The first meeting of the year was held at the beautiful Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center. There were several new caches to find around the facility thanks to joebids for placing them and having them published right before the meeting. The meeting was the biggest GGA monthly meeting ever. There were 99 people in attendance with 33 new members under 27 geonicks and 50 current members under 44 geonicks. We had an introduction period where we went around the room and learned everyone’s geonick and how long they have been caching. The Steering Committee was introduced along with the 2 newly elected members.

First on the meeting agenda was Bonnie Putney with Rivers Alive and she spoke to us about her organization and ways geocachers can partner with them to clean up lakes and waterways across Georgia. She had a very informative slide show presentation. We got to see some pictures of the more interesting things they have pulled out of lakes. She also spoke about the water shortage and the shrinking lake. It is now one of the best times to get trash out of the lake since the water is down and more areas are accessible and exposed. Rivers Alive has many clean up opportunities and she invited all cachers to join them for a clean up.

We then took a short break for a raffle. There were 2 sets of raffle prizes one for the geocaching newbies and one for everyone. We had donated prizes from Rivers Alive and the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center and some cachers in attendance. Everyone enjoyed the prizes.

Next on the agenda were some presentations about geocaching hardware and software. First up was mtn-man, he told us about the programs he uses to process his Pocket Queries. Next we heard briefly from joebids he talked a bit about mapping software and how to manage waypoints on maps.

We then ended the meeting with a real treat; Brain Sterner with the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center gave a tour of the facility for those in attendance.