This month's issue of Backpacker Magazine has an article questioning whether Geocaching violates the principles of Leave No Trace practices. The article includes the affirmative opinion offered by the Executive Director of Wild Wilderness and the president of the Iowa Geocachers Organization offering the negative opinion.
Within the Geocaching community, you will see examples of responsible use of the land and destructive use of the land. Most Geocaching groups manage to self-police the destructive uses of land with respect to Geocaching. Considering the big picture view, the Geocaching community as a whole should not be painted with the broad brush that condemns all Geocachers based on the sins of a few. All of that being said, the few need to be dealt with through the self-policing nature of the local Geocachers and caching community.
Some of the commentary did seem very ill-informed and came off a bit nasty, however. Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness states that Geocaching's policy of "Cache In, Trash Out" (meaning you go into the woods to get the cache, you need to come out with some trash that you've picked up to offset your impact) "is merely a public relations campaign...".
I can state from personal experience that "Cache In - Trash Out" (CITO) is far from a "public relations campaign". We all take CITO seriously and have events throughout the year (including one in April here in North Florida) to keep our wilderness clean. Additionally, we take trash bags with us on our caching adventures and clean as we go. We also watch out for caches that have been abandoned and clean those up, too, ensuring that the containers aren't left as litter.
Geocaching is one of a multitude of uses for forests and wilderness. It belongs as much as camping or hiking and cachers have as much right to the use of public lands as any other outdoors enthusiasts. They also have the same responsibility as other users, including the maintenance of the caches they hide. Mr. Silver would have cachers excluded from these usage rights, in favor of hikers, according to his commentary. Further exclusion and limitation of rights will not preserve the wilderness for future generations, it only serves to restrict those that would use it from bringing those future generations to the wilderness. What good is a bunch of preserved land if no one gets to use it or experience it's beauty? Seems like a waste to me, what about you? I'd love to hear other comments on this subject.
5 users commented in " Geocaching Trash? - Backpacker Magazine "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThis is very well written. I would like to point out that if Cache in Trash out is a public relations campaign, it follows that Leave no trace is a public relations campaign as well. What is wrong with campaigns that are working toward the same end, a clean environment where we can enjoy recreational activities. I have a friend who rides horseback in the mountains and is a fan of Leave no Trace. I wonder if this individual would consider that unacceptable given it is not a hiker. Let’s ensure there is room for all recreational activities and we all respect the environment and keep those public relations campaigns coming!!
For Backpacker Magazine to question whether geocaching violates the principles of “Leave No Trace”, is to create a straw man argument and is, in itself, a publicity stunt to gain readership. One only need go to geocaching.com and do a search for CITO to read hundreds, if not thousands, of personal accounts where individuals have spotted trash while geocaching and taken the personal initiative to remove it.
No such accounts exist on backpacker.com. No such accounts exist on equinesite.com. No such accounts exist on Jeep.com. I’m not bashing folks that participate in those activities, I’m just pointing out that carrying other peoples’ trash from the outdoors is not focused upon as it is in geocaching.
Backpacker Magazine needs to stick to what they know best, and leave geocachers to CITO.
While it’s true that geocachers “hide” things, under normal circumstances, those hides are temporary. A cache at the end of its life cycle is removed and disposed of.
Well said, Chahinkapa and Tonka Boy!
CITO is every bit as much of a PR campaign as is the “Leave no trace” dogma. Setting aside whether geocaching meets this dubious standard, does ANY activity? Geocaching occurs on public lands that allow hunting, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, biking, jeeping, boating, swimming and on and on. While some participants in some of these activities may aspire to “leave no trace”, the evidence suggests they fall significantly sort (evidence being the trash I’ve hoofed out while caching). The best way to insure that public lands are available in the future is to make them available in the present. If I, my fiends and family are barred from responsibly using these lands for activities we enjoy, what interest do we have in preserving them for others? If our nation has billions of acres of beautiful public land and no one is allowed to use them, who gives a squat.
When I started geocaching in 2005, you could be sure that the area around a geocache would be respected - you wouldn’t be able to tell anyone had been there. Now, when you visit a cache site, it is apparent that a lot of people have stomped around in a small area. In fact, I have a great idea for a cache on the beach, but I’m worried that people will try to walk through the dunes to get to it. I wouldn’t have had to worry about it a few years ago.
I think geocaching needs the PR. It looks suspicious, and people think we dig stuff up. No matter what though, I can’t imagine being against a bunch of people getting together to pick up trash.
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