Latest Proposal

[Guest bunkerdave]

d, just taking up space and gaining weight, until Geocaching got them out of the house. Since its inception, Geocaching has taken an active role in preserving the beauty of the landscape and in promoting responsible outdoor recreation practices. Most participants do so as a family, which increases the time spent together and strengthens family relationships. When Geocaches are placed in State Parks and other fee-use areas, the revenue for those areas are increased. As has been mentioned previously, the ?Cache In, Trash Out? program removes unsightly litter from the landscape, and Geocachers don?t just leave this trash in the receptacles in the parks and other areas, they take it home with them and put it in their own trash bins. It is no secret that our government land managers are understaffed and under funded. There is no possible way that with current manpower and funding, the Bureau of Land Management, or any of the other land management agencies, can succeed in accomplishing their mission of enforcing the various regulations placed on users of public land. How much better to encourage responsible use through a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship for all the parties involved? Geocaching.com was established less than a year ago, and recent estimates place the number of participants in excess of 30,000. If all those individuals were put to use cleaning up trails, reporting violations, and helping to maintain facilities, there is literally no end to the good that might be accomplished.

[Guest navdog]

Looking good David.

 

Maybe it would be good to emphasize that:

--Buried caches are not allowwed or discouraged.

--There is a new policy in in the works to monitor cache activity and that unused and abandoned caches will be removed.

--Commercial caches are not allowed.

--Inclusion of a separate copy of the "Guide to hiding and placing a cache" to emphasize the guidelines/rules Jeremy has included in the website. This mentions alot on the enviromental concerns that new cachers are given.

 

[This message has been edited by navdog (edited 07 August 2001).]

[Guest LoCache]

EXCELLENT work!!! This is a GREAT document! As a member of the Georgia Geocachers Association (established to promote responsible Geocaching in Georgia and help solve issues with areas where Geocaching is not allowed) I am pleased to see this...we have been working on similar ideas and will likely incorporate much of your excellent work in to our efforts (if you don't mind!).

 

Thanks for your efforts and best of luck to you...If there is anything we can do in Georgia, please let us know!

 

Geo

 

http://www.geocaching.com/geotrex

(info about the GGA posted there soon!)

[Guest Count de Cache]

Good start!

 

I would suggest a few things:

 

Begin with an "executive summary" introductory paragraph(s) specifically requesting permission or establishment of a procedure for getting approval for geocaching. State upfront that caches are small and environmentally safe. Mention the problems that have occurred (such as the Boston incident) and our desire to avoid such.

 

Emphasize not only that it gets new people to see and appreciate our natural resources, but that this can translate into more official interest taken, and larger budgets for, parks and such.

 

Give some examples (from anecdotes in the forum) of federal, state, and/of local officials that have taken favorable views of the activity, to show that not all official reaction is negative.

 

The defusing of the possible objection that caches are trash is good. Add to this a "premptive strike" refuting the problems that came up in the Boston incident (caches are not "abandoned property" since they are regularly visited and maintained; geocachers are not "treasure hunting" because of the insignificant value of cache contents).

 

Keep up the good work.

[Guest Betty]

Yes, open with a concise statement of just what it is we are asking their permission for us to do, both to hide and to seek. Be more specific regarding the size, contents, and perhaps durability of the cache box itself. That would be their biggest concern. We should also try to describe how much and what kind of traffic a cache is apt to induce. They would be concerned about the typical search-group size. I presume it would usually be just one or two people, and perhaps with a kid or two.

[Guest spiny norman]

When I talked to a Corps of Engineer Manager today, his first concern was how many caches would end up being placed as the sport/hobby grew. Might want to address that as well.

[Guest Elwood]

Bunkerdave,

you really put alot of thought into your presentation, and it looks really good on paper, i hope everyone associated with geocaching reads it and modifies their caching behaviour if they arent being responsible in our use of the outdoor recreation ares we have so close and so abundant to us.

you could incorporate alot of that into a GEOCACHING mission statement, ie. expressing that as geocachers we should all not look to just find the box , but to enjoy the beauty of the area we are in , and do our part to maintain that beauty by cleaning up any refuse etc. on our way out.

i think your statement really shows geocaching in its best light.

thanks for putting our best foot forward!

Elwood

[Guest bunkerdave]

I thank all of you for your input. In the future, I will have to implement these suggestions in proposals. I hope none will be necessary, however.

 

bd