On Friday, November 9, 9:30-10:45 PM, at the Kalahari, I presented the following session to my peers at the Wisconsin Park & Recreation Association’s Annual Conference:
Geocaching – It’s Everywhere .. Even in Your Parks
Geocaching is an international eco-sport that involves using GPS receivers to find hidden “treasure”. It is an activity that involves people of all ages and abilities and is especially popular as a family activity. Learn how to identify a geocache container and use the geocaching.com website to locate the containers in your area. Since geocaches are typically hidden in parks and other natural areas, this activity brings many visitors to your area. Hosting a geocaching event can increase tourism in your community, a fact that many regions in our state can attest to!
As part of the handouts, I did provide the generic geocaching notification form and introduced the WGA webpage.
Overall, I had awesome reviews for the presentation .. so much that I have been asked to think about holding a day long workshop for Parks & Recreation staff. It was very tough to go beyond the general with this 1.25 hour session and the questions were many. The discussion was to hold a session this coming Spring and/or next Fall as a pre-conference institute. I was also asked to write an article on geocaching for our state P&R magazine.
All in all, geocaching was perceived as a positive activity in the parks! I do have a few communities that asked if I might be able to put them in contact with geocachers in their area.
As the requests come in, I will be asking for your help!
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