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"Forest Defender" is destroying geocaches


gerlfren

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It would probably also be a good idea to explicitly state on the cache pages the details about who permission was granted by. Both as a message to Forest Defender and for the benefit of future cachers seeking the cache or considering placing caches in the area.

 

 

Caches in Washington State Parks are supposed to have a State Parks sanction banner on the cache page, which it appears that these caches do not have, and I suspect that the cache owners don't know about the requirement to have cache permits filed with State Parks, since these caches appear to have been placed before the permit system was established.

 

State Parks policy

Edited by Dwoodford
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Kryptic - great article. Thanks.

 

* * *

By calling her a "true believer", I simply meant to say that she seemed more motivated by a deranged sense of mission. I am definitely not saying she's actually improving the state of the forest by her actions. While she may be the "lowest form of cache maggot", I just think she has a different motivation than our attention - unless you think the whole "Forest Defender" thing is a complete ruse that she doesn't even believe.

 

Neither do I think we need to be "militant" about it, but assuming these caches have proper permission, I think that the CO's should organize and work with the land owners / managers. If some caches do not have proper permission, they need to start getting it.

 

It would probably also be a good idea to explicitly state on the cache pages the details about who permission was granted by. Both as a message to Forest Defender and for the benefit of future cachers seeking the cache or considering placing caches in the area.

 

As far as her leaving the cache contents strewn around the area, that's a bit surprising, but then again, she may well be more interested in the accolades of her fellow eco-nuts who read her blog than in affecting actual change. Who knows how a sick mind works, though?

 

As far as catching her in the act, there are ways to increase the likelihood of that, as well.

 

All in all, I think it is better to shed light on the darkness than to turn your back to it.

 

Thanks DudleyGrunt and thanks for spreading it around. ;)

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It would probably also be a good idea to explicitly state on the cache pages the details about who permission was granted by. Both as a message to Forest Defender and for the benefit of future cachers seeking the cache or considering placing caches in the area.

 

 

Caches in Washington State Parks are supposed to have a State Parks sanction banner on the cache page, which it appears that these caches do not have, and I suspect that the cache owners don't know about the requirement to have cache permits filed with State Parks, since these caches appear to have been placed before the permit system was established.

 

State Parks policy

 

My Mintercreek cache was just a nice spot off the side of the road. Mostly used by the local fishermen during Salmon season. The cache itself was no where near the stream and the tree was on a established trail just feet from the parking area. The info board was put there by the city. It is not a State park cache, so no permission is needed.

 

I have placed two caches in State parks and know the rules. It is much harder to place one with them than you think. I have one I am doing for the Boy Scouts that's been waiting since March for permission from Olympia. They review each one with the Land Manager for environmental impact.

 

And, yes, the eco-cacher did NOT remove the cache as she said. She just made it worse by throwing the lid down on the ground and letting the cache container fill up with rain water. She's just mental.

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It would probably also be a good idea to explicitly state on the cache pages the details about who permission was granted by. Both as a message to Forest Defender and for the benefit of future cachers seeking the cache or considering placing caches in the area.

 

 

Caches in Washington State Parks are supposed to have a State Parks sanction banner on the cache page, which it appears that these caches do not have, and I suspect that the cache owners don't know about the requirement to have cache permits filed with State Parks, since these caches appear to have been placed before the permit system was established.

 

State Parks policy

 

My Mintercreek cache was just a nice spot off the side of the road. Mostly used by the local fishermen during Salmon season. The cache itself was no where near the stream and the tree was on a established trail just feet from the parking area. The info board was put there by the city. It is not a State park cache, so no permission is needed.

 

 

I wasn't refering to your cache specifically. There were some caches that are located in State Parks mentioned on the offending blog. And yes, I've heard that the process is long.

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This story made both King5 and NWCN this evening.

How sad for them. Geocachers do quite a lot to help the environment.

 

Plus, isn't there a notice inside each cache asking that the owner be contacted if there's a problem?

 

Some people just HAVE to ruin a fun, safe, and enjoyable hobby.

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Looks like this is getting some publicity. I read an article in the Everett Herald about the "geo-smashers" today. It was also mentioned on KIRO's radio station and here on KING 5 this afternoon.

Princess Trouble and dsvaughn did a great job of representin', and KING5 did a good piece. I wonder how/why the media picked up on this, though. Oh, and I was startled to see my "It's the Pits" cache featured. Looks like it's in good shape. ;)

Edited by hydnsek
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I saw this on King 5 last night and thought Only in the Northwest do you have someone worried that the Stinging Nettle is going to get stepped on. Who is going to tell the Deer and other animinals to only walk on the desiginated paths??? I am originally from Mississippi and we hunted all of the time. Never did we have to stay on trails to make sure we did not step on a "Weed". People in the Northwest should spend more time hugging themselves and less hugging Trees.

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I found this on a website some time age and thought that it would be appropriate for all of you who claim to be "Tree-Huggers" out there.

 

For a special encounter, go to a quiet park, forest, or woodland area in your neighborhood. Walk the trails among the trees until you feel comfortable in their presence. Amongst all the nearby trees, there is a special one just for you to discover. Gently and kindly touch the different kinds of bark textures with the palms of your hands and your fingertips. Smell the scents of the various types of woods. One and only one of them is awaiting your open arms. Absorb their life's energies as you look upwards to the sprawling branches overhead and the shade they provide. Find the perfect tree, the one that fits your mood. You will know which one is just right for you.

 

How to hug a tree:

 

1. Vertical Tree Hug: Encircle it with your arms, while gently pressing your cheek to the trunk, being careful not to scratch your face. Squeeze tightly. Sigh deeply and be one with your tree.

 

2. Full Body Tree Hug: Sit upon the ground, wrapping your legs around the base of the tree, and at the same time embracing it with your arms.

 

3. Up in the Air Tree Hug: Climb a tree, sit upon a strong limb and straddle it with your legs. Bend forward and place your belly against it, while wrapping your arms about it.

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Sad really, sure there are some geocachers that probably don't follow the rules but I would hope they are few and far between. On a recent exscursion SinWyrm and I hauled out a garbage bag and a half worth of crap from Beaver Creek here in CT (should have taken pics). Plus I am trying to organize a parking lot cleanup at Bailey's Pass at Ayer Creek. I would like to think we are doing our part.

 

I will say this, I am finding more and more "trinkets" to be nothing more than trash. The caches are NOT garbage bags!

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:lol:

Evidently FD has moved to Rhode Island.

 

I received an e-mail that all 8 of my caches were "hit" yesterday by this eco pirate. I have not ( NOT) had a chance to see if they were actually taken out, but I intend to stop and check the integrity of one placed with permission at a local park. I have a few P&G's that are hidden in plain sight, I'll check on them; if they are still there, great, if not, they'll be replaced.

 

I did check a few local caches that I have previously found, and saw that ForestDefenders had placed their usual rhetoric on a cache owner log.

 

F.D. also even placed this on a cache that has been archived http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...d7-f937db9c8310

and is no longer in place, so I am thinking that they are just spreading the word. :lol:

 

Until such time that I do find that my caches have been tampered with or removed, I'll replace them.

 

Geocaching has brought me to places that I never would have visited, I have seen beautiful sights in my own community that I never knew existed. None of my caches are tampering with wildlife, 7 of my 8 caches are micros, so no littering. I do take offense that someone would rather destroy something intended as fun, andalso educational in some cases.

 

I will not let a few eco-pirates ruin my experience, and I will persevere and keep caching.

 

SeekerRI

:lol::laughing::laughing:

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Forestdefenders apparently found mine, placed just off a trail in an old wall. This idiot needs to slip and break her ankle or something. I'll have to go back and replace it, can't let nutcases win the day.

 

She is now banned from geocaching.com, but apparently after 3041 finds. The finds are all over the country, so I'm guessing there are several wackos using the same account. The weird thing is that her account was opened yesterday, 3041 "finds" were listed on her profile before she was banned the next day. Very odd. Is this twit opening an account, spending hours logging caches that either she hasn't found or found previously, then getting banned as soon as the cache owners get the word and report her?

 

Fortunately there are alot more geocachers than "forestdefenders", so hopefully the impact on the hobby will be minimal.

Edited by crasher1339
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Perhaps FD should focus their efforts on cleaning up trash on highways, parking lots and our coastlines. We know there are tons of trash on the beaches. Their efforts could be better spent educating the public instead of terrorizing people that go out to see wildlife who dont bother anyone

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Perhaps FD should focus their efforts on cleaning up trash on highways, parking lots and our coastlines. We know there are tons of trash on the beaches. Their efforts could be better spent educating the public instead of terrorizing people that go out to see wildlife who dont bother anyone

 

Perhaps we should delete their comments on our cache sites.

 

I have always thought that ignoring an annoying person is to ignore them until they find a new soap box to jump on, one out of ear shot from me. :lol:

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Sorry if this is old news. And sorry to be the bearer of some bad. I was made aware of this individual's blog today....

 

http://protectsensitiveecosystems.blogspot...p;max-results=4

 

I don't get it. On this person's blog they state:

 

"Is it just meaness and a kill joy attitude that motivates us? No. Not at all. We find a number of caches and letterboxes placed in non sensitive areas. There are educational earth caches. Puzzels that are fun and leave no junk or swag in sensitive eco-systems. We sign the log and move on. If it were only meaness that motivates we would remove them all. If it were only meaness that motivates this blog wouldn't exist to warn and list the areas these things will not be tolerated."

 

So then why would a micro that I placed on my parents' property along a community placed trail that clearly states: "No need for any bushwhacking or climbing into any thorns. You do not need to go into the woods to retrieve it." be targeted by this nut? The blog (clearly someone in Washington state) acts as if they only care to remove caches that are placed in "eco-sensitive areas". So, how does mine apply? It looks as if either this person, or a copy-cat, just signed up yesterday and randomly spammed over 3000 caches just to get the word out. No thought or care went into any of the caches they targeted, the complete antithesis of what they state in their blog. I hope ForestDefenders is reading this. That's what you want, right? Attention? Then tell me how my itty-bitty micro applies and when you're gonna fly out from WA to destroy it? I'll have my parents have you arrested for trespassing. Darn hypocritical hippie... How much trash have I removed from local kids beer party hangouts in the woods that have nothing to do with geocaching? I'd love to shove a CITO right up their bottom. :lol:

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Perhaps FD should focus their efforts on cleaning up trash on highways, parking lots and our coastlines. We know there are tons of trash on the beaches. Their efforts could be better spent educating the public instead of terrorizing people that go out to see wildlife who dont bother anyone

 

Perhaps we should delete their comments on our cache sites.

 

I have always thought that ignoring an annoying person is to ignore them until they find a new soap box to jump on, one out of ear shot from me. :lol:

 

I agree. I already have deleted their comment from my cache page and posted my feelings here. There's no reason to be reminded of it every time I go to my cache page. I would have contacted the geo-terrorist personally with my comments, but like the coward they are, they leave no way to do that. Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I can now move on. :lol:

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Perhaps FD should focus their efforts on cleaning up trash on highways, parking lots and our coastlines. We know there are tons of trash on the beaches. Their efforts could be better spent educating the public instead of terrorizing people that go out to see wildlife who dont bother anyone

 

Perhaps we should delete their comments on our cache sites.

 

I have always thought that ignoring an annoying person is to ignore them until they find a new soap box to jump on, one out of ear shot from me. :lol:

 

I agree. I already have deleted their comment from my cache page and posted my feelings here. There's no reason to be reminded of it every time I go to my cache page. I would have contacted the geo-terrorist personally with my comments, but like the coward they are, they leave no way to do that. Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I can now move on. :lol:

 

I took the liberty of deleting their comments from my cache logs. They want to be eco-pirates, I'll censor their comments on my log, fight fire with fire

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just got an email on to caches I am watching close by my house....I am very sceptical that these ' defenders' have found these, and just 'logging' them....particularly greystone park ri cache...If these defenders were true to their words they would have to pick up garbage bags upon garbage bags of solid waste between the 50 feet from the parking to the cache. I seem to pick up more trash going to these caches than these people...maybe someone(s) has a grudge of not getting picked at kickball long ago.??

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The latest logs are done by a 'bot. There's this thread in the main forums about them and other bots. In the two days they were "members" they logged 3K+ caches with their "message".

 

:lol::lol::lol:

Checked 3 of my 8 that were "hit"; my caches are stll there unharmed, delete their posts on your cache log.

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I know it's confusing, but the current "forestdefenders" bot attack is not the same person who was destroying caches on Whidbey and other nearby areas and boasting about it in their blog. Different vandals, different motivations.

 

The bot vandal has simply borrowed the name and message to post thousands of bogus online logs - a bot attack by a hacker with no real life. There is no physical component, your caches should all be safe. Groundspeak would like you to delete all bogus logs and please do not click any embedded links, as they could be a gateway to malicious virus downloads or other mischief.

 

As Jester pointed out, there is a bot attack thread in the General Forum about these online attacks, where people are reporting new attacks and Groundspeak is following up by banning the bot accounts.

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Forestdefender found my cache. I have some ?'s.

Who is this person?

What region of u.s. are most of these caches?

Do they put bad things in the cache or vandalize them?

Is their link a virus?

thanks,

sushi

 

hcdenneen@verizon.net

Did you read the post above yours, and the thread it links to? They have the answers, so we don't have to repeat them each time. :lol:

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