jrav's Content - Geocaching Forums

My response is I would like to see geocachers themselves propose ways that geocaching can be done in parks in a manner that respects the natural environment and meets the concerns we have.

So additional representatives are not required. We can ALL post our proposals in these forums. BC Parks will monitor the forums, and all voices will be heard.

Parks Bc

in Canada

Posted October 11, 2005

Brian's response follows. He asks that people do not email him directly. While he does want to hear cachers opinions, he does not want a whack of emails flooding his inbox.

Please post your responses in this forum so he may read them.

Thanks Jessica for your note. I appreciate your interest in this issue as
well as your comments about the article from August.

Awareness of geocaching in provincial parks has been growing internally for

over a year. Initially, contact with a representative from geocaching.com

and representatives from BCGA came to us rather than us contacting them.

They were the only two groups, until your note below, that I was aware of.

One of the challenges we will have in developing policy for parks and

protected areas is finding a way to be as inclusive as possible for comments

on policy issues. Perhaps the use of the forums may be a way to best

achieve this.

I have had one informal meeting with 2 members of the BCGA and one from

geocaching.com. The meeting was "high level" in that we did not get into

specific policy development or direction, instead concentrating on

principles, concerns, education, and awareness of issues that will come up

as policy is developed. The next step is for us to set up the process to

build the policy. We hope to undertake much of this work over the winter.

I noted in the forum discussion quite a range of opinions, assumptions and

concerns about what the eventual policy will entail. A couple of points

perhaps that I could make early on in this discussion are:

1. Policy for managing geocaching does not currently exist. However,

legislation and regulations do exist that may apply to activities related to

geocaching. For example, nothing prohibits a person from walking through a

park with a GPS unit looking for something. However, disturbing a natural

resource is prohibited under the Park Act. An example would be a cache I

know of in a park where the person who placed it marked certain locations by

spray painting orange dots on trees. The activity of spray painting trees is

a violation. Geocachers need to be aware that specific activities may in

fact be illegal.

2. I think its fairly straight-forward what concerns park managers

would have related to geocaching. These include digging or disturbing

natural resources, trail cutting or off-trail travel, increasing numbers of

caches that become abandoned (i.e. never taken out) etc. Comments in the

forums speak to "shouldn't let parks control the situation". My response is

I would like to see geocachers themselves propose ways that geocaching can

be done in parks in a manner that respects the natural environment and meets

the concerns we have. I would bet 99% of all geocachers already operate in

this way so bringing a management framework for geocaching forward to us is

a great way to be both proactive and help us develop good policy.

3. Finally, I want mention that while I do think geocaching will be

positive for parks, we all have to recognize that even the best policies are

built from "give and take". Not everyone will get everything and not

everyone will be happy. Ultimately we want a policy that we can point to

and affirm that if we abide by it, we continue to respect and protect our

parks while having a great time in them.

Regards,

Brian

Parks Bc

in Canada

Posted October 11, 2005

Here is a copy of the message I sent to Brian Bawtinheimer of PC Parks:

Hello Brian,

As an avid geocacher since December 2001, I was delighted to read

your positive comments in the Times Colonist article on August 13th

titled "Follow those satellites to better health: B.C. Parks is

looking for the best way to welcome tech-savvy hikers".

The article states "B.C. Parks has asked two of the main geocaching

organizations for some ideas on a policy covering the use of parks."

I appreciate that you have asked geocaching organizations for their

input on this issue, but I worry that the feelings of the majority of

B.C. geocachers may not be heard. Geocachers participate in online

forums, but most of them don't bother to join organizations.

Vancouver Island, for example, has more than 250 active geocachers.

The mainland has at least triple that amount. The B.C. Geocaching

Association has just 33 members -- only about one per cent of the

number of active geocachers in B.C. -- so certainly does not speak

for the vast majority of geocachers.

There are two major geocaching forums for B.C. geocachers.

One is on geocaching.com, a "for profit" company based in Seattle,

and the major stakeholder in these discussions. The BCGA does not

participate in these forums, other than to tell us that discussions

about BC Parks are underway. As geocachers, we have no idea what is

being discussed.

The other forum is for people who actively seek and hide caches on

Vancouver Island. I am the webmaster of vigps.com, a community for

Vancouver Island GPS users. All of our 178 members are active

geocachers, ranging in age from their 20s to late 60s. We have been

discussing the issue of caching in parks both on and off the website,

and while there are not many caches in BC Parks on the Island at this

time, we all agree that it would be a shame to lose the opportunity

to go caching in a BC Park.

I encourage you to join the BC Parks discussion forums on

geocaching.com, vigps.com, or both, to let the geocachers know your

side of the issue, and to help us understand the changes BC Parks

intends to make to our hobby.

Parks Bc

in Canada

Posted October 10, 2005

I'll call around Parks BC this week and find out on my own who's the representative. I'll add my own two cents to them at a personal level.

According to an article published in the Victoria Times Colonist, the BC Parks representative is Brian Bawtinheimer.

Bc Geocoin

in Canada

Posted June 12, 2005

Let us hear from you -- post a note here if you would be interested, and how many you might like to order to give us some idea of whether or not to pursue this further.

We would probably take 5, but like Gorak mentioned, it would depend upon the final design.

It's getting close to membership renewal time....Will the new BCGA executive be giving consideration to family memberships? I'm guessing the the current $1 per month covers only one of us who cache under the "jrav" name.

A Little Help Please?

in Canada

Posted May 4, 2005

Here are the caches near the Cruise ship terminal in Victoria:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.asp...&submit3=Submit

You will want to avoid the first two multi's that appear on the list.

Homemade Gps Bags?

in General geocaching topics

Posted March 24, 2005

Yes, But mine is FREE. And I'll be making them a little larger than the one shown so other brands of GPSr's will fit in them.

Like these?

We've placed about a hundred in caches and people seem to pick them up pretty quick. The camo bags are the most popular.

Volunteer Cache Agent

in Canada

Posted September 28, 2004

I'm reviewing in Canada. No specific area.

Who should I contact regarding a cache in BC?

Canadian Travel Bug race?

in Canada

Posted October 24, 2003

Our bug was placed in Film Crew on Location in Water World but the page for Canadian Red Bear doesn't show him as being at that cache. How can we fix this?

Anyone we know?????

in Canada

Posted October 24, 2003

Wasn't us.

All Geodesy V members present and accounted for.

Turtlehead Mtn.

in West and Southwest

Posted August 16, 2003

Our team is also competing in the cache mentioned by Curious George, and require this same bit of information.

If you are interested in helping us out, please contact me and I can provide more details.

PRIVATE GEOCACHING EVENT TURNS INTO REAL LIFE SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSION

in General geocaching topics

Posted June 18, 2003

quote:
High tech no help for hikers

By Paul Rudan

Three Victoria hikers equipped with high-tech navigation equipment still managed to get lost in the dense woods of Strathcona Park.

No, they were not lost. They knew exactly where they were, and where they were headed. They had however, not anticipated the time it would take to traverse the terrain, given continuous rain and snowpack.

quote:
The three men were found safe and sound Monday, three days after they had set out on a modern, technology-enhanced scavenger hunt known as geocaching.
“They were well-prepared with tarps for shelter and GPS receivers and laptop computers with navigational software, but unfortunately they had the wrong information from the beginning,” said Dan McManus, information officer for Campbell River Search and Rescue.

Yes, they had tarps, GPS receivers and computers, but also had paper maps and compasses. The “wrong information from the beginning” refers to an incorrectly projected waypoint.

quote:
“The men hiked for several hours before they realized it wasn’t what they expected,” McManus said. “The terrain was very rough and the tree cover was dense. They became delayed to the point where they were 24 hours overdue and scrambled around in the bush trying to find a route out. The men became exhausted and decided to wait at a lake they came across.”

The fact that they were 24 hours overdue from their expected return time is correct, but the remainder is not.

They did not “scramble around in the bush trying to find a route out”. The lake they were stopped at is a campsite - they were camping.

This article contains much erroneous information, also neglected to mention many facts that are both interesting, and truthful.

The three men have over a 100 years of combined backcountry experience. One has served as a Search and Rescue technician. One has had extensive training in wilderness survival. One has extensive training in map reading and navigation.

All had enough food for 4 more days. They were never in any danger, and were never off their intended route, or lost.

They knew they were over 24 hours overdue, and every good backpacker knows they should have someone responsible aware of their plans and intended return date. As expected, the RCMP was contacted once this time period had passed. As expected, the SAR helicopter could be heard dropping off ground crew.

So they prepared for the “rescue” by arranging the tarps to reflect light, placing pine boughs in a large arrow on a snow covered hillside, and stood by with flairs at the ready for when the helicopter was within sighting range.

There is no doubt that the drastic change in weather and unexpected soft snowpack impeded their progress, causing them to fall behind schedule. However, their preplanning with food, shelter, emergency equipment and numerous packets of fresh batteries, ensured that this was far from a life threatening experience.

This article does not reflect the experience.

Are you guys OK?