I think the two most important things are to be respectful of the environment and property while I’m out caching, and to share this philosophy with others when caching in a group.  I think it’s when geocachers are inconsiderate of property that gives the game a bad name.  One thing that I like to do is when I’m out on the trails I give my kids each a bag and we pick up trash, our own little bit of CITO.  We like to mention it to people along the trails and hope that we can lead by example.  And of course creating CITO events can be an extra boost to creating a positive image.

One thing that I have been involved in is leading the Waukesha County 4-H geocaching project.  In order to keep up with the “communiy” part of the 4-H mission, the geocaching club will be taking on a project with Retzer Nature Center in Waukesha.  I will be helping the kids walk the trails and mark trailheads and access points for emergency vehicles.  The hope is that this will make mapping the park easier for the park service to explain to emergency vehicles when people are hurt out in the park.  We will be conducting this project in the spring.

What can geocachers do to keep the sport fun and accepted in the communities?

Fun:
Keep innovating and being creative. Creativity breeds creativity. There are only so many caches a person can find until it becomes a little numbing. As hiders, we need to keep trying new things and searching out places of interest and GC.com should continue to help out the cachers, too as they did last year. Ne events (Makers Madness), the 31 Days of August, The Best Beginner Caches in the U.S. events (WI scored 1!).

Games within the Games should continue. Lonely Cache Game, Road Rallies, Capture the Flag, Amazing Race, Geocache Hunger Games, all of these are geocaching games within the games that great excitement and add to the same old game. What other spins on muggle activities can be repurposed with a geocaching twist?

I hope to keep hosting events and adding to the “fun” factor with new ideas while remembering that the reason people come to events is to be social. Caching has grown so much from just underground covert game to being much more mainstream.

Members are the answer to keeping geocaching accepted in communities.

How so? Each of us are the face of geocaching to muggles and everyone else. Be courteous, when hiding and placing caches, be aware of the surrounds. Making the find of a difficult hide is cool but if we end up tearing up flower beds or the like. When I am out caching and run across muggles, I like to take the time to show them what I am doing. For me the Stealth Mode has brought on too many risks anymore and what a great times to share out activity with someone than the be up front and open with what we are doing.

Did you know that the WGA sponsors CITOs? This is a simple way to put the face of geocaching out in the communities with the local governments, parks services, etc. With approval, the WGA BOD will provide funds to help cover these events.

Muggles are timid little creatures that are scared of what they do not understand like someone laying under a bench, sneaking around in the bushes, or a car pulling over a a group of people jumping out rush into the woods and run back out jump in and drive a-away. Now some of this can’t be helped and we don’t want to lay under benches but as long as caches are not placed in sensitive areas geocaching will continue to be allowed in our communities. Sensitive areas can be near schools, train tracks, or government buildings but also in State Parks or State Natural Areas. Call Thomas Meyer down in Madison he’ll tell you about State Natural Areas. Don’t worry I will keep working on him every once in a while. I was planning on adding my First Earth Cache in the Rusk County Felsemmeer for an event I am hosting on April 25th, 2015. Meyer will not give me permission because there has been damage to the area from ATV’s. And it is a lot of damage as people will see in April. I explained everything to him about our plans and how we do it but it was a no go. I did send him picture though of the CITO event I hosted last year just on the other side of the ridge with all the trash we carried out. It may not get an Earth Cache in there but it does portrait geocaching in a positive light.  I can’t imagine what it could take to loose the right to place caches on public lands but caching wisely and having a good geocaching etiquette keeps the sport fun for fellow geocachers and future geocachers.