Manitoba Geocaching Association

[ohmic]

Something that could be of interest to geocachers:

Canadian Environment Week Geocaching Contest
April 30 to June 11, 2011

[Trove Chasers]

Sounds like fun, but unless I am blind I don't see anything for Manitoba or Saskatchewan. How disappointing is that!

[ohmic]

You're not blind, sadly, there nothing between W 87° 59.137 and W 112° 50.452437.

[swelbergen]

I saw this on Twitter from Parks Canada... how disappointing that we're left out!

[ohmic]

I've sent an email to the folks at Environment Canada.

Here's what it said:

To whom it may concern,

Firstly, let me applaud the initiative of Environment Canada for integrating geocaching into this new contest. As geocacing is now becoming widely practiced by many canadians, it's universal appeal and the low cost and low impact on the environment makes it the perfect activities for many canadian families.

It is however regretable that a Canada-wide contest requires residents of both Manitoba and Saskatcheman to travel upwards of 1000 km in order to find the nearest cache available for the contest. There is a major gap of over 1800 kilometers in the Prairie provinces with the two nearest caches available being:

Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area of Canada
N 48° 57.993
W 87° 59.137

and

Waterton Lakes National Park of Canada
N 49°04.159
W 113° 53.147

There is a strong geocaching community in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan comprising of several thousands of people and there are many sites that would be very suitable for an Environment Canada and/or Parks Canada cache in both provinces.

Please consider adding a few geocaches for us Prairie folks to participate in the contest as well.

Sincerely,

Jacques Bourgeois
Vice-President and Public Relations
Manitoba Geocaching Association
www.mbga.ca

[Trove Chasers]

Way to go Jacques!! Good Job

[Torossi]

Thanks Jacques!!!

[glacier_ice]

Wow. Thanks for taking up the flag Jacques!

[Pilotmounders]

Well said and thank you.

[thecyr]

There are also no locations in PEI either.

From what I understand, it was up to the individual Parks & Historic sites if they wanted to participate in the contest and not a predefined list of sites. You can see then which site are interested in geocaching and which site needs a little more work to convince them to get on board.

[ohmic]

Success!

There will be at least two caches in Manitoba. One in Riding Mountain National Park and one at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site of Canada. Check your emails for new listings soon!

I've also forwarded the information to the SaskCachers to see if they also want to have caches in their provinces eligible for the contest.

Cheers,
Jacques

[Dragonfreys]

I noticed this too but didn't have nearly the iniative to make things happen as it seemed like a done deal. Well done.

[ohmic]

The first cache of the contest in Manitoba is published in Riding Mountain National Park.

Good job Dragonfreys for your quick work!

[glacier_ice]

Cool stuff! Way to go!

[ohmic]

The second cache of the contest in Manitoba is published near Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site of Canada.

Make sure to look for the secret word on the first page of the logbook to enter the contest.