+Sherriff Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 I am in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada which is in between Niagara Falls and Toronto. Nice area with a beautiful escarpment running all though Sounthern Ontario. Problem is, since I started caching and placing caches, I realize how sparse our public green space really is. I never really considered it before and now I am just disgusted. I realize I am in a large city with a huge population but the green spaces are tiny and just jammed in between highways, bridges etc. I was fortunate enought to live for a year in a small town British Columbia on the West cost of Canada. Out there, the crown land forests go for miles and miles. I guess I have just had a real eye opener....Also, one of our conservation areas in the city is still all wild and untouched. Nothing has been done to the area yet as far as setting up a gate house or walking paths. I went in there and it was a dumping ground for garbage, tires, shingles. Very sad really.... Any thoughts?? Thanks Sherriff Quote Link to comment
+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 We used to be city dwellers ourselves but 11 years ago we moved to Oregon and now it's hard to find a city. But we'll be city dwellers again one day when we make the move to Maui. Quote Link to comment
+GEO*Trailblazer 1 Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 SHERRIFF HMMM looks like a good place to start a CITO Event to clean up that Greenspace as you call it. I am sure the Local Officials would be pleased by these actions,get them involved(Like I did with our County Commissioners)they like to see and help with Public Matters,They are Public Officials. We went through Niagra Last year and there were no caches at that time,but it looks like we are getting a few more cachers up that way now. Get involved in your local community and start a small group even if it is only 2-3 to begin with and expand and get more people involved. Just my thoughts. Happy.....................................................................Geotrails Quote Link to comment
+Doc-Dean Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 Its nice to see another person enlightened by being a geocacher. I hope its contagious! Quote Link to comment
+MaisOui & Avrohead Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 (edited) Sherriff Well, as you can see, this is my very first post. I am in Stoney Creek, and feel your pain... We are quite new to geocaching, having a great time, but are getting stumped on places to put a new cache. I'm not familiar with the area you are talking about, but the CITO event sounds good. Are you aware of the OGA (Ontario Geocaching Association)? They are trying to get people involved in CITO events all over the province, and I believe that one is planned in the Hamilton area. I think that you could contact The Blue Quasar for information on who is heading up the Hamilton one. Or perhaps someone in the forums knows? Maisoui Edited March 3, 2004 by MaisOui & Avrohead Quote Link to comment
cool_and_the_gang Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 Until they figure out how they can make money by leaving it in place, I fear that the developers will continue to eat away at open space until the entire continent is "improved" from coast to coast. Wait, let me put on my flame retardant clothing. (pause) OK - flame away. Actually, I'm involved with construction and so should support development and as a capitalist and defender of democracy and freedom understand the impulse of landowners to want to maximize thier profit from the value of thier land. My experience so far has been that it usually doesn't occur in a sustainable manner and has led to the ever decreasing number of green spaces and open vistas we enjoy. I wish that humans were a little more far sighted than we seem to be and I think that there is some measure of balance that we as a society haven't found yet. We will (or our kids will) miss it once it's all gone. On the positive side: There's alot more places for micros! Peace to all. Quote Link to comment
+mbrownjer Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 HMMM looks like a good place to start a CITO Event to clean up that Greenspace as you call it. I am sure the Local Officials would be pleased by these actions,get them involved(Like I did with our County Commissioners)they like to see and help with Public Matters,They are Public Officials. ... Get involved in your local community and start a small group even if it is only 2-3 to begin with and expand and get more people involved. Do you have Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or something similar in the area? You might be able to get some help there. Offer to teach them about Geocaching, and then enlist their help in a CITO or trail building effort. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 (edited) Living in northern NJ, we have a similar problem. We are lucky enough to have some excellent state parks and many thousands of acres of undeveloped land in the northern part of the state, but much of it is in private hands and threatened by development. The state has set aside millions to purchase as much of this land as possible, but they are moving slowly, as government tends to (unless it's removing geocaches from national parks). One of the reasons I hide caches in certain places is to introduce people to the beauty of the area (yes, we have beautiful areas in New Jersey...no Turnpike and refinery jokes please). The more people who are aware of them, the more advocates you have. Now I'm no tree hugging, Sierra Clubber (Heck, I'm a card carrying Republican), but every time I see a forested hillside turned into a McMansion development, or golf course, I feel we lost something. Edited March 3, 2004 by briansnat Quote Link to comment
MustangPhreak&Phate Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 Here in Austin, Texas we are actually quite lucky. For being a little "big" city we still have plenty of Hike and Bike Trails along a protected Greenbelt that seems to go on forever. Don't get me wrong, there has been quite a lot of development going on and every year the area seems to be more built up but quite a bit of the development attempts to be 'environment' friendly. Leaving trees that don't really need to be dug up, etc.. There's something to be said for all the granola eating tree-huggers around here, thank goodness! Unfortunately we also see a lot of the disturbing trends you are seeing as well. It's amazing how many areas that we go into that you walk past homeless camps or left-over party pits. I'll admit we haven't been as good as we could be about doing CITO when caching since much of the time we are squeezing in one or two at lunch but I think that we have started to realize to ensure that the area stays nice for future generations of cachers we need to start slowing down on caching, be sure to always carry gloves and a garbage bag, and take the time to REALLY CITO the area. As far as your area, I'll echo what the others have said..it sounds like time to organize an event (get noncachers involved too!). I bet together y'all can really make a difference!! Good Luck!! Quote Link to comment
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