WGA State Parks series: June 2014

[sandlanders]

A question about the WGA State Parks series was brought up in another forum thread recently. The following is a summary of what has gone on that was shared at the WGA campout last month…

The WGA State Parks program was one of the topics discussed at the meeting at the campout. Phase One has been the placing of a WGA official geocache in each of 47 Wisconsin SP properties. With the exception of Rock Island as of this date, that has been accomplished. The WGA has also been working with the state DNR to get joint promotion of this project, and with this week’s press release by the DNR, some of that has been addressed.

As for much of the rest of the plan, an upcoming update and upgrade of the WGA web site will give WGA members more ways to keep track of their own progress in finding the WGA SP caches. There is no “final” for the series, and there is no competition to complete any or all of the caches. The mission statement for the series is as follows:

“The Wisconsin Geocaching Association is a group of enthusiastic, outdoor-minded people who wish to share our appreciation of geocaching and our great Wisconsin state parks with others. We will accomplish this by placing one geocache in each of the 47 state parks and promote their placement through our website and in park promotion. We plan to use the WGA State Park Series to aid the state of Wisconsin in increasing state park visitations by encouraging the use of geocaching in the exploration of the state parks.”

The basic goal of this series to get more geocachers to explore more of the Wisconsin State Parks and to see what all they have to offer. For the purpose of this WGA series, the parks in the state have been divided into five regions based on similarities in the natural habitat and life forms of an area… five biomes. Electronic art will be awarded at the completion of each to display on your profile, should you so choose. Again, this will be when the new web site is up and running. Any tangible rewards are still in the discussion stage.

So for now, just keep visiting the state parks on your travels around Wisconsin. Take time in each to get to know the parks and the areas they are in. Find more than the WGA cache in each, if your travels allow. As a sign says in each state park: Explore and Enjoy!

I have shared this information here for those who were not in attendance at the meeting at this year’s campout. I am on the state parks series committee, but I am not a WGA board member. Should anyone care to elaborate on anything that has been said here, please do so. I hope I have not overstepped my bounds with this post.

[sandlanders]

The biomes/regions for the WGA State Parks series are based on the five biomes of the Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail at this web address:

http://www.wisconsinbirds.org/trail/maps.htm

Should you want to see which state parks fall in which biomes, they are as follows:

Lake Superior – North Woods (7 parks)
Amnicon Falls State Park, Big Bay State Park, Copper Falls State Park, Council Grounds State Park, Interstate State Park, Pattison State Park, Straight Lake SP

Southern Savanna (13 parks)
Aztalan State Park, Belmont Mound State Park, Big Foot Beach State Park, Blue Mound State Park, Devils Lake State Park, Governor Dodge State Park, Governor Nelson State Park, New Glarus Woods State Park, Lake Kegonsa State Park, Mirror Lake State Park, Natural Bridge State Park, Tower Hill State Park, Yellowstone Lake State Park

Mississippi – Chippewa Rivers (9 parks)
Brunet Island State Park, Kinnickinnic State Park, Lake Wissota State Park , Merrick State Park, Nelson Dewey State Park, Perrot State Park, Wildcat Mountain State Park, Willow River State Park, Wyalusing State Park

Central Sands Prairie (7 parks)
Buckhorn State Park, Hartman Creek State Park, High Cliff State Park, Mill Bluff State Park, Rib Mountain State Park, Roche a Cri State Park, Rocky Arbor State Park

Lake Michigan (11 parks)
Copper Culture Mounds State Park, Governor Thompson State Park, Harrington Beach State Park , Heritage Hill State Park, Kohler-Andrae State Park, Lakeshore State Park, Newport State Park, Peninsula State Park, Potawatomi State Park, Rock Island State Park, Whitefish Dunes State Park

[BeccaDay]

Thanks for the explanation Sandlanders. I was working up something for the newsletter but this is helpful until it comes out.

Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien

[Author]

Posts