FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 22, 2014
ROOKERY
BAY RESERVE LAUNCHES NEW GEOCACHES
~GIS technology engages adventurers in coastal stewardship and education~
Bring your GPS to Rookery Bay Reserve and find hidden caches.
NAPLES – Geocaching has
become a popular way of enjoying the outdoors since the international trend ramped
up in 2000. Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is now using this
technology to engage its visitors and has launched a new set of caches on the
Environmental Learning Center grounds.
Geocaching is
modern-day treasure hunting using geographic positioning system (GPS)-enabled
devices such as smart phones. Participants find their desired cache online,
download and navigate to its set of GPS coordinates, and then attempt to find the
container, or cache, hidden at that location. Once a cache is found, the finder
records their presence in the logbook and on the geocaching website, replaces a
trinket inside with their own, and takes away a greater understanding of the
natural and cultural features in the area.
“Geocaching is
a great way for us to reach out to different user groups,” said Jill Schmid,
the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialist for the Rookery Bay
Reserve. “This is an audience that might not have found out about the reserve
or our Environmental Learning Center if our caches were not on the map,” she
added.
Four caches in
total have been placed in the reserve with varying levels of difficulty. The
first one was launched in the parking area in August and has had 14 “finds.” One of the new multi-caches includes “Pioneers
in Paradise,” which is located near a cultural site on the Snail Trail. The
other two caches, “CatBird Loop” and “Slash Pine,” take geocachers on a nature
filled walk on primitive trails.
Comments
received from geocachers shared with other users on the Geocaching.com website
include “Great trails to hike on a super day!” and “Never been to the center
before, we'll be back for sure!” A cache-in, trash-out motto is encouraged to
minimize disturbance to natural sites.
Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
encompasses 110,000 acres of coastal lands and waters between Naples and
Everglades National Park. It is managed by the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection in cooperation with NOAA. For more information about
the reserve visit www.rookerybay.org.
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