An argument for Geocaching in Nat Parks

[+briansnat]

This article is about the major downturn in visits to national parks that is becoming a concern to the NPS brass.

 

One quote from the article:

"A Nature Conservancy study funded by the National Science Foundation and released last July concluded the drop in national park visits was connected to the popularity of video games, hand-held devices, the Internet and other electronic media."

 

This is one of the great things about geocaching in that it appeals to this demographic and gets them out from in front of their video game consoles and into the parks.

 

Wake up NPS. I'm not saying that we should make national parks into high tech playgrounds with computer kiosks along the trails, but when a low impact activity like geocaching comes along they should look for ways to embrace it, instead of squashing it.

[+The Leprechauns]

Old news, Brian. Maybe if you spent a little more time in the forums, you could keep up with the prior discussions.

 

No argument here about your premise. But I don't see a quick shift in attitude in my NPS crystal ball. My own viewpoint on working with them has soured based upon the Appalachian Trail situation.

[Tahosa and Sons]

Ok, I've got my Nomex on and the CO 2 canisters ready.

I stand with the NPS and believe that the Parks are for nature.

But I'm a different baby boomer. I hike hard all day and don't need a room with a pool and a view, my bivy and bag will do.

[+The Leprechauns]

Some parks and other lands managed by NPS *are* for nature. But in areas where there are paved parking lots, sidewalk trails, interpretive sign kiosks, and other stuff more reminiscent of an urban park, one really has to wonder what harm is caused by a Decon container hanging in a bush behind the visitor center.

 

A local ranger, familiar with the park where she works, is best equipped to say "yes" to a geocache near the visitor center, and "no" to a geocache in an environmentally sensitive area. Many rangers have done just that, only to be overruled by the bureaucrats sitting at desks hundreds of miles away.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

This article is about the major downturn in visits to national parks that is becoming a concern to the NPS brass.

What I find ironic is that there is an ad for Disneyland on that page. Why go to a national park when the kids will be happier somewhere else?

[+Super_Nate]

It was going to cost me $200 in application fees for a "special use permit" to list an earthcache at the Smoky Mountain National Park.

 

INSANE!

[+briansnat]

It was going to cost me $200 in application fees for a "special use permit" to list an earthcache at the Smoky Mountain National Park.

 

INSANE!

 

That is only because apparently the Earthcache rules require permission, which is ridiculious. You're not leaving a container behind, you're only saying here are the coordinates of a cool spot, go check it out.

 

There is no way the park could prohibit your listing the coordinates, so at least you could make it into a waymark.

[+Super_Nate]

It was going to cost me $200 in application fees for a "special use permit" to list an earthcache at the Smoky Mountain National Park.

 

INSANE!

at least you could make it into a waymark.

 

I'll consider that...I think I still have the test page with the listing tucked around somewhere.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

This article is about the major downturn in visits to national parks that is becoming a concern to the NPS brass.

 

One quote from the article:

"A Nature Conservancy study funded by the National Science Foundation and released last July concluded the drop in national park visits was connected to the popularity of video games, hand-held devices, the Internet and other electronic media."

 

This is one of the great things about geocaching in that it appeals to this demographic and gets them out from in front of their video game consoles and into the parks.

 

Wake up NPS. I'm not saying that we should make national parks into high tech playgrounds with computer kiosks along the trails, but when a low impact activity like geocaching comes along they should look for ways to embrace it, instead of squashing it.

You have hit one one of the reasons why Maryland DNR, which manages the state parks in Maryland, likes geocaching. The big problem that they have been facing in most of their parks is underutilization. Geocaching is one way of getting people out in nature, and thus they like it.

 

There, I just managed to write my shortest post ever in my entire history on the forums! Wow!

[+Harry Dolphin]

[That is only because apparently the Earthcache rules require permission, which is ridiculious. You're not leaving a container behind, you're only saying here are the coordinates of a cool spot, go check it out.

 

Really? There are earthcaches like that?!? I guess one out of four isn't too bad an average. I wouldn't know a xenolith from a trilobite if they showed it to me. Wait a minute, they did show it to me. I don't have an advance degree in geology. It was completely lost on me. Oh, well.

 

On topic. I am an NPS junkie. At one point, I had visited a third of the NPS areas in the country. From Pu'u Honua O Honaunau to St. Croix River to Buck Island Reef. The popular ones are over visited beyond their capabilites: Great Smokies, Yellowstone, Yosemite. If you want to hike across the Grand Canyon, you have to make campground reservations in January, and hope for the best. (Did that in the mid-80's. We had to plan the trip around the available reservations.) On the other fin, there are many great ones with very few visitors. I saw eight other hikers on my four mile hike at Effigy Mounds. About the same at Ice Age National Scientific Reserve.

That being said, most NPS areas would benefit from geocaching attracting more visitors to good (well-though-out) caches.

[+Renegade Knight]

It was going to cost me $200 in application fees for a "special use permit" to list an earthcache at the Smoky Mountain National Park.

 

INSANE!

A fee like that usually applies to an event. Like renting out the pavillian at the local park. Normally it comes from not exaclty understanding what caching is, how the people are involved and to be blunt trying to force it into their existing regulations.

[+Markwell]

While working with a local forest preserve, I was told something that makes perfect sense. In our area, the forest preserve rangers fall into two categories: law enforcement rangers and education-centered rangers.

 

For the education rangers, the best days in the forest preserves are 72°F and sunny with lots of people coming to the park. For the law enforcement rangers, every visitor is a potential problem, and the best days in the forest preserves are 37°F and rainy, with nobody in the park.

 

The law enforcement rangers at the national parks are probably happy with the decline in attendance.

 

Slightly tangental comment: I remember seeing the lines of cars and stop-and-go traffic at Yellowstone. Maybe a decline in attendance isn't so bad.

[+adjensen]

Slightly tangental comment: I remember seeing the lines of cars and stop-and-go traffic at Yellowstone. Maybe a decline in attendance isn't so bad.

 

They're still there, decline in attendance or not. We went in August, and it was about as busy as it had been when I was last there, in, oh, about 1978. New attractions like virtual caches not withstanding :-)