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HOME  - Various Trash, Cache or Cash?
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Written by Scott Silver
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Tuesday, 29 August 2006 |
What do the words "Leave No Trace" mean to you?
Here's a quote on this topic from the folks at LNT --- the same folks who brought us these other famous slogans.
- "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints"
- "Pack it in, Pack it out"?
["Geocaching is skyrocketing in popularity. I feel like we have to embrace it and try to educate folks to do it in a way that is responsible," says Ben Lawhon, education director for the Boulder-based Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. "There is a cultural shift where the younger population has very little interest in the outdoors and much more interest in technology. "From that perspective, geocaching is great because it combines them."]
I find it disconcerting to see what has become of the original Leave No Trace educational campaign following its privatization and corporate takeover. What does "Leave No Trace" mean these days? And what sort of "ethics" does this private company really promote now that it's rebranded itself and changed it's name from "Leave No Trace Inc." to "Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics"?
Scott
"To me, a wilderness is where the flow of wildness is essentially uninterrupted by technology... " - David Brower
"In short, the very scarcity of wild places, reacting with the mores of advertising and promotion, tends to defeat any deliberate effort to prevent their growing still more scarce." -Aldo Leopold
---- begin quoted ---
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_4212080
Article Last Updated: 8/20/2006 11:41 PM
Cache or trash? GPS hobby packs issues
By Electa Draper, - Denver Post Staff Writer
Durango - With the surging popularity of a high-tech treasure hunt
called geocaching, public land managers are watching the old outdoor
ethic of "take only pictures; leave only footprints" morph into "take
some stuff; leave some stuff."
Geocachers (pronounced "geo-cashers") use hand-held Global Positioning
System devices to locate hidden stashes at sites identified by
coordinates posted on the Internet.
There are only three rules to the game: You take something from the
cache. You leave something in its place. You record the visit in the
enclosed log book.
From urban landscapes to national forests, the proliferation of these
caches, which usually consist of low-priced trinkets sealed inside
containers including mayonnaise jars and ammo boxes, is provoking
discussion about whether or not "cache is trash."
That's how San Juan National Forest recreation program leader David Baker sees it.
"The thing that's startling to me is that the actual physical caches on the ground are close to being litter," he says.
The Forest Service has no official policy on geocaching yet, except that no caches of any kind are allowed in wilderness areas.
Baker admits being torn.
"Getting people in the woods, especially getting young people in the
woods - that I like about geocaching," Baker says. "But people want to
hide and find geocaches everywhere, even if it disrupts wildlife,
leaves tire tracks, makes new trails and damages vegetation."
Other foresters are equally unenthusiastic. The Arapaho and Roosevelt
national forests and Pawnee National Grassland have stated that there
are no regulations on geocaching but add that "the Forest Service
encourages visitors to pack it in and pack it out, and geocaching does
not support these practices."
The Medicine Bow and Routt national forests and Thunder Basin National
Grassland have issued a terse reminder that they have regulations
prohibiting leaving any property on the land for more than 14 days.
The Bureau of Land Management allows geocaching in many places, but
permission must be granted before a cache is left. Geocaching is not
allowed in wildlife refuges or in national parks, unless special
permission is obtained.
Many cities and counties have prohibited or sharply restricted geocaching in their parks.
Denver Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Kathy Maloney says the city
doesn't allow geocaching in city parks. In Colorado Springs, geocaches
are limited to small or see-through containers, and the city sometimes
allows one-day, highly controlled events.
"It was more of a security issue for us," city spokesman Scott Thompson
says. "Police officers got calls about packages being left in the
parks. There was some concern about liability in case something was
booby-trapped."
Boulder County requires registration of caches and has a long list of geocaching guidelines.
The San Juan's Baker says geocachers could save everyone a great deal
of angst if they would turn to finding natural caches - a good fishing
hole, a wild strawberry patch or an interesting rock formation.
"What's the fun in that?" asks a laughing Bill Clifton, a geocacher of
three years' experience from Colorado Springs. "It's like a treasure
hunt. It's a family thing. The kids really love it. You get pointed to
a destination where you wouldn't normally go, and you find stuff."
Those monitoring the activity don't see its growth slowing anytime soon.
"Geocaching is skyrocketing in popularity. I feel like we have to
embrace it and try to educate folks to do it in a way that is
responsible," says Ben Lawhon, education director for the Boulder-based
Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. "There is a cultural shift
where the younger population has very little interest in the outdoors
and much more interest in technology.
"From that perspective, geocaching is great because it combines them."
The ranks of geocachers have swelled to an army that maintains more than 300,000 active caches in 222 countries.
"It's just one way to make the world smaller - to tie different people together," says Tandy Cline of Hesperus.
She and her husband, Brian, and their three children maintain a few
caches in southwestern Colorado, including one near the Jersey Jim fire
watchtower near Mancos.
She rejects the idea geocachers have more impact on the backcountry
than campers, mountain bikers, off-road vehicle owners or horseback
riders. She says geocachers typically make good stewards of their
hiding spots.
"These places really matter to us," Cline says.
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