Geocaching Crackdown?

thejuggler writes "Some cities and counties are banning or considering banning geocaching in their parks. "It's good, clean, wholesome fun - just do it someplace else," said Brian Adams, chief of resource protection for the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, which has banned geocaching. The geocaching.com website claims there are over 600 caches within 100 miles of the twincities."

Comments

Re:likeness to litter

[SnowDeath]

Have you even ever read the rules, or gone a cache for that matter? Caches do *not* get buried, just covered in leaves or sticks or stones - usually in ammo boxes or tupperware, something insanely difficult for wildlife to open if it found it. But then again, since the rules state no leaving food, wildlife is never a problem.

I have only been on 5 caches so far, but we have *never* left a trace that we were there, save for a prize exchage and a entry in the log book.

Your argument is insulting and just plain ignorant

Re:likeness to litter

[r00t_ur_b0x]

What separates caches from litter is that most caches are out of the way from common areas and well-maintained. Litter is on the main paths and carelessly dropped by those with no respect for the areas they are visiting. As a side note, geocachers often pick up litter on the way to and from caches. (Check out the 'cache in, trash out' policy on the webpage).

A reasonable reaction

[mblase]

This isn't the first time someone's complained about geocaching in public-owned lands. Ideally, geocaching wouldn't produce any problems -- you locate the stash, extract it, exchange one item for your own, and re-stash it -- except that the fun of geocaching comes when you have to hunt a bit. That sometimes means digging up the ground, climbing (and re-climbing) trees, or otherwise moving or stressing things that shouldn't be constantly moved or stressed.

The Petrified Forest National Park in the U.S. doesn't allow visitors to pick up bits of petrified wood off the ground, asking them to buy it from the gift shop instead, because it would eventually lead to the removal of all the small samples that make the place what it is. Imagine geocachers roaming and digging all around that place.

Sometimes, preserving natural beauty means inconveniencing the same visitors who've come to see it. I don't consider this unreasonable, since there's still thousands of acres of land, public and unowned, that geocachers can still use. They may not be as scenic to get to, that's all.

Re:A reasonable reaction

[wass]

Don't you DARE feed that squirrel or bird, you're disrupting nature!

This statement makes me doubt the sincerity of the rest of your arguments about loving nature and respecting the wilderness and wildlife.

I have been to many national and state parks and feeding animals is universally a bad thing. The main reason is because the more you feed animals the less dependent they become on their abilities to forage and search for food, and hence can starve during the winter months.

Regarding birds and metro parks, did you ever notice that groups of birds congregate around park benches when you eat? This is a direct consequence to them getting fed by others and hoping to get fed again.

Another and more important reason, though, is that once you feed wildlife, the animals learn that those curious humanoid bipeds will tend to give them food. They start approaching humans more often to get food. And sometimes becoming agressive.

This is particularly destructive with predatory animals like bears. In some forests around here in the Northeast, for some unknown reason people feed the bears. Said bears then approach other people, sometimes agressively. What the original feeders don't know is that the park rangers must destroy bears that do this. So, if you feed bears or other agressive animals, you are actually contributing to their destruction.

This isn't just with bears, it's a common case with deer too. Have you ever seen a deer painted bright orange? This means the deer has agressively approached people before trying to get food. It's painted orange because if it happens again then the rangers have to destroy the deer.

So that's why it's important not to feed the wildlife, because you really are changing their feeding behavior. And since you were unaware of this it makes me doubt the sincerity of the rest of your comment.

Contact: Brian Adams @ 715-483-3284 x 629

[ddawdy]

Contact: Brian Adams, Chief, Resource Protection @ 715-483-3284 x 629 Please voice your opinion to Brian for banning geocaching after admitting "It's good, clean, wholesome fun..."

The article

[skillet-thief]

Someone said the site was /.ed... Not for me, so here's the artcle:

MINNESOTA: GPS treasure hunt under fire
BY BOB SHAW
Pioneer Press

Ian Stevens checks his GPS unit, as rain drips off the end of his ponytail.

The GPS arrow points to the east, and Stevens begins another session of geocaching -- a sport like a high-tech scavenger hunt -- in Cottage Grove's Ravine Park.

Three park officials walk up. Will they kick him out?

Not today. The developing friction between geocachers and park officials doesn't materialize.

"Did I hear you say you were geocaching? You are the first one I have seen here," said parks manager Mike Polehna, who seems intrigued. "There's no problem as long as you aren't disturbing the natural areas of the park."

But officials in other parks, faced with an onslaught of geocachers, are scrambling to develop restrictions. Recently, St. Croix National Scenic Waterway in Wisconsin announced a ban on geocaching, and other parks are considering lesser restrictions.

Whatever they decide, they have no choice but to deal with it. Geocaching didn't exist a few years ago, but now, according to the official geocaching Web site, there are more than 600 caches within 100 miles of the Twin Cities.

The sport depends on two new technologies: the Internet and handheld GPS units, which use satellite signals to show the user the precise longitude and latitude of their location.

The geocachers search for a nearby cache on the Web site, record the longitude and latitude of their prize, and then use GPS locators to get within a few yards of the caches. Usually, the caches are in plain sight or under twigs or leaves -- never buried in dirt.

Caches contain such things as trinkets, souvenirs or coins. Searchers are free to take or leave what they like. They then sign into the logbooks.

At home, they record their work on the Web site. Online conversations develop between finders and placers of geocaches.

But it's not for everyone.

"My husband thinks it's the most moronic sport ever," said Nola Cutts, co-chairwoman of the state Geocaching Association, who goes geocaching with her children twice a week. "But he's into fly fishing, so I guess we all have our own moronic sports."

The group was started, she said, "to educate parks departments about what geocaching is and to show them we are not evil people tearing up the parks.

"Ninety percent of us pick up bottles and cans, whatever we find. It's part of the game," she said.

Cutts, 43, of Anoka, takes several of her five children when she goes geocaching. "It gets the kids outdoors, away from TV," said Cutts. "We see wildlife. We talk."

Robert Sime, a Richfield dad, takes his 4-year-old daughter out about twice a month. He said parks should adjust to what the public sees as legitimate use. "When volleyball came along, they all put in courts for that," he said.

The sport even attracts geo-tourists. Jonathan Gorton, a 43-year-old Milwaukee man who says he has a condition like muscular dystrophy, visits the Twin Cities "because we have pretty much picked Milwaukee clean. We found 428 caches."

That kind of fanaticism bothers some park officials, who say geocaching leads to geotrashing.

They don't want anything left behind in parks.

They worry that hundreds of people tramping through their woods will damage plants and habitat.

"It's good, clean, wholesome fun -- just do it someplace else," said Brian Adams, chief of resource protection for the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, which has banned geocaching.

Earlier this year, he and park officials were startled to learn of several geocache sites in their park. On one site, said Adams, balloons were left. "That's not a good thing. Waterfowl and birds eat brightly colored things," said Adams.

In Minnesota, other park officials don't express such vocal opposition.

"It gets people outdoors, which is kind of neat," s

Re:likeness to litter

[jridley]

I've never seen a single cache that could be mistaken for litter. An ammo box or well sealed tupperware container painted black, hand lettered with "Dave's XYZ cache #5 - geocaching.com", with the standard notice placed inside explaining to an accidental discoverer what geocaching is, and giving a name and phone number for authorities to call if the cache is in any way in violation of rules so that the placer can reclaim and remove the cache, placed 20 feet off the trail, in the crotch of a tree and covered with sticks, is not what litter typically looks like.

I've not seen any evidence that any cacher has littered. Most times you can tell the cachers on the trails because they have a bag full of litter that they have PICKED UP and are carrying out of the park. My kids and I pull out more trash every time we visit a cache than any 50 careless people are likely to leave behind.

Absurdities of geocaching...

[raytracer]

Firstly, I'm an irregularly active cacher (78 finds or so at last count). I find the hobby to be a lot of fun, and good exercise. It gets me motivated to go to parks I might overlook and to hike deeper into them than I normally would. I've also attended numerous local caching events, and met a lot of nice people.

In all the 78 caches that I've found, I've never seen any sign that the placement of this cache was even visible, much less causing any damage to the surrounding environment with a single exception. I once found the contents of a cache scattered all over the side of a hill. Why? Because somebody had not read the rules, and had left cookies in the cache. Oh well. What did I do? I carefully gathered every scrap of stuff and repackaged it all. Problem solved.

Caching is an environmentally friendly activity. It gets people out to parks they normally wouldn't, and gets them to pick up trash in those parks. Just one motivated individual can clean up a lot of trash, and caching puts hundreds or thousands of them out every weekend.

I do understand the motivation in trying to limit damage to sensitive areas, say, where endangered birds or plants can be found, but cachers are more than willing to try to adopt these reasonable restrictions. There is currently a ban on geocaching in national parks. Guess what? You won't find any caches in national parks. I hope that state parks do not follow suit in making a general ban, but instead work with geocachers to try to establish reasonable guidelines for the placement of caches. The idea of moving caches at least once every 12 months to prevent trail formation is a sane and reasonable solution, and I doubt that any cacher would have any issues with that.

Give it a try. It's a lot of fun.