Conseervation Question

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:31 pm

Ok, I have a tough question for you all:

With geocaching continuing the explosive rates of new cachers and new caches to find, what are your goals or ideas that WGA can do to help promote outdoor ethics while geocaching (except CITO)?

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:42 pm

My initial thoughts on this follow the line of just because you can do something, doesn't mean its a good idea.

As one grows in the sport of geocaching, you find out how quickly a poorly placed cache can impact the environment. A container in a flowerbed, an ammo box under a footbridge, a pill bottle in a tree stump may all seem like a great place for a cache placement, and in the right place, it very well might be but if the flowerbed is getting thrashed, the stump is a bit rotten and easily breaking away when touched, the stream bank trampled and eroded away would easily tell a seasoned cacher that it is time to pull the plug. Newer cachers wishing to run out and place a bunch of caches may not count these costs (not saying it is just new cachers either).

Only by education and tutoring can these problems be averted. Spreading the "Leave No Trace" philosophy is a great start and not just talking the talk but walking the walk. I believe that it is not so much a Board of Directors responsibility to promote this as it is a WGA member responsibility. If anyone has an idea on how to promote any initiative for the betterment of geocaching, no matter who is on the BOD, bring that forward to them. I would highly doubt that a good idea would go unnoticed.

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:23 am

Not that tough of a question, Dave, but a good one.

Promoting outdoor ethics has alwasy been a one of the reasons for the existance of the WGA. One of the bullet points in Article II of the WGA Bylaws states that the purpose of the WGA is to "Promote the 'Cache In Trash Out' and 'Leave No Trace' programs to help in the maintenance of parks and trail systems."

This is one of the things that is, unfortunatly, less "fun" than some of the other things we do. We've got the CITO thing pretty well covered, but our support of Leave No Trace has been less than it could be.

You did a great job manning the LNT booth at the West Bend event last year, but you found out first hand how hard it is to get volunteers. Perhaps we could work a little more closely with you and have some of our (too few) volunteers help man the LNT booth.

Other than asking for help getting volunteers, you haven't really asked for any help or support from the WGA. Since the LNT program is specifically mentioned in our bylaws, the WGA should help you out in any way possible. I would be happy to help you plan and host an event to promote Leave No Trace and would lobby to have it sponsored as a WGA regional event.

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 2:13 am

Looks like our incumbants covered the answer quite well!

I would add that I cached at the West Bend Cash Bash for the first 2 years, using the stamps and game card. The several hundred cachers were most definitely leaving more than a trace! So I cached on the way there Friday afternoon, only grabbing a few (7) before registering at the Mega Event booth. Geotrails are disturbing to me, and a reason why I occassionally move a hide or Archive it, speaking as a cache owner. Adding this point at 101 sessions may help, but it is getting a bit crowded in places!

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:23 am

CacheNoTrace wrote:

Ok, I have a tough question for you all:

With geocaching continuing the explosive rates of new cachers and new caches to find, what are your goals or ideas that WGA can do to help promote outdoor ethics while geocaching (except CITO)?

First of all I feel practicing leave no trace is really the responsibility of each individual cacher. I also feel that the WGA has a responsibility as an organization to promote leave no trace as much as possible. I would like to see having leave no trace perhaps taught at WGA events like the picnic and camp out. I of course do realize that with many this may be an up hill battle trying to change some minds and practices but continuing to promote the philosophy can only help in the long run.