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My point about GSA's overly restrictive nature is them calling these Earth Science Related caches but then not allowing most Earth Science caches. But yes, I will see what I can do.

My recent troubles with getting an EarthCache accepted because it concerns other forms of Earth Science besides Geology is provoking what will no doubt be a fairly long post here so please bear with me (What, you mean there is other Earth-related science that could make interesting and education caches? Say it isn't so!) Sarcasm aside, the exclusionary nature of the EarthCache and the Geological Societies monopoly on inclusion bears repeating. There should be an outlet for interesting, science-related "virtual" caches that would help generate interest in other aspects of our wonderful planet. Some examples might include: A river forest, or bosque, with the unique flora and fauna that inhabit such a place (we have a state park in my area that WANTS an education virtual A coastal inlet where atmospheric phenomenon such as the Marine Layer of California A northern area where the Northern Lights are most observable In any case, there are countless examples like the ones above that would make for excellent scientific caching exercises but are excluded as EarthCaches under the GSA's overly restrictive guidelines). Therefore, my proposal is as follows: create a new category of cache, call it a ScienceCache, that could have expert reviewers to determine the cache's validity a la EarthCaches. I personally know many scientific types, myself included, that would happily donate their time to this endeavor. Perhaps we could get the National Geographic Society on board to help with this. Of course, as a buff of history and literature, I could extend this argument to creating another type of "virtual", the "HumanitiesCache", that could incorporate this same concept but with places of historical or literary significance. Again, there would be hundreds of cachers out there who would happily give their time to help review such postings to avoid the problems encountered when Virtuals were taken offline, including myself of course. Groundspeak, I would be happy at any time to present to you a full proposal for how to implement either one or both of these ideas. There is so much potential here for expanding the educational nature of Geocaching beyond the current scope. Thanks.

When I first read about EarthCaches, I was excited. The idea of encouraging people to learn about earth sciences was gratifying and exciting. However, when it comes to the reality of setting up an EarthCache, the truth is far from exciting. In fact, the restrictive nature of the rules ends up precluding the use of MANY types of actual earth sciences! The bias towards Geology is evident in the caches allowed for inclusion. Definitionally, earth science incorporates, all of the following: The following fields of science are generally categorized within the geosciences: Geology Physical geography covers the aspects of geomorphology, oceanography, climatology and biogeography - PARTS NOT ALLOWED Geophysics and geodesy investigate the shape of the Earth, Soil science Oceanography and hydrology - NOT ALLOWED Glaciology Atmospheric sciences - NOT ALLOWED Strangely, many of these are not even allowed as EarthCaches yet here we are, excluding some sciences that are rightly called Earth Science in favor of geology. If we look at the purpose of the EarthCache, it is one of both education and entertainment. Excluding valid Geosciences eliminates many avenues of education. I would ask that Groundspeak reconsider allowing these sorts of EarthCaches to give cachers a richer educational experience.

Whatever it is I'm sure there will be numerous complaints (heck, I may be one of them). Oh, you know it. I may develope a few and still complain. I would just as soon list them and Benchmarks on the Waymarking site. I know what people will do for a smiley, things are bound to get crazy. Wonder who will review them? Well, I'd imagine they will recruit volunteers. As an English professor, I for one would be happy to review literary caches.

I can't wait! When done right and with a modicum of review, Virtual caches are excellent. I myself have wanted to post some historical/literary caches for awhile but haven't been able.

Come join us for a post Easter weekend round up, of trash that is! Date: Saturday, April 30 Place: Coords above (This is the bridge next to the Duck Pond on the NMSU campus) Time: 7 am until ??? Details: Trishywishy and I will provide coffee and breakfast treats for everyone to enjoy. Then it's time for some trash pick up. We will clean up the area around the Aggie Duck Pond as well as the neighboring campus park lands. After we all pitch to help beautify our campus, I will reward participants with some freshly placed caches, the theme of which will center around the board game Scrabble. So we can do some good, then have some fun! Please join us for this fun event. We know you'll have a great time!

Come join us for a post Easter weekend round up, of trash that is! Date: Saturday, April 30 Place: Coords above (This is the bridge next to the Duck Pond on the NMSU campus) Time: 7 am until ??? Details: Trishywishy and I will provide coffee and breakfast treats for everyone to enjoy. Then it's time for some trash pick up. We will clean up the area around the Aggie Duck Pond as well as the neighboring campus park lands. After we all pitch to help beautify our campus, I will reward participants with some freshly placed caches, the theme of which will center around the board game Scrabble. So we can do some good, then have some fun! Please join us for this fun event. We know you'll have a great time!

I appreciate the presence of Earthcaches as a means of creating informational and educational caches that don't necessarily involve a physical cache; however, it bothers me that we don't have the ability to add other caches of this nature for other educational subject matters. Indeed, I live in an area ripe with history (don't we all?) so historical caches would be a great addition to the geo community. By the same notion, literature, archeology, and other subjects would be great arenas for non-physical caches. Of course, some criteria for posting these would be necessary to avoid the early problems with virtual caches.