Georgia Geocachers Association
July 2004 Meeting Minutes


The July 2004, meeting was held at Bell’s Ferry Park in Cobb County. There were 14 new members and 35 prior members present. There are now 383 members of the Georgia Geocachers Association.

Mtn-man began the meeting by welcoming the new members and inviting them, and everyone, to take full advantage of their membership and participate in the GGA Discussion Forums and the various events sponsored by the GGA. He gave a little background about the GGA and some of the things we do.

Mtn-man mentioned the “Cash Cache” for donations, and the Travel Bug Corral for anyone who wanted to trade Bugs.

Then Mtn-man introduced Richard Angeli and Bart Alvarez from Leave No Trace, Inc., often referred to as LNT. Richard and Bart are active in educating different groups about minimum-impact practices and programs sponsored by the LNT. They gave an interesting presentation about their organization, the problems it addresses and its programs. They presented the seven “Principles of Leave No Trace,” which are:

- Plan Ahead and Prepare
- Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
- Dispose of Waste Properly
- Leave What you Find
- Minimize Campfire Impacts
- Respect Wildlife
- Be Considerate of Other Visitors

They also stressed the NLT "Four C's”:

- Compaction
- Contamination
- Campfires
- Changing environment

As geocachers, we usually don’t have to worry about campfires, but the other “C’s” are important concerns for us.


Richard and Bart referenced two good websites that expand on these Principles as well as explain more of the programs of the NLT organization. They are:

www.LNT.org -- this is the national organization’s website
www.LNT-GA.org -- this is LNT-Georgia’s website.

Another website Richard referenced for hints on packing foods for hiking and camping is www.trailfoods.com. This is the website of a commercial organization and not affiliated with LNT. In addition, everyone present got handouts: a pamphlet, a plastic hangtag and book matches (!) with information about LNT.

Next, we took a break and did a little socializing.

After the break, we had a short question and answer session with the NLT speakers. They were very helpful in helping us understand the impact we make on the fragile public lands.

Then came the ever-popular drawing for door prizes. Mtn-man handed out some Travel Bugs to folks who were going where certain Bugs wanted to go and the rest were included in the drawing. Several members had brought “gifts” for door prizes, and many attendees won a prize.

The meeting was adjourned, and most either went looking for the various caches placed in the park, or stayed behind and swapped ideas and stories and socialize.

Special thanks go to Richard and Bart for their time and presentation, and to the Leave No Trace for their work.