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EarthCaches at Acadia National Park: Virtual treasure hunts educating visitors on the richness of park resources
By Ginny Reams and Stuart West

Staff at Acadia National Park (Maine) are turning the growing interest in geocaching, a modern-day treasure-hunting activity prohibited in most National Park System units, into a park-sponsored program that educates visitors on the geologic riches awaiting them within park boundaries. In summer 2006, park staff, led by Park Ranger Stuart West and volunteer Mollie Behn, developed a pilot NPS-hosted educational program that emphasizes the unique natural features of the park through virtual "EarthCaches," educational messages that impart knowledge without impacting the environment.

Unlike Acadia's virtual EarthCaches, traditional caches typically include a container filled with a logbook and other trinkets and "treasures" that can litter the landscape. Placement of traditional caches may also require participants to leave established trails, which damages vegetation and can harm other natural or cultural resources.

Credit: NPS/Stuart West

Geocaching is an activity in which participants search for hidden caches using Global Positioning System (GPS) units, and it has become increasingly popular since its creation in 2000. More than 340,000 caches were active worldwide as of December 2006 (Groundspeak 2006). After all, who can resist a treasure hunt? Whose heart doesn’t beat a little faster when faced with the adventure and thrill of following a trail littered with obscure clues toward a final reward?

Leaving items behind, however, is one of the problems associated with the physical creation of a traditional geocache. In traditional geocaching, individuals and organizations set up caches and share their location coordinates via an Internet Web site. GPS users then use those coordinates to search for the cache. Caches can take many forms, but all contain a logbook for recording comments. Traditional caches can also contain items purposely left behind by previous visitors (see photo). These items vary from small, inexpensive knickknacks to maps, books, games, or even loose change. Anyone who takes an item (or "treasure") is expected to leave something in its place.

Though rugged, unspoiled natural areas may seem to be desirable spots for hiding—and seeking out—geocaches, their presence in U.S. national parks can be troublesome. Unintentional damage caused by the inappropriate placement of a cache or by participants who develop social trails when they leave established trails to look for a cache can result in serious impacts on a park’s natural, historical, and cultural resources. Because federal regulations pertaining to national parks prohibit abandonment of property, disturbance or damage of natural features, and, in some areas, off-trail hiking, most units of the National Park System, including Acadia, do not permit geocaching. In some sites, however, such as national recreation areas, geocaching may be permitted. This disparate treatment of geocaching creates a problem for the geocaching community and a challenge for National Park Service employees who are asked to explain the reasons behind it.

Despite the prohibition against geocaching in Acadia, unauthorized geocaches are often located within national park boundaries. Since 2000, park rangers have found and removed at least 17 physical geocaches from Acadia National Park lands. An additional 21 geocaches are now located on Mount Desert Island outside park boundaries.

With the increasing popularity of geocaching and related GPS-driven activities as well-established, international pastimes, Acadia National Park staff began looking for a means to protect park resources while providing the geocaching community with an exciting way to enjoy those resources. In consultation with Marcia Keener of the NPS Office of Policy, Geological Society of America (GSA) staff, and local geocachers, Acadia National Park staff settled on the creation of a more environmentally sensitive caching activity based on the GSA’s EarthCache concept.

Unlike geocaches, EarthCaches are a type of virtual (nonphysical) cache that teach something about the site—how it was formed geologically, why it is important scientifically, what it can tell us about our planet—without impacting the environment (see photo). There is no physical cache full of objects. With EarthCaches the knowledge gained is the treasure. To ensure appropriate educational content, EarthCaches are judged for suitability by the EarthCache team, which is part of the Geological Society of America. The concept of EarthCaches was developed by Gary Lewis of the Geological Society of America and Judy Geniac and Bob Higgins of the National Park Service.

The Acadia National Park EarthCache Program includes a series of park-developed "offset" caches—caches that take the seeker to more than one location along the trail toward the treasure. After downloading background information and starting coordinates from the park Web site (http://www.nps.gov/acad/earthcache.htm), participants begin the treasure hunt. At each location, caches offer educational messages about the park’s geologic resources and clues to determine location coordinates to subsequent caches. Instead of physical containers, these caches are small, laminated posters hidden from public view. The final cache is a letterbox cache, located inside a park facility, that includes a logbook and a stamp for marking the personal logbook of participants. The lack of traditional physical caches and the park’s selection of areas used in the program, including durable surfaces for cache locations, prevent resource damage and enhance visitor safety. The experience is designed to be challenging and informative and to help foster appreciation, support, and protection of Acadia National Park.

Each stop in Acadia's EarthCache Program highlights some of the park's significant geologic resources. (Top) Volunteer Mollie Behn studies a sea cave that today sits well above sea level. (Bottom) A participant studies a sea stack formed by the ocean's erosive power.

Credit: NPS/Stuart West

The EarthCache Program is being tested by park staff and experienced geocachers as part of its pilot phase and will be available to the public by spring 2007. Because it was developed cooperatively, Acadia’s EarthCache Program can meet the needs of a number of different audiences. It appeals to the geocaching community by providing a fun, innovative, and educational way to explore the outdoors using current technology. It allows park staff to meet its resource management, resource and visitor protection, and interpretation objectives. It also offers an alternative to traditional geocache activities across the National Park System. By offering participants a new adventure in the national parks, EarthCache programs like Acadia’s provide opportunities for visitors to build vital connections with extraordinary resources. Not a bad outcome for a virtual treasure hunt.

Reference
Groundspeak. 2006. Geocaching—The official global GPS cache site. Frequently asked questions page. Groundspeak, Seattle, WA. Available at http://www.geocaching.com/faq (accessed 20 December 2006).

Virginia Reams
Writer-Editor, Acadia National Park, Maine

Stuart West
Branch Chief—Remote Areas, Acadia National Park, Maine