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As my children and I age we find hunting trinkets less and less rewarding. We have however found great value in seeking out EarthCaches. With so many great candidates to choose from, I find my vote more and more likely to be based on the candidate(s) who support the types of hides I appreciate the most…(and guard rails are not amoung them).
My question to the candidates is what are or will you do to encourage the placing and maintaining of quality EarthCaches in our state?
As you know, both Trekkin’ and I have a keen interest in EarthCaches as well. Though we haven’t put them out in great numbers, that’s by design. We look for those features that have a bit of “wow” factor and then spend our time doing the research needed to combine the “wow” factor with the educational factor. Maybe we overdo that, as some have commented they felt like it was a test. Hey, we’re both teachers!
I’m not saying all EarthCaches require a wow factor. One can learn a lot from those modest locations, too. It has just my preference to seek those unique features and develop a lesson around them. Our first EC, “The Real Old Man River,” is our weakest, although if one chooses to canoe or kayak between waypoints, the wow is still there.
Currently we’re in the process of hopefully creating one for Cave of the Mounds. That’s one of the Unique Natural Features in the DeLorme atlas, and one that has yet to have an EarthCache. zuma’s recent challenge cache will encourage the development of more such EarthCaches, I hope.
A couple folks new to the EarthCache process have already figured out I’m more than willing to look over their ideas and share what I’ve learned. That offer is open to anyone. I don’t claim to be expert or even the most experienced person out there, but I am always happy to help others discover the fun of placing and finding this special kind of cache.
Now…..if only I could convince Thomas Meyer to change his mind about Pewits Nest, the only location I’ve been denied. That place is awesome! Unfortunately, cliff divers from the top of the slot canyon there have caused concern. One died a year or so ago. 😥
I guess I need to post, even though silence might be a better alternative. The WGA board has a lot of roles: setting up events, running a website, interfacing with government and community organizations, communicating cache placement guidelines, etc. While I am all for quality hides personally, I don’t believe encouraging or discouraging any particular type of hide or cache is the responsibility of the WGA board. You don’t have to spend too much time in these boards to realize that there are a lot of different ideas out there about what constitutes a quality cache. We should let people decide for themselves what types of caches they want to hide (and to find). As far as I know, there is very little impediment to placing earthcaches, other than the rules of earthcache.org, so I really don’t see where the board has a role to play.
@Team Deejay wrote:
As far as I know, there is very little impediment to placing earthcaches, other than the rules of earthcache.org, so I really don’t see where the board has a role to play.
Thank you for your candor on this subject; staying silent about a topic which might not be self-flattering is a difficult thing to do and the sign of a true leader. You state you case very well and I agree with the correctness of your statements. However there are impediments to placing EarthCaches in the state and some of these have been overcome by the past BOD (getting placements allowed in SNAs for example). Who is to say other roadblocks will not arise?
I, too, enjoy EarthCaches for the same reasons that you do. Currently, I own 3 EarthCaches, all 3 are easy, but in interesting places. I have ideas for more, and just need to follow thru with them, and you already know about one of them.
Interestingly, 4 of this year’s 8 candidates happen to be 4 of the 5 people in the state with over 100 EarthCache finds: Anne, Gywn, Seth, and myself. According to the boulter list, Anne is the 3rd in the world in finding EarthCaches, Gywn is 9th, Seth is 12th and I am 14th. So it is a good bet, that whoever gets elected, interest in EarthCaches will be well represented.
zuma
@lostby7 wrote:
@Team Deejay wrote:
As far as I know, there is very little impediment to placing earthcaches, other than the rules of earthcache.org, so I really don’t see where the board has a role to play.
Thank you for your candor on this subject; staying silent about a topic which might not be self-flattering is a difficult thing to do and the sign of a true leader. You state you case very well and I agree with the correctness of your statements. However there are impediments to placing EarthCaches in the state and some of these have been overcome by the past BOD (getting placements allowed in SNAs for example). Who is to say other roadblocks will not arise?
Actually, now that I think about it, there are a few spots that are still closed to Earthcaches (and every other cache type for that matter): Apostle Islands NSL, St. Croix NSR, and the federal Fish and Wildlife Sanctuaries. I do feel that the board should take an active role in working to open up these areas for all geocaching. In these three examples, the first two have a much greater likelihood of success than the third. The National Park Service has recently relaxed their rules on geocaching in NPS property, leaving the decision to the management of each individual area. There have already been some talks with St Croix, but, as with all things federal, things are moving very slowly.
The FWSs, however, are much farther from fruition. The USFWS is interpreting a sentence in the legislation with says that the sanctuaries are created for “wildlife centered activities” to mean that geocaching is not allowed because it is not wildlife centered. Note that many other non-wildlife activities are allowed, but they are pretty much stuck on this nationally. Some of you in the western part of the state will note that there are some earthcaches in the Upper Mississippi FWS, but those are placed by the rangers. They will only approve earthcaches placed by refuge personnel. I’m not a fan of this sort of restrictive policy, but I ran it through Groundspeak and they were OK with it, stating that any cache is better than no cache.
My feeling is that we should concentrate efforts on opening up the SNAs to the occasional physical cache, and work on opening up the two NPS areas to all geocaching. Obviously anything we do in this regard will be pretty restrictive at first with regard to container types, permits, distances from trails, required maintenance visits, etc, but I suspect that if we get out in front on this, we will be able to steer the policy to make it satisfactory, much like was done by Brian for the virtual stages in SNAs.
Incidentally, if there are any more areas that prohibit earthcaches for some reason, please let me know.
* I just noticed that I might have set the acronym record on this post, so
SNA = State Natural Area
NPS = National Park Service
FWS = Fish and Wildlife Sanctuary
USFWS = United States Fish and Wildlife Service
NSR = National Scenic Riverway
NSL = National Scenic LakeshoreRereading the question several times, I feel that it is directed more to a personal level and NOT asking what I want to see or what I would help the WGA to do. So far, just having a Forum Category dedicated to EarthCaches was a great stride for the WGA to put forth. For my personal key factors, I stress to others thinking about or who may not even know about placing EarthCaches:
- 1. Its educational fun for both the owner and the seekers. I have learned tons!!
2. Hey… no maintenance!! Not containers to walk away!!
3. Offereing new and unusual places for cachers/visitors to see in the state.
4. REWARDING – Though a bit of work, they are well worth it when you see and hear about what cachers have seen and learned.
5. Bringing attention to need of preservation of these areas.
6. Did I mention…..NO MAINTENANCE. LOLI do stress the importance of creating QUALITY EarthCaches. These are very specialized caches and as Earthcache.org stress, is to be truly education. Why do I personally own so few??? Well…for me, I am looking for those very, very unique features and when I find them, I’ll create the EarthCache to so deserves to be created there. 🙂
@Team Deejay wrote:
There have already been some talks with St Croix, but, as with all things federal, things are moving very slowly.
I’m not trying to steal this thread, or TDJ’s post, but just wanted to leave this note. I have been told by a NPS officer, that geocaching could be a very good possibility in the next year or 2. The St. Croix “people” have been montering DNR lands and policyand I believe a few St. Croix personal were in attendance when 2 WGA BOD members gave their presentastion to WI DNR officals last spring. The Local St. Croix office is all for geocaching, there are a few personal that is not onboard at this time and the subject does come up one a year as they work on their “Plans”. ( They call is someting special and can not think of it at this time)
While I don’t go out searching for EarthCaches (I have logged only 4), I do have one in the works as Lostby7 knows, as he is involved in the writeup and submission (just waiting for the snow to go away so I can seek out some realistic logging requirements for the site).
EarthCaches are a wonderful way to discover interesting features in the world around us and are well worth the effort to develop and publish them. I think that the BOD may not need to be the driving force in encouraging these placements but it should be in a supporting role, giving those who need a helping hand in communication with the state/local agencies to show that EarthCaches are intended to showcase the features and not meant to facilitate damage to the surroundings.
The question of “quality” caches, Earth or otherwise is something the owner/developer needs to assess and be happy with or be able to accept criticism.Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.
Yup, we love the earthcaches… They’re fantastic vacation caches, with some of the most spectacular natural features having them. This fall’s road trip took us to Multnomah Falls and Haystack Rock in Oregon, Colgate Lick on the Lochsa River in Idaho, and Pompey’s Pillar in Montana. This spring we’re hoping to dig for our own diamonds for a smiley at Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas.
Wisconsin is naturally gifted with some amazing places that haven’t been covered yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the qualifications tightened up a bit to keep earthcaches “special”. I think the WGA’s addition of an EC forum was a good one, but I too am not quite sure what more would be appropriate. The WGA’s responsibilities lay in a different direction.
I’d be happy to work in a committee that would work with the SNAs and NPS to open these areas to earthcaches. I am fine with these areas not hosting physical caches. Just because a cache could be placed there doesn’t mean it should be. But then, that’s off topic.
Earthcaches are a terrific way to learn about and experience the world we live in. I have done a number of them, in WI and in other states. I truly enjoy doing them. I have plans 😕 for three EarthCaches in the works (pics and coords) and looking for the geological info. There are a number of EarthCaches I will never get the chance to visit due to physical limitations, but i will still attempt to get close and enjoy as much of the journey as possible. I was disappointed 🙁 when EarthCaches were taken off of Geocaching.com and am very glad that they have returned. 😀
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