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Geoclashing
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Reluctant Defender
8 posts

Back on topic, sort of
Jan 24, 2003, 16:06
Geocaching is much larger in the US then the rest of the world, so they are the best examples. The ban in the US National Parks was pretty much an early knee-jerk reaction, sorta what happened here on TMA. Funny thing is from the disscusions when it happened, these are the same National Parks that have so many tourists being bused in, and so many old folks in motorhomes, that some of the rangers have actually taken to wearing gas masks on busy days, because of the exhaust fumes! The National Parks system is actually fairly small, and other US gov agencies have their own rules regarding geocaching. One of the largest agencies in seems to be the Bureau Of Land Managment. Here is their take on geocaching: http://www.blm.gov/nhp/efoia/wo/fy02/im2002-017.html
That is just one example. I can link you to pages of geocaches that were placed by or in cooperation with govt officials and land managers of parks, forests, and historic sites. You see, many of them also feel the very minor negative impact that leaving a small (many of these are just 35mm film cans) container that is totally hidden from view, if far outweighed by the element they attract. Far too many people these days, kids especially, sit in front of the tv or the pc, and never leave the house. It takes them to parks, scenic places, nature preserves, and historic places that they often didn't know existed. While your searching our site for geocaches you think might offend you, take the time to read the logs posted. They are full of comments from people who are happy to have found something the whole family can enjoy. They are exploring places they never knew existed. They are learning about nature and history, and how to enjoy it properly. Outside of TNA, how many families do you know that spend weekends hiking, and exploring the countryside and picking up bags of litter? Not many I bet. Many land managers, once they actually understand geocaching, actually embrace it. No, not EVERY geocacher is a saint, and its possible that there are caches that slip thru that shouldn't be there. But we try to handle those as they come up. There are 50,000 registered users at geocaching.com. Its estimated that 5 times that number participate (many people dont care to log their visits on the website. They can usually be spotted by the foil poking out from under their hats). Any time you put that many people in a room, your are going to find a few rotten ones. We weed them out best we can. You have your share of them here, it seems. Most recently Dan and Pid! Geocaching has been around about as long, time-wise, as TMA it seems, but has grown at a much larger pace. If you had 5million hits to your website last month, you might expect more then a few more Dans here. The fact that we have very few troublemakers (besides the un-named one) should show you that we are not a bunch of littering hooligans. Govt agencies are starting to recognize that geocachers at the least are no worse then any other normal visiter, and in most cases are much better then the normal person, when it comes to care and respect of the areas they manage.
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Geoclashing (Holy McGrail)		 Replies:
Re: Back on topic, sort of (Squid Tempest)
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