Is It Time To Form An Organized Group?

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Reading some of the recent posts in the thread under that title, it comes to mind that although I thought recently that we didn't really need one, since there haven't been many difficulties with land managers in our area, I may have been mistaken.

 

Many regions have organized groups to aid with the education of land managers and others about the positive aspects of the geocaching game, as well as dealing with other issues that affect the region in relation to the game. Is it time to form a Group that could help work on these types os situations? Is there anyone that has good qualifications to lead that type of group in our area, and might be willing to spearhead an effort to create one? What are your thoughts on the matter?

[+Green Achers]

There is a group organized to defend Geocaching from the ignorant statements and policies of the East Bay Reginal Park Department. That happened after one of their officials shot off his mouth about Geocachers cutting fences, digging up treasures and littering. Of course they dude had his facts wrong but he sets policies including pulling all Geocaches in their kingdom (which they started but have since stopped). I'm not sure where all that sits now as I've flaked from supporting the group. If you'd like an update, I believe Marky is tuned in.

 

BTW, Here's the link to the lastest thread regarding EBRPD.

Edited February 26, 2005 by Green Achers

[+sammydee]

I'm no expert, that's for sure. But for my two cents:

 

We may need a "formal" organization at some point - but for now we need a couple of volunteers per district that can commit to a long term relationship and presence with their local parks district. I stll haven't seen anyone volunteer to go to the next EBRPD meeting...seems like that should be a real priority!

 

Whoever goes needs to be polite, helpful, informative, non-combative. LISTEN a lot, take a lot of notes, figure out who does what. Maybe talk a tiny bit, but just a tiny bit. We need to learn how the system works, THEN figure out how to monitor it to make sure it's not doing something silly behind our backs, only THEN can we try to influence it. We need to get hooked into the processes for the long term, not try to solve all of the problems in the world in one meeting.

 

Building relationships and trust will be a long-term process, and it needs to go district by district. Some folks need to take "ownership" of the geocaching relationship with EBRPD. Other folks need to take "ownership" of the geocaching relationship with SCC Parks (I'm encouraged that we may have this one covered.) And so on, all around the Bay.

 

If this is going to be done, it HAS to be done with great care and great respect and caution. Establishing a more formal, visible presence has an up side and a down side.

 

UP side: The powers that be understand us better, take us into account when making decisions, and our interests are preserved.

 

DOWN side: We put ourselves in their face, and they can no longer ignore us as they have. They'll have to take an official position. That might be good, or it might be bad.

 

I'm not sure if there's a crisis here in general (it seems like there's a bit of one at EBRPD, which is why getting someone to that meeting next week seems like it's so important). I don't know that we have a "crisis" with the others. But we ARE getting on their radar, and we DO need to know what they are thinking and doing.

 

At a minimum, every senior planner for every parks department and every open space district should be able to say, "Geocachers? Yes, I've met some. They seem like nice people, but that's a really odd way to have fun."

 

Today I think most of them would say, "Geocachers? I hear they are causing trouble in some spots. Some of my peers have banned it. I've never met anyone who geocaches and I sure hope those hoodlums don't come to my park."

 

If we can accomplish that, I think a lot of the rest will sort itself out. And accomplishing that is about relationships and education, not about petitions and confrontation.

 

OK, that was more than two cents. I've only got 144 finds; that's all I get to say. Others with more vested in this need to speak up.

 

...Sam

[+r.haus]

At a minimum, every senior planner for every parks department and every open space district should be able to say, "Geocachers?  Yes, I've met some.  They seem like nice people, but that's a really odd way to have fun." 

 

Great idea Sam. This would help fight the "misinformation" that seems to spread in these groups.

 

I think having an organized group would be a boon to the Bay Area caching community. It would add some credibility and also allow us (the caching community) to be better represented as issues come up with land managers etc.

 

What would be involved? What else would/could the organization do? Who is going to do the work and how would it be funded?