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Unwanted negative publicity for geocaching


TeamBix

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In Pender County, NC there is a game land preserve open to the public for both hunting and hiking call Holly Shelter Game Land. Geocachers have drawn the unwanted attention of state officials due to the fact that there are 600+ geocaches in the preserve (yes...600+) and possibly in areas that state officials don't want them to be located. Do a Google news search for "Holly Shelter Game" and it should bring you to the Jacksonville Daily News article.

 

The state's Eye of Sauron has been placed on this location!

barad-dur-eye-of-sauron-550x290.jpg

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First cache in the power trail you are referencing.

 

http://www.geocachin...el-uno-de-bling

 

Not sure the Eye of Sauron is necessary for a discussion though.

That image seems to be completely unrelated to the topic.

 

Here's a link to the article: link

 

The title is a bit misleading. The article is actually pretty favorable to the game.

 

“The goal here is to continue to encourage this activity but also to have some sort of method to where we know where these things are and can control it so it benefits both parties,” he said. “We don’t want to stop them from using the game lands.

 

That continued use is potentially a boon for local businesses and hotels, as geocachers will frequently plan day and weekend trips to explore large clusters of caches like the ones peppering the Holly Shelter bling trail, Busch said.“They’ll buy a meal, stay in a hotel, eat in restaurants and patronize the local economy,” he said. “We’ve had people from as far away as Minnesota come to that part of the state in what’s typically a tourism off-season, and they’re definitely staying for a couple of days, which is a great thing.”

 

 

 

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I'm not sure why someone who has only found 2 caches last year and lives ~400 miles away is raising an unfounded red alert about this issue? I wonder if the OP actually read the article and thought about it, or just did a knee jerk reaction and found a cool to them image at google to inflame this thread?

 

The truth is that it's an OK article with an attention grabbing headline that isn't really accurate to the overall situation. I'm not the head of the NCGO as the reporter states, just one of the founders and a board member. Other than those two items, she got the gist of what we discussed in a 45 minute phone interview with no follow up conversation.

 

I've been meeting with the Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) on behalf of the NC Geocachers Organization for almost a year. While it's true that the Bling Trail may have moved the WRC's awareness of caches on the 2 million acres they manage to a front burner, they aren't planning to be overly restrictive or controlling. They haven't finalized the policy yet, so I cannot go into details, but I anticipate a good working relationship with the WRC and geocachers across our state, and a very user friendly policy that will include geocaching with other non-traditional uses of the game lands like birding and hiking.

 

Edit to respond to the comment above that posted while I was typing-there's probably room to add a few hundred to the trail if the CO desires and the WRC is OK with them. Holly Shelter has almost 50,000 acres, but quite a bit of it is swamp land. It's a stunningly beautiful place to go. We saw a 12' gator in that large impoundment pond in the middle area, deer, and lots of birds on the three trips we made down there to do the trail.

Edited by wimseyguy
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I've combined vacation trips to nearby beaches with caching runs on the Bling power trail. Most hides are just by the roads but many go missing when the roads are graded.

 

I was stopped on one occasion by a land management patrol and lectured that these caches have all been placed w/o permission. He didn't prevent me from continuing but he wasn't that welcoming either.

 

Just my experiences...

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I'm not sure why someone who has only found 2 caches last year and lives ~400 miles away is raising an unfounded red alert about this issue? I wonder if the OP actually read the article and thought about it, or just did a knee jerk reaction and found a cool to them image at google to inflame this thread?

 

The truth is that it's an OK article with an attention grabbing headline that isn't really accurate to the overall situation. I'm not the head of the NCGO as the reporter states, just one of the founders and a board member. Other than those two items, she got the gist of what we discussed in a 45 minute phone interview with no follow up conversation.

 

I've been meeting with the Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) on behalf of the NC Geocachers Organization for almost a year. While it's true that the Bling Trail may have moved the WRC's awareness of caches on the 2 million acres they manage to a front burner, they aren't planning to be overly restrictive or controlling. They haven't finalized the policy yet, so I cannot go into details, but I anticipate a good working relationship with the WRC and geocachers across our state, and a very user friendly policy that will include geocaching with other non-traditional uses of the game lands like birding and hiking.

 

Edit to respond to the comment above that posted while I was typing-there's probably room to add a few hundred to the trail if the CO desires and the WRC is OK with them. Holly Shelter has almost 50,000 acres, but quite a bit of it is swamp land. It's a stunningly beautiful place to go. We saw a 12' gator in that large impoundment pond in the middle area, deer, and lots of birds on the three trips we made down there to do the trail.

 

First of all, posting a pic of the Eye of Sauron is both on-topic, and funny. :P

 

It's a good article with an attention grabbing headline, and the negative connotations of the word Scrutiny cannot be denied. Ultimately, this is no different than (hypothetical example) Iowa State Parks discovering there were 50 caches in all their Parks Statewide in 2005, and implementing a permit policy. I am sure this is all under control, and Geocaching will continue on NC Gamelands.

 

My question for you is how did this reporter come to contact you personally, or the NCGO, with you speaking on their behalf? How did she know there was, what she later chose as her attention grabbing headline, "scrutiny" from SGL officials?

 

EDIT: P.S. NYPC's link goes to the 2nd page of the article, best I can tell.

Edited by Mr.Yuck
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I don't know what brought this issue to the reporter's attention. Like most reporters I have spoken with over the years she didn't give me any direct answers to the few questions I asked her including that one. She emailed me to schedule a phone conversation after speaking with the Associate Director of the WRC. He suggested she contact me for additional info about geocaching on game lands. He's been chairing the commission meetings I have been attending for the past year to develop a better relationship and create their policy.

Edited by wimseyguy
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