Community Caches
Community Caches
In a recent question to the Committee, we were asked to come up with a way to help look after old and significant geocaches where the CO no longer plays the game or cannot maintain the cache themselves. The proposal was to have active players watch over these caches and maintain the cache when necessary, even though they aren’t officially the owner.
This situation has come about as players from the early years have moved away from their areas, have stopped playing the game, or sadly passed away. The game of geocaching is now 18 years old meaning that there’s a lot of history that could potentially be lost. Archiving happens, often for perfectly valid reasons, but from our discussions, the community is willing to bridge the gap.
NSW Original Stash
We have been in talks with the NSW reviewer (Tiddalik) who has kindly given us some practical advice on the matter.
How to maintain a significant cache when you are not the owner
As part of your local geocaching community you’ve established that the CO is no longer on the scene, the following points need to occur:
- Place a 'Write Note' on the cache listing, stating that you wish to maintain the cache on behalf of the CO. (effectively making it a Community Cache)
- Place the cache listing on your watch list.
- Attend to all DNF's or 'Need Maintenance' logs, and place a 'Write Note' to inform the reviewer what you have done.
- Upkeep the cache as if it was your own.
Remember, a cache can have more than one carer from the community, and if this is the case, all persons caring for the cache must be listed as such, with all carers having the cache on their watch list.
We hope this gives you the tools you need to take action locally and keep these old school caches active in our state. Please let us know about caches that you’ve successfully kept going (and the backstory on why they needed intervention) or if you’ve spotted a significant cache that needs some TLC - we’re not able to maintain them ourselves, but we might be able to bring it to the attention of people who can help.