkl this would be a great move towards a future bond with PC officials. They might even give the aprovers the ability to use there gis system. parker2

I use the Garmin Rino 130 (for myself) and have 1 Garmin Rino 120 and 110 (for the kids). I like the fact that when we go out into the bush either caching or camping, I can locate them on my screen as well as talk to them. parker2

Here are some sugestions I have sent to Parks Canada 1) Limited number of caches in National Parks (# of caches/square km) 2) Historic sites to have virtual caches only and limited to 1 per historic location 3) No caches to be placed in or near conservation areas. 4) The cache owner and a Parks Canada official must monitor the cache locations on a regular basis. 5) All caches must be placed in a location that will not harm the ecosystem (away from a riparian zone, habitat lands, nesting/breeding areas and other ecological sensitive areas). 6) The directions to the cache location should be posted to the site, giving extra care to sensitive areas of the park. 7) Possibly have Parks Canada review the cache site and prior to posting on geocaching.com or have Parks Canada work directly with a Geocaching reviewer. 8) Geocaching.com could enlist a new reviewer(s) to keep track of caches in the parks. This would also be useful when the regulations trickle down to the Provincial and Municipal levels. 9) It would be valuable if Parks Canada could furbish the Geocaching cache approvers with GIS info, for all Federal lands under the policy. If anyone has any other ideas that might be of use to Parks Canada, feel free to post them here, or email myself geocaching@parker2.com - parker2 or rec.activities@pc.gc.ca - Claire McNeil of Parks Canada.

I feel for ya trailerpark. I've been there, and done that. Some of the caches I have gone out to find, have been either no where near the posted cords. and a few of them no where to be found. I use 2 gps on my hunts. A garmin GPS12, and a Garmin Rino 120, with topo Canada maps installed. I know that there can be a diffrence from unit to unit on there ability to plot the correct position, but some I have found 20m away with a EPE of 3m on my Rino. The best way I have found for getting propper cords., is to find your location, and place your GPS there for a few hours, then take the best set available from the data the unit has received. This can also be done by visiting the site a few times (the more the better) prior to setting up the cache. The cache I placed was actually ready to be placed 3 months prior, but I went to the site and marked waypoints for a few months, plotted them on my computer using mapsource, then took the best cords. The availibility to see the satilites changes from day to dayand second by second. There are so many factors that will reduce the aquiring of a good set of locations. This cache is bang on the money. I want to check it out now that all the trees are full of leaves to see what kind of EPE I can get. parker2

Exploring Pukaskwa National Park of Canada using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Check this link i found on the PC site. I see that they offer a teaching program for schools. In my opinion, this is not far from the terms behind caching. lol

mtn-man is correct with what he has said. We all have to just cut our losses that have been imposed, but don't stop the line of communications with PC. I think the OGA or someone else should put up a web page on there site to compile all the communications we have had with PC and any info that we receive from PC, so everyone in the caching community can see how the talks are going. I know myself, I have been chatting with a few Federal and Provincial conservation officers on the topic, and some of them have not seen a problem with caching in the parks with some strict guidelines. I think that if we all come together as a group and figure out a way to make this work nation wide, we will have a good stab at getting caching allowed back in the Federal Parks as well as set a guideline for the Provincial, Regional, Municipal, and any other form of land owner to use. parker2

Here is the link for the Interim Policy on Geocaching in Protected Heritage Areas Managed by Parks Canada Hopefully this will give a bit more insight into the subject. There are only two in Sask. that might be affected by the interm policy. The "Johnny" cache is 100% inside the P.A. National Park, and "Cypress Hills" could possibly be in the Fort Walsh National Historic Site. GC84B9 Johnny by Tim and Morgan and Brian (ve6ca) GC600D Cypress Hills by Campbell Outdoors Club

Ch. 2 is both FRS and GMRS in Canada and able to transmit @ up to 2 watts. This setup worked great for us cachers. lol Hopefully in the future, Garmin will adjust the Rino series to transmit data on the GMRS freq. and at full power. parker2

That's exactly it Swifteroo. This policy will be the guideline for the provincial and municipal parks. Some will be more understanding than others, but once PC has the policy written in stone, it will be even harder to change.

OGA - Admin What were the sugestions to keep/place physical caches in the National Parks?

Well.... here ya all go folks..... I got some info back from Parks Canada today. I was really impressed on the speedy reply. Here is a few quotes from that email.... "There will be a copy of Parks Canada's interim policy on geocaching made available in the next few days - I am collaborating with a few geocaching representatives to ensure that it is widely posted on geocaching websites." "Parks Canada 's interim policy is that virtual caches are appropriate in protected heritage areas, but will be restricted to official trails/other publicly accessible areas. Additionally, a virtual cache in a protected heritage area will include educational messages specific to the park/site where the cache is located. A moratorium on new physical caches in protected heritage areas is in effect and existing physical caches will be removed and returned to their owners." "Parks Canada believes that the activity of geocaching offers excellent educational opportunities and that virtual geocaching, in particular, integrates new technology and outdoor recreation in an innovative way that provides an interesting educational experience. We will be consulting with the geocaching community and with other interested stakeholders until December 31, 2005 to consider alternate management scenarios. The interim policy will be in effect until a final policy is developed in early 2006." Well that was the bulk of it. There was some explaination on why they went this route, but it has been mentioned in most of the post in this thread already. ***OGA - Admin - If you would like to see a copy of the email, just drop me a line parker2 geocaching@parker2.com

Nicely put OGA It would be nice to expedite the parks officials in all the provinces to seek the cache with the owners and remove them if deemed necessary. I would also suggest that each cacher that has one placed in a park (Prov. or Fed.), should seek their own information on the environmental effect of the cache on the land or lands in question. Take a few fellow cachers, along with any other backing that might be available to you that knows the environmental aspects. There is more than walking on a field of grass or accidentally breaking a small sapling near the shore of a river or creek. Any plant, stone, or fallen log can have an impact on the ecosystem. So when you go out to your cache in the park, take a close look at the paths that may have to be taken. Take pictures and document the whole process of retrieving the cache. Then with the info collected, there may be issues that can be overcome. There are so many environmental issues that have to be addressed with many different acts and regulations before a policy can be made that will reflect all parties involved. The federal government will stall this process as long as they can as there will be $$$$$ involved. I would be willing to give any pointers that I may have for the removal of the caches. In my opinion, make sure there is going to be a biologist in the group when the parks officials want to see the cache locations. Parker2 geocaching@parker2.com

We here in Saskatchewan do not have a Geocaching group / organization as of yet. I have put up a MSN group (http://groups.msn.com/SaskatchewanGeocaching) to try and see what kind of feedback I would get from the provincial members. If I get enough response, I’ll set up a site and get the ball rolling on setting up an executive. When and if you have this chat session, I would be interested in sitting in. I know the general idea of using the parks system on the Provincial and Federal level. I have been on our local branch of the SWF executive for over 18 months, and have seen what kind of impact a large group of people can have to influence our governments. OGA-Admin keep up the good work! You have been a good diplomat for the Canadian Geocaching Community. Ok, now it time for my two cents on this topic. I have been involved in Geocaching for quite a few years now. I know how many of you cachers may be feeling about the problems with caching in our parks. I do not care to here about “who did what” or “who has better environmental ethics”, as all of these issues have been addressed when Geocaching posted the rules of placing and finding caches. This has been implemented a long time ago, yet some of the cachers (new & old and of all ages), have over sometime of there caching days, done something to damage the environment. This also extends to the non-geocaching community. We are an elite group of people who have found yet another way to enjoy the great outdoors that has been given to us to take care of. The government as well as other organizations (SWF and DU just to name a few), have taken on the responsibility to take care of our great outdoors, so that our future generations have a better environment for them to Cache, hunt, fish, camp, etc. So with that all said, we should not make any bad comments towards our governments, but join forces with them to help come up with a good, environmentally friendly caching policy on how we as cachers can help preserve the environment. In my opinion, the policy should be watched and reviewed constantly by the government and geocaching officials. Once Parks Canada has made their decision, it will trickle down to the provincial parks so we need to get PC to let us have input into the decision-making. Lets not let them make an onesided decision. We as people of this earth should all be stewards for the environment! parker2 geocaching@parker2.com

I have started up a Saskatchewan Geocaching Group on MSN http://groups.msn.com/SaskatchewanGeocaching please feel free to sign up. I could also use so help so if anyone is interested, please feel free to email me. parker2 geocaching@parker2.com

I actually agree with all the cachers that have said that we need to get organized. The voice of many out weighs the voice of one. I belong to the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (also on the executive of our branch for fisheries) and it i9s the voice of many that contributes to the resolutions that we pass to the Provincial government. I am going to get a Saskatchewan Geocaching Group set up on the net where we can meet at a provincial level as many of the provinces already have set up. The provinces that do not have a site or group set up should follow suit. Then all we need it to get a few of the members that are willing to spend a bit of time (2-4 hours a week) to get the ball rolling. With as many of the combined groups adding input from there local members, I think this will show the governments (municipal/Provincial/Federal) that we mean business and that we are ready to sit down an negotiate a fair deal for all. parker2 geocaching@parker2.com

good job mork.... we need more SaskCashers. lol If your looking for a gps to start off, take a look at the rino or etrex series from Garmin. Good quality for a good price. parker2