Parks Canada has just made a press release announcing their new guidelines for Geocaching on their managed properties including national historic sites, national parks, and national marine conservation areas. Not only is Parks Canada welcoming Geocaching, but they hope that these guidelines will also encourage Geocaching in these areas.

Although these guidelines may seem restrictive to place a cache (they require you to contact the individual park involved where a Parks Canada team will then guide you to place a cache, in the selection of the location, the container to be used and the content) they will ensure the directive of the Parks Canada Caches (ParkCache?) which is to promote aspects of the particular location. Instead of the traditional trade items ‘ParkCaches’ will include a personal story, anecdote or information about the location.

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We have just read two news articles that came in within hours of each other - one where a government department has banned Geocaches on public lands, and one where a government department sees Geocaches as a boon to increase tourism in their area. Two different views on a controversial issue right now.

Although Geocaching is over 7 years old it is still experiencing tremendous growth and because of this we can expect to see a lot more of this two-sided view of our sport.

The positive note is that like most agencies or locations that ban Geocaches do so with the intent to review the situation. This is understandable since the concept of Geocaching is still alien to a lot of people.

Our fingers are crossed that once the understanding is gained they will see the benefit, as we have, and allow Geocaching to continue. And as long as Geocachers continue to conduct themselves in a positive manner we feel that this will hold true.

Keep on cachin’!

We recently became aware of the upcoming International EarthCache Day on October 14th, 2007. This is the second annual day of its kind and looks to be a great day for all those interested in Earth Sciences and Geocachers alike.

International EarthCache Day kicks off the tenth annual Earth Science Week which runs October 14th to the 20th, 2007. The purpose of Earth Science Week is to promote awareness of the status of Earth Science in education and society. Since 1998 the American Geological Institute has organized this event in an attempt to help the public get a better understanding of the Earth Sciences and to encourage stewardship of our planet Earth.

An EarthCache is an educational dimension to Geocaching. When you visit an EarthCache site, you learn something special about Earth science, the geology of the location, or how the Earth’s resources and environment are managed there.

On International EarthCache Day you are invited to visit or create an EarthCache site in your area. So let’s all make a day of it - have fun and learn a bit while we’re doing it!

Keep on cachin’!

We spent the past week with our son and his girlfriend in Rossland, British Columbia. It was his birthday and what could be a better gift than a GPSr? We picked up the eTrex Venture Cx here at home and hand delivered it, much to his surprise.

While we were there we turned them both on to Geocaching. We had mentioned it to them before via the phone but like most things, explaining it first-hand certainly made a difference. And of course, following this up with actual Geocaching was the icing on the birthday cake!

The first cache we found was near the summit of the Kootenay Columbia mountain. We had a great walk up the mountain on one of the many trails that crisscross it. Although we were a bit off on the co-ordinates we did find it fairly easily. The expression on their faces as we opened the treasure trove was priceless. Then seeing them race to the following caches that day, screaming and laughing to be the first one to find it, certainly made our day.

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In a statement from the US Press Secretary ‘the President accepted the recommendation of the Department of Defense to end procurement of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites that have the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals’.

Selective Availability was introduced by the US Military to make civilian GPS signals less accurate. Then in 2000 Selective Availability was turned off, which led to the growth of GPS technology for civilian use that we see today.

This decision means that future GPS satellites will not be required to be Selective Availability enabled, ensuring that it is permanent. Although GPS technology is firmly entrenched in consumer electronics, aviation, shipping and new products daily there was concern that with the option to turn Selective Availability back on it was a possibility.

View the complete statement by the Press Secretary here

 Keep on cachin’!