CITO in the ADK

[+swizzle]

Hi all. I'm fairly new to the idea of CITO. I've done a couple caches that were set up as CITO caches and I try to do my fair share around all of my cache spots. I'm in the process of starting a new geocaching group that would partially specialize in CITO in the ADK (Adirondacks region of NY). Any help at all on making the perfect CITO cache and hosting CITO events would be great. I plan on starting around the GSL (Great Sacandaga Lake), and then working into the backwoods areas. My idea as of right now is to go to Wally World and get as many free film cans as I can possibly grab. Cram a shopping bag into each one and mark it CITO. I think I can get more bags into the cache container this way as well as reducing the amount of maintance on each cache which would allow me to maximize the amount of caches that I can maintain in a given year. If I can get say a dozen active caching members to do the same spread through the adirondacks then I see 100 and maybe even 200 active CITO caches possible as well as CITO events that we could set up and host as well. I would also like to consider a CITO meter for our profile. It would simply be a counter for how much trash we remove each year. 153 shopping bags, 25 garbage bags, 2 couchs and a microwave. That sort of thing. A live counter that is added to every time someone removes a bag full from our regular CITO caches as well as our CITO events. Has anyone done this before? Any help on how to set up a CITO event and the local officals to contact as well as media to promote CITO in the ADK would be great. Thanx for reading. Swizzle

[+Knight2000]

All in all very few cachers CITO on caches. (At least in my area.)

 

Any help on how to set up a CITO event and the local officals to contact as well as media to promote CITO in the ADK would be great. Thanx for reading. Swizzle

I would contact the governing body for that location. Say it is a park. Ask whoever you think would be appropriate for their cooperation for your event. They could provide bags, a meeting location, food, large bags of money, all sorts of things.

 

Create and event and go at it. CITO events work. Just make sure this time that you plan it far enough in advance for people to schedule to make it.

[+swizzle]

I might not have had a lot of people at my first event but I definately did as planned. I learned more about what I need to do to get more cachers to come to an event. A CITO I would definately post at least a month in advance. I might also see about getting someone from that area to donate some kind of food. Donuts and coffee maybe from the local DnD? That would look good for them if they sponsered such and event in our area. Especially if they knew there would be some type of media coverage even if it was no more then a newspaper clipping with a pic of the CITO in action. Am I starting to think more clearly now? Would they be willing to donate a few dollars towards CITO coins and TB's and such? How would you start such an event? Contact the local newspaper first or the local businesses or the town that you plan on doing the cleanup in? I'm sure the coins & things would need to be ordered ahead of time. Any more ideas would be great. I'm all eyeballs at this point. Swizzle

[+Touchstone]

What K-2000 said. Contact the Park or agency that manages the land your targeting and see if they can offer some guidance or suggestions, as well as supplies. The other nice thing they might be able to supply is a way to haul away all the garbage you collect. If you do haul out something like a couch or washing machine, there might be some logistical difficulties removing it from the site

 

Contacting the Parks/Agency also has an added selfish benefit that shouldn't be overlooked: You get credit in the eyes of the agency for all the hard work you do

 

Not to be overlooked is other CITO related activities besides picking up trash. While picking up trash is great, it's hard to sustain much enthusiasm over a long period of time (in terms of years). People will more than likely burn out pretty quickly if you host a series of monthly trash pick up days (or whatever). I would suggest mixing it up with other volunteer work that maybe the Parks can help facilitate. In our area, we've done projects such as trail maintenance, building a fence to protect habitat areas, non native plant eradication (aka weeds), manual head counts on a popular trail (we kind of treated it like an extended picnic), and preparing campgrounds for the camping season.

 

I wouldn't overlook any opportunity to put a group together. Just keep in mind that most Parks pay Staff that help with these types of things overtime/comp time, so while they do appreciate the thought, using volunteers to do projects is not always the most efficient way of getting things done for them. I always thank them for the opportunity to help out, and I don't try and come across like we're doing them some huge favor.

[+swizzle]

At this point I can't imagine hosting a monthly CITO and definately not in the same area. Maybe an annual CITO for the great sacandaga lake and then another one or 2 but space them out so you have different volunteers from different areas. I would think that CITO's should be at least 30 to 40 miles apart if you're going to host more then one a year. I couldn't picture asking the same local cachers over and over again, every month. Why not get our own CITO truck and start a weekly route. I think CITO's should be held as special occasions and used for the biggest problem areas. Such as the one cache that I did last week. There was literally around 20 tires, a couch, an old stove, (what was left of it), and about 15 bags of household trash. Not to mention all the busted beer bottles. That's the spots I want to get to. I've seen other spots on backroads that have lazyboys, propane tanks, rugs, bikes, gardening pots and just a complete mix of stuff. Not even a quarter mile farther down the road is a $1,000 fine for littering sign. Some of this stuff has been here for several years. The towns can't regulate ever backroad all the time. With the price of trash removal going up I can see it happening more often. We pay $30+ a month for county waste or we can drive it to the next town for $10 for 3 clear bags a week or $175 for the year. If there was a place I could dump trash for a little bit of nothing per year then I would snag a bag a week and CITO a lot of these places myself. Now some of the areas I'm considering the CITO is state lands along the shore of the great sacandaga lake. Now what good would "credit in the eyes of the state" get me? Is there any real benifits other then feeling good about cleaning up a problem area on one of your local lakes? I think it would be great if they could provide food, drinks, and other stuff such as geocoins, TB's and even ammo cans and such. I think it would be great if they did also supply the trash bags and maybe gloves to the skimmish CITOers. Is there anything else I should ask for. I don't want to be greedy now. I would like to have enough donations and such to attract even more cachers to a CITO. Swizzle