Not very good news for Iowa cachers

[+lizs]

Hello, I'm in NE Iowa. I write a column on my outdoor adventures for a paper just across the Minnesota border. I just received a copy of a Letter to the Editor, which will be appearing in the paper regarding geocaching. Not only did this person address Minnesota state park issues, he also SPOKE TO IOWA PARK OFFICIALS ABOUT IT!!

 

I don't know if Iowa geocachers are talking to Iowa park officials about policies, but it looks like now would be a good time to kick it into high gear, since they have just been approached....and at high levels, too.

 

Here is the letter, for the most part:

 

Dear Ms. Brainard,

 

I am copying a "letter to the editor" which I am mailing to the River Valley Reader, below.

 

Dear Ms. Brainerd/ River Valley Reader

 

Since the time I moved to Southeast Minnesota, I have enjoyed reading your Journey vs. Destination column. Last night I read your column in the January 27th edition of the River Valley Reader. I commend you for getting out during this last cold snap (I'm ashamed to admit my black lab pup and I didn't venture any more than a mile down the Preston-Harmony Valley trail during the chill). However, I have some concerns about your nonchalance attitude towards Geocaching.

 

As a former employee of both the National Park Service and Minnesota State Parks, I have a rather dim view of this "sport".

 

Our countries’ states and federal governments have had the wisdom to set aside public lands for parks. These parks are usually created with a vision of accomplishing two goals: to provide recreational opportunities for visitors and to protect the natural, cultural and historical resources that make the park special. Geocaching is one of the many events where these two goals crash.

 

The National Park Service has made geocaching illegal since at least the year 2000. It became illegal in Minnesota State Parks in July of 2002. There are good reasons for this.

 

Many geocachers plant caches in locations with no regards for the resources of that area. Their cache has to withstand the elements, which often times means they are partially buried in the ground to keep them anchored. In planting a cache, the resources of the area can be seriously disturbed. Next, the location of the cache is posted on a website, like the one you listed in your column. This in turn leads to steady traffic in that

 

I checked out www.geocache.com, and looked for some caches in some of my favourite hiking areas. I saw many descriptions such as “dangerous to get to!” and “steep slopes off trail”. Many times the reason there is no trail in a steep sloped area is because of that slope. By planting a cache in that area, your welcoming traffic that can and will cause major erosion problems. I was curious about the stance Iowa State Parks has on Geocaching, so I contacted Kevin Szcodronski, Interim chief of Iowa State Parks. As of yet, Iowa has not developed a policy. However, he stated, “We are increasingly becoming aware of the activity. My initial reaction is that we will eventually have to regulate it to at least assure the activity does n

 

Kevin gave my name to the six Parks District Supervisors, and asked them to contact me with any geocaching activities they knew about. Tim Yancy responded saying that he had denied a permit for geocaching at Pleasant Creek State Park. His basic concern was that the applicant was vague about where he was going to plant the cache and that he wasn’t going to be onsite to monitor activities at the cache. Tim was concerned t

 

When your column covers an activity that I know very little about, it often gets me interested in that activity. I am worried that this will happen with your geocaching column. People will go out without the proper knowledge, rules, and etiquette, and will abuse our resources as a result.

 

Please understand that I am not against recreation on public lands. Nor am I against you writing about the enjoyment you have in your recreational activities. I myself am an active hiker, caver, and kayaker/canoer, who enjoys your column thoroughly.

 

But with this great freedom we have, the right to recreate on public lands, comes great responsibility. During this time when state park budgets are the grimmest in decades, our responsibility increases. As the legislature cuts monies to our parks, it is up to us to make wise decisions, so as to not damage resources any more than is necessary. The money to repair the damage caused by careless users is simply not ther

 

I urge you that whenever you choose to write about an outdoor recreational activity, you take the time to explain to your readers what impacts these activities have on the resources around it, and how these impacts can be kept to a minimum. Take the time to encourage readers to study up on local regulations before they partake in these activities. Provide your readers with the resources (state and local WebPages, telephone numbers, etc) where they can have questio

 

From one land-user to another,

 

(signed by the person)

 

-----------------------------------------------

Sorry about all this. I will post my column next, so you can see what I wrote about........ As far as the letter, I will respond to it and talk about what cachers are doing to address the questions. If any of you would like to respond and be quoted with your actual name, I'd be happy to take a look at your comments.

 

Thanks!! Lisa

[+lizs]

This is my column, which ran Monday, Jan. 27. Also, I should note, I have run other articles on geocaching. However, I don't think I went into land use stuff there either............

 

Journey vs.

Destination

Column

 

Column title:

Wind chills and caching: Things to do (and not do) when weather turns cold

 

Brrrrrrrrrr! Can you believe this streak of cold weather we’ve been having??

 

As what had been an unusually mild winter turns subarctic, the bitter temperatures seem even worse than normal.

 

It’s Thursday morning as I write this. Last night was predicted to have been the worst. The tempera-ture is around –12 as I write at my cozy computer nook, additional space heater at my side.

 

Please tell me it’s not my fault for this cold snap, now in its second week. After all, it was about three weeks ago that I ordered a new sleeping bag with a temperature rating of –15 degrees.

 

My idea was this: so far, my zero-degree sleeping bag was leaving me a bit chilly in my tent when outside temperatures were in the teens. I figured, “Minus 15-degree bag?? Yeah, I should be toasty in the teens.”

 

So the bag arrived. Temperatures dipped, as if to say, “OK, you wanted that bag. C’mon outside. We’re gonna give you the posted temps for that bag. C’mon outside. Try it out.”

 

Nope, no thanks! I’ll wait for temperatures in the teens or twenties to try it out. And then relegate my zero-degree bag for even warmer weather. Heck, I used it during an overnight of 65 degrees near the Colorado River a couple years ago. Of course, it was just thrown loosely over me, unzipped, with arms, legs and feet sticking out to capture some cool air.

 

I think the problem with that sleeping bag is that its loft might have become compressed a bit. Both my bags are insulated with goose down. However, if you leave a bag compressed in a stuff sack for too long, it can lose some loft.

 

Anyway, enough on that. Sunday I decided it was time to get outside (just not sleep overnight outside). A new geocache had been placed at the Volga River Recreation Area, a state park near Fayette, Iowa. It had not been found yet by anyone and I like the thrill (?) of having a “first find.”

 

Geocaches are containers hidden outside that hold little treasures. They are placed using a GPS unit to give latitude and longitude coordinates. Then, the geocacher looks for locations to hunt on www.geocaching.com

 

The containers might be Rubbermaid or Tupperware… or quite a few use ammunition cases. They need to be sealable, waterproof and ideally immune to an animal that might chew on them.

 

The treasures can be anything. Usually there’s a notebook and pen or pencil to log the find, and often it’s in a sealed baggie for extra protection. Treasures might include toys, coupons, coins and more.

 

The idea is this. You find the container, log your find in the notebook, take a treasure and leave some treasure to replace it.

 

Sometimes there are things called “Travel Bugs.” They are logged separately. You try to move them to different geocaches (or “caches”) and track their movements. Some are given destinations to reach.

 

So, anyhoo, Sunday I headed out, despite a very cold day. With the cache near the Volga River and former town site (now a campsite for horse people) of Albany, I had to climb to bluffs above the river. I went up the easy way, backtracking and taking a gentler slope up the bluffs.

 

After finding the cache, I decided to see if there was a way to go down the bluffs. At a break in the rocks, I saw there was and that I could do it by being careful. For added safety, I made sure there was a tree within grabbing distance of each step.

 

What fun! I also saw there was a “crack” maybe 1.5-2 feet wide at a different location and perhaps 20 feet high that led up the bluff

It looked like it would be a bit of rock climbing for those without gear, because I think you could “chimney” up it, that is, use your feet and arms to brace yourself between the sides to climb up. I’ll look forward to trying it on some warmer day, with more people along.

 

Then I headed to the Brush Creek Canyon State Preserve at Arlington, a place I’d first visited a number of years ago. It’s on a somewhat confusing, unmarked, dead end road. A lot of geocachers had had problems reaching it.

 

I arrived and headed off cross-country. Then I saw the funniest site of the whole day. There was an opossum clinging to a tree, possibly 20 feet high, the tree only around 10-15 inches in diameter.

 

It just stayed there, immobile. I’ve seen ‘possums in my garage and ‘possums squished on the road, but never in the wild. Camera at hand, I took a few shots of it.

 

Soon, I found the cache in a weird, camouflage-colored PVC pipe. The way it was set up, I couldn’t unscrew the top to get it open. Oh well, no problem. I have photos of it to prove I was there.

 

The final cache of the day was at Dutton’s Cave, a Fayette County Conservation Park near West Union.

 

I’d been to this one twice before and hoped the third time would be a charm. The first time I had no GPS along, just thinking I had good ideas as to hiding places. DOH!

 

The second time, I got to where the obvious hunt was going offtrail, but it was summer and I was wearing sandals and shorts. Nope, I didn’t want to fight with poison ivy!

 

On Sunday, I found the cache pretty easily. This one was in tough shape. Water had leaked into it. Things were moldy. Upon returning home, I posted a note that the owner should check the cache and possibly replace it.

 

Over all, a fun day spent hunting caches. In protected areas, it was pretty calm. Wind chills were obvious on the ridges, where the breeze blew hard and made my cheeks turn red. That’s OK when active, just don’t make me sleep outside in that. Even with the –15 bag.

 

Lisa Brainard is a reporter for the Republican-Leader and also plans trips for Hawkeye Stages. She can be reached at: lbrainard@republican-leader.com

[+mornin'glory]

get everybody organized now. do a letter writing campaign. check out in the forums about what happened with the arkansas state parks. it was very successful. the ozark mountain geocachers will help you as much as possible. let me know what you need help with.

 

Click to subscribe to ozmtngeocachers

if you cache it, they will come.

[+kbraband]

I replied to this over in the Midwest topic.

 

[+Team Tecmage]

We have a cache in a State Park. Not only was it placed with permission, we got a tour from the ranger with suggestions for good spots. We have not been in contact with upper management, but we might need to get that done in an organized way.

[+welch]

quote:

---

Originally posted by kbraband:

I replied to this over in the Midwest topic.

---

Me too, that thread

 

[+DBleess]

First and foremost, state parks aren't the only place to put caches so it's probably wise to not overreact like the complaintant has already. Guidelines for geocaching already emphasize that placers should avoid impacting the environment. We are out to improve, educate, and enjoy, not destroy. We are asked to clean up the environments we vist, not damage them. (Carry your trash bags people - cache in trash out) I think she also overestimated the traffic an average cache can generate. She is protective of "her" parks partly because she probably wants as few people as possible stomping through her forests. These places are here for all of us, and people who take advantage of lands maintained with all our tax money and then complain when others publicize that they exist however responsibly are being nothing more than selfish. A good starting point for an education would be this person. If she is just being selfish, then there is no winning. Then work on the state people and let them understand her motives. Most state people understand that there has to be a balance between use and protection and Geocaching is in that scheme an asset, not a liability. (Keep it that way people in all that you do) If she fears something will be damaged, a more appropriate action would be to educate us, so that we may help pass on that education to others. Keeping people out and ignorant is by far NOT the point of these facilities.

[+The Weasel]

Well, what can we do? We can do 1 of 3 things as I see it.

 

we can...

 

1) Forget about doing state parks.

 

2) MAKE them understand by doing letters to the editors in the Gazette and possibly Iowa Conservationist. We can also attend their board meetings. Those are open to the public, and they HAVE to let you speak. This may be the best way to get the district sups bosses in a room and let us be heard.

 

3) We can say screw them and put them out there anyway.

 

I personally lean towars number 2, but in order to do that, we have to be a group, not just 1 or 2 cachers. We have to get a group of us to go that know what we are talking about and can prove facts and not look retarded. I am more than happy to do this, but I don't think I can do it alone. Any volunteers?

[+WindChill]

quote:

 

 

Originally posted by DBleess:

you do) If she fears something will be damaged, a more appropriate action would be to educate us, so that we may help pass on that education to others.

 

 

This is a good point. If the parks people are concerned about our treatment of the parks, we need to convince them that our goals are in-line with theirs.

 

All the discussions Ive seen so far have talked about "controlling" placement of caches. Seems to me that if the rangers knew that a particular cacher (hider or hunter) was "qualified" they would have less concern about the environmental impact.

 

I hesitate to use the word license, but some kind of card/certificate that shows an individual is "Parks Dept Approved" might help. I think I remember that the Leave No Trace folks have some classes. Or, maybe you just have a ranger go on a hunt with you to see how you behave.

 

Thoughts?

[+spinwebby]

Not to worry about Iowa...

 

Great Plains Geocaching is in contact with Iowa state officials and they have confirmed that there is NO policy at this time. They ask that geocachers (follow the policy of gc.com/Groundspeak) and contact the park manager or ranger for permission. GPGeocaching completely concurs! ALWAYS ASK PERMISSION!

 

We will be coordinating the effort to establish fair use policies with Iowa (as well as other states) and will attempt to post notifications on the gc.com discussion boards, but we also have our own mailing list on www.gpgeocaching.com. Please sign up to be a member (free) to be included on our email list.

 

Please be courteous to park officials at all times, too. Its very helpful for them to learn first hand, that geocachers are nice people, and not hostile.

 

THX!!!

 

SpinWebby

www.gpgeocaching.com

 

[+The Weasel]

quote:

---

Originally posted by WindChill:

quote:

 

 

Originally posted by DBleess:

you do) If she fears something will be damaged, a more appropriate action would be to educate us, so that we may help pass on that education to others.

 

 

This is a good point. If the parks people are concerned about our treatment of the parks, we need to convince them that our goals are in-line with theirs.

 

All the discussions Ive seen so far have talked about "controlling" placement of caches. Seems to me that if the rangers knew that a particular cacher (hider or hunter) was "qualified" they would have less concern about the environmental impact.

 

I hesitate to use the word license, but some kind of card/certificate that shows an individual is "Parks Dept Approved" might help. I think I remember that the Leave No Trace folks have some classes. Or, maybe you just have a ranger go on a hunt with you to see how you behave.

 

Thoughts?

---

 

They just need to give us a CHANCE to prove ourselves. Prove that this sport is benificial, not harming.

[+lizs]

I wrote an e-mail back to the guy (was a GUY, not a gal) who had written me, explaining how people are approaching park officials and trying to create rules/conditions acceptable to both. I also said I would elaborate further in writing a response to the issue in my column for next week.

 

His response was a sheepish one, something like: Sometimes us park officials get a bit uppity and need to be knocked down a notch or two. I didn't realize geocachers were talking with land use managers.

 

(am posting this to both Midwest and Great Plains forums)

 

I will also post what I write. My intention was not to create widespread hysteria and kneejerk reactions in my response to receiving the letter from this guy. I feel bad it was a column of MINE that set this off. However, I understand the need for policies and am behind it 100%. I just wanted to get word out that if land managers had not yet been approached in Iowa, the topic was being broached by someone outside the GPS ranks... so it would be a good time to jump on the topic and be pro-active. Thanks.

[+lizs]

Here's what I wrote. Am posting to both Midwest and Great Plains forums. You may find yourself quoted in here. I took out some personal attacks on the letter writer, you'll note.....

 

TITLE: What will tons of geocaches do to the environment?

 

I’d like to thank Chris Ingebretson of Harmony for writing a Letter to the Editor last week regarding my Jan. 27 “Journey vs. Destination” column, which dealt with my hobby of geocaching.

 

For those not “in the know,” geocaching makes use of a GPS unit to seek what might be considered “hidden treasures.”

 

Ingebretson pointed out I hadn’t mentioned environmental concerns with geocaching, which will be addressed shortly here. I’ll also note the efforts by area geocachers who are trying to work within the framework of park services.

 

First, however, I don’t feel I gave a full history of the activity of geocaching. I’d like to quote from an article by Bob McEowen in Rural Missouri magazine, a publication for rural electric cooperative members in that state.

 

McEowen explains it well:

 

"Geocaching — pronounced “gee-oh-cash-ing” — challenges participants to locate hidden ammo boxes and Tupperware containers using a handheld GPS, or global positioning system, device. The exact coordinates of these caches are posted on the Internet and geocachers spend evenings, weekends and family vacations searching for them.

 

"Although few caches contain anything of value, the allure of finding the unknown has attracted thousands of players. The game is little more than two years old and already there are nearly 40,000 caches hidden in more than 160 countries.

 

"The key to geocaching is the GPS device, which receives signals from the U.S. government’s 24 navigational satellites and displays the longitude and latitude position of any spot on Earth.

 

"Geocachers use the devices, which cost from $100 to about $300, to both determine the location of caches they hide and to guide them in their search for others.

 

"In May of 2000 President Clinton signed an order, which granted civilians access to the same clear signal the military and other government agencies used. While once the GPS units used by fishermen and hikers would get them within a football field’s length of a coordinate, overnight they became accurate to 20 feet or less.

 

"Taking advantage of the improved civilian satellite access, GPS enthusiasts in the Pacific northwest begin hiding containers of toys and trinkets along trails and in parks and challeng-ing others to find them. Two months after Clinton’s order the geocaching.com Web site was in place and a new pastime was born.

 

"The rules are simple: Find the cache. If you take something out, leave something in its place. Record your name and any swaps you make in the logbook in the cache. Go back to geocaching.com and enter your find on the page that describes the cache.

 

"Most caches contain little more than keychains, small toys and other souvenirs. Some also contain a “travel bug,” which is an item attached to a special tag bearing a serial number. Travel bugs travel from cache to cache, usually with an intended destination, and their progress can be tracked on the Internet.

 

"Virtual caches guide geocachers to a monument, tombstone or other landmark to answer a question posed on the Web site. Other variations involve offset- and multi-caches, in which the coordinates provided lead the searcher to more clues. A new aspect of the game has geocachers searching for survey bench-marks."

 

There, now that’s a great explanation of the hobby of geo-caching. In his Letter to the Edi-tor, Ingebretson said I hadn’t clearly pointed out the wear and tear put on the environment by a great number of geocachers tromping through the woods – and perhaps very fragile places – to find what also is called simply a “cache.”

 

He was quite correct in calling me to task for failing to mention concerns involved. Saying he had been a national park and Minnesota park em-ployee, Ingebretson wrote: “Our country's state and federal governments have had the wisdom to set aside public lands for parks. These parks are usually created with a vision of accomplishing two goals: to provide recreational opportunities for visitors and to protect the natural, cultural and historical resources that make the park spe-cial. Geocaching is one of the many events where these two goals crash. The National Park Service has made geocaching illegal since at least the year 2000. It became illegal in Minnesota State Parks in July of 2002.”

 

To this day, many geocachers regret they did not have the foresight to address the concerns about the hobby before it was banned in Minnesota parks. A check into the www.geocaching.com’s forums reveals a group concerned with the environment and also hoping to use the sport of geocaching to teach people about the outdoors and the environment.

 

A poster going by the handle “Dbleess” of Bellevue, Nebraska writes: “… Guidelines for geo-caching already emphasize that placers should avoid impacting the environment. We are out to improve, educate, and enjoy, not destroy. We are asked to clean up the environments we visit, not damage them. (Carry your trash bags people - cache in; trash out.) I think (it was) overesti-mated the traffic an average cache can generate. … A good starting point for an education would be (individual) persons. … Then work on the state people… Most state people understand that there has to be a balance between use and protection and geocaching is in that scheme an asset, not a liability. (Keep it that way people in all that you do.)”

 

A gal who goes by “spinwebby” and lives in Central Iowa – and who also formed a group called Great Plains Geocaching – wrote to the chief of the Iowa park system, whom Ingrebretson also had contacted.

 

Spinwebby reports the parks chief sent her this letter: “We do not have any information/policies on geocaching at this time. Given its apparent increase in popularity, we may have to establish specific policies in administrative rules in the near future. Until that time, I want all geocaching activities to be coordinated and approved by park staff and their respective district supervisor. Nothing should be hid or placed in a state park without the knowledge of the local park ranger or manager. I'll be glad to visit with you if you would like more information. Thanks for contacting me, Kevin Szcodronski, Interim Chief, Iowa State Parks.”

 

Ken Braband – a former Iowan and a member of the Wisconsin Geocaching Association writes: “… We are taking a pro-active stance here in Wisconsin to work in close cooperation with the DNR State Parks managers to develop a geocaching policy. So far, things are going well in Wisconsin. The DNR has expressed support for geocaching because they understand what it's all about and because we – the Wisconsin Geocaching Associa-tion – are pledging our support to help self-police the activity.”

 

“Spinwebby” additionally writes: “I’ve offered to help establish mutually agreeable rules that help protect the (Iowa parks) land, but still allow geocachers to enjoy the parks. I'll stay in touch with him (Kevin Szcodronski.) But for now, the rule holds.... Contact the park ranger/manager for permission to stash!”

 

Geocachers increasingly realize the role they must play as good stewards of the land. As a new, fledgling sport, the placement of caches far outran any regulations. Now, as the sport matures, stipulations for cache placement come into place. As with any activity, there may be a few who insist on doing things their own way, which can ruin it for the rest of us. But, for the most part, geocachers are united in support of better land use rules.

 

I’d like to thank Chris Ingebretson and his Letter for the Editor for giving me a chance to address this issue.

 

Lisa Brainard is a reporter for the Republican-Leader and also plans trips for Hawkeye Stages. She can be reached at: lbrainard@republican-leader.com