It appears recently that there is no thought about cache hides and the placement or how they should be placed. Rules are being ignored, is it because Cache Owners (CO’s) don’t care or is it Reviewers don’t care?
I have seen recently where a tree has had a shower facet drilled into it and now it it is like a maple tree pouring out sap. I have seen the main post of a fence that holds a gate drilled into and a cache placed in that hole. This pole is on private property and there is nothing to say permission was granted.
It isn’t the fact that the CO is a newbie this CO had 600+ finds. The one with the shower head had some 15+ favourites as well. Did no one see what is happening to the tree? This wasn’t a small tree but a very mature older fir tree.
Why am I mentioning this you ask, what is the big deal? I will tell you one of the things I have run across in my dealings with BC Highways and BC Parks is if Geocaching can police itself without the Government having to tell us this isn’t allowed. I have said it should be able too once cachers understand the reasons why. Caching shouldn’t have to have Big Brother tell us what is wrong, we know it is wrong but we all say it is tattle tailing. I can tell you, just look to California where a anti-caching group is going in and taking hides out of parks and other places that are bad and good. They are doing their damnedest to get caching pulled from parks etc. This has been well talked about on various forums. It just takes a few bad caches to have this happen.
So how do we deal with this? When I was running for the BCGA I made this part of my platform to bring in 101, 201, 301 courses to teach people the various phases of caching. The current Executive has not held one course that I am aware of, nor do they plan too. They are busy looking at a new coin (Pathtag I understand) and not sure why when we have hundreds and I do mean hundreds of coins from the last two years left over and unsold. They are still looking at trying to get a full Bylaw committee together. I was asked who was on my committee but then one was rejected for being out of BC and the other 2 has to “apply” for the job. They both read the guidelines and said there is going to be no changes based on this.
I should mention the BCGA claims to represent all cachers in BC but in reality the members of the BCGA represent about 1% of the total cachers in BC.
The BCGA appears to be imploding on itself as the year progresses. There are those that currently support the current executive that don’t see it that way but how can you explain Vancouver Island? You have one of the executive members trying to host an event called Roberts Lake Picnic an event but no one has signed up. Not even one of those 100+ new members the BCGA signed up at the Mega Event on the Island. Not even the event organizer other half signed up? Almost 1 month goes by and the event is cancelled. It is sad to see this as events are a side of caching that allow players to meet other players and put names to faces. I am told by cachers on the Island they have had enough of the BCGA.
This is further borne out by this cache THE GREEN LANTERN. This cache was archived on July 31 2012 and in the archive notice it says this:
We had innitially planned to archive some older caches and then place new ones to help keep caching going in the area with new caches for local cachers to find.
But due to recent negative comments and behaviour of local BCGA executives and their significant others we are just archiving.
Maybe these people can fill in the holes with non creative tupperware and film cannisters
We will now focus on finding instead of hiding
mike&lily
I have not heard anything from the other Executive Member on the Island but I have seen nothing from him either. He remains silent as far as I can see.
So it appears we have a very large block of some very unhappy cachers on the island.
At the Island Mega Event the President asked senior cachers why they were not members and the President was asked “What can the BCGA do for me?”. How do you answer that because the truth is they aren’t doing much. They would say there is the Blitz event, but come on, really; is that the best you have?
The summer is almost done and the BCGA has done nothing to try and fix problems with caching by holding courses. What about all those new cachers they signed up? Why aren’t we using the 10 GPS’s the BCGA has? They are just sitting in a box somewhere I suspect.
Caches used to take me to somewhere interesting and had a story. I am sorry but a cement block in a hole in a parking lot? A cache on the back side of someone’s fence with a noisy dog? This why we need a course on placing caches.
I have cached in 22 countries around the world and I can tell you of some amazing caches because they take me to a place I would not otherwise go and they tell a story. The cache may be on a phone booth but it is on the phone booth because where it takes you is 600 years old and they don’t want to destroy the building.
Placing a cache means taking care of it as well.
There is a new group in the lower mainland called Metro Vancouver Geocachers that appear to be doing what the BCGA should be doing, holding events and holding classes. I have expressed my interest in helping this group founder. My hats off to them.
I may expand on this in a further post but for now I think we get the message.