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What do you think of this?

  • Thread starter Ozzy
  • Start date

Ozzy

SirKristoff is a poopiehead
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My first instinct was  
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but after some thought, it isnt that bad..
because you have to take into account who is finding that webpage..

I know some geocachers, and have been on a few searches.
I havent "jumped in" and bought my own GPS unit yet though...not sure if im "into it" enough..

99.99999% of the people who find that cache page wont have a clue what sarracenia are, and they wont care.
sure, everyone has heard of VFT's, but again people will think "cool! venus fly traps! I have to see those!"
they will go on the cache, look at the plants, think "neat"..then go home and forget all about it..

the only people who are going to find that page will find it because they are geocachers..not CP fans.
they wont care about CPs..
poachers wont easily ever find that page.

and..I would be willing to bet that a majority of serious geocachers are your more environment-minded type folks anyway..

so..IMO, its not as bad as it looks..
I would still prefer the page was taken down!
but after some thought, instead of a rating of:
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I now give it a  
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Scot
 
I'm glad the warning is in there about collecting the plants.

You have to wonder now... which page is a poacher going to find first... the geocaching page, or this one?
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (endparenthesis @ Mar. 21 2006,9:26)]I'm glad the warning is in there about collecting the plants.

You have to wonder now... which page is a poacher going to find first... the geocaching page, or this one?
ooh! good point!
perhaps we should write a note to the owner of the geocache page, explaining why its a bad idea to tell people where to find wild CPs..
then just delete this thread all together..

We all agree that wild CP locations should not be made public..which is why Ozzy posted the geocache page in the first place..
but then this very thread only makes it worse..
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Scot
 
Please do not get me wrong with this question.  I know there are alot of poachers out there who wouldn;t think twices on digging up all the plants.  I know that, but why keep these wonders of nature a sectret.  Why not get things together to protect them, but yet still allow people to witness the beauty of these plants.  I would love to see CPs in the wild, but if no one shares where to see these then I may never see them unless its at a park or something.  Trust me I know why you want to keep it a secret, but if its kept a secret then what good does it do to save it if no one knows about it?  Its like buying the mona lisa only to keep it locked away in a vault someplace.  Sarrs and other CP should be enjoyed in the wild just like orchids, but if kept a secret then its also an injustice not being able to view their beauty.  Just my opinion.  Like I said I know I don;t want poachers removing the plants, but there has to be another way then not sharing the beauty.
 
In this instance I have no problem with it as this cache is in a park
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]The park is open daily during daylight hours only.
and I don't think it reveals any more than one could find out by asking one of the park personnel. And as mentioned, he/she also mentions the stiff penalty for poaching plants or any part there of. It wouldn't do any good in this case to keep this sight secret as it's already open to the public.
 
~poaching is illegal hence ..the human trait in some to act upon its naughtiness,{i'll smack your hands right outta the cookie jar!}extinction lumes in all walks of life ~ preservation is a commodity taken lightly for those whom cannot protect themselves. I do agree with JB Orchid guy,natures beauty can hardly be contained. I give tours to children ages 5 to 10 yrs old at a flower conservatory ~ in our aquatic room I see their eyes bug out when we get to the pitcher plants ,its the moment they have all been waiting for through out our hour 1/2 tour ~ for all the beauty that the cloud covered epiphytes behold to me ~they want to see the flesh eating traps and the slippery bulbulous pitchers they hear so much about~& i'm so glad we have them the kids have a field note book with them  to draw and take notes in, which opens up a great arena for discussion about why we leave native plants where they belong and that we are very lucky to have our small ongoing display. sharing is education.Plus Its the same jerks poaching as is that cut you off on the highway this morning ~  no regard for your time or life. sigh ,say grrrr and congratulate yourself that you have more dignity than a dirty cp thief. And think about all the orchid poachers that lost their lives over greed climbing heights in unfamiliar territories~ and still many vines species they continue to elude us.
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1) For some reason, this reminds me of Raiders of the Last Ark. This is a topic that I haven't given much thought to. How does it relate to the efforts of NASC?

2) As is our convention, we like to greet and welcome new members to TerraForums, so, welcome Tiffneycase to TF!

3) Also, you and your students is one of the reasons why the discussion forom owner advocates a clean message board. We potentially have children viewing them.

4) man, those are nice plants!
 
So... no one seems to have noticed that this lovely activity was assembled by the great and powerful Oz himself... Hence I doubt that he has much of a problem with it. It's probably in a well-protected reserve; it's obviously someplace of which Ozzy feels secure about divulging the location to strangers. I don't believe there's anything to worry about and I think it's a great way to get nature-types into CPs and CP conservation. Good job Ozzy.
~Joe
 
  • #10
Hey thanks for spilling the beans on me Seedjar. I have wanted to place a geocache at a cp site ever since I got into it. I had the same concerns that was brought up here. I knew that any site I chose would have to be a protected site. If you look of the Internet for cp sites in this area you can find some very fast. The most well known are Carolina State Park, TNC in the Green Swamp, and the plant trail at the NC aquarium in Ft. Fisher. With the exception of the Aquarium plant trail the other places are so big that you still have to know where to look to find anything. So anybody that has the intention of poaching will find this site very easy anyway. It's listed on the Internet, that's how I found it by the way.

Like I said the other places are so big that it will be easy to sneak in and take plants without being noticed. Unless you want to take a long hike through the woods, the site I chosen has one way in and one way out. You have to enter through a elementary school playground, walk by the back door of a cafeteria, and there are countless windows in the school. If anybody is walking through there with a shovel and a bucket it will be pretty obvious. Although if somebody really wants the plants they can figure out a way to get em.

There is another and more important reason I choose this site. First you need to understand the reason I choose to plant this cache in the first place. Even though cp's are all around this area, most people that live here don't know where to look. I had always wanted to see vft's but never knew where to look. If I did my interest probably would have grown years before it did. So I think education is a major key to saving these plants. Now for the reason I choose this site for my cache. There is another factor about this site that differs from all the other cp sites I know. The plant there are pretty much worthless to collectors. I told you that this site is behind an elementary school. I assume that the plant trail is maintained by the school. If you noticed, there are S. leucophylla growing there. The only way I can think that they got there is that the students planted them as part of a project. All the pitcher plants have cross pollinated that it's impossible to tell what is what. I don't know what is natural to the area and what was planted. I can't even say for sure that any of the plants there are natural. They all may have been planted. The people that I want to discover this place wouldn't know the difference anyway. But just look how excited that the two people were that already found it. The Fraygirls are a team made up of a mother and two young daughters, and they are the type of people I wanted to find this area. You knows if there was a spark of interest with the two kids. This site has every cp that grows in this area, plus one. So I knew this was the right place. I can achieve every positive objective of getting as many people as I can to see these plants, without many of the negative problems of destruction of the a habitat that usually comes with high traffic. So this was the perfect opportunity.

Oh yeah, welcome tothe forums Tiffneycase, I really like the way you think.
 
  • #11
I would love to see the site myself even though it is largely hybred plants. Even though they were introduced they are now wild plants.
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As I said before I know why the sites are kept secret, but I also think its like putting the Mona lisa or other work of art in a vault never to be seen except by a select few people. Tiffney Case I agree with you that eduation about conservation is the key to their non destruction, and WELCOME! I also believe though that those plants that are endangered SHOULD be cultivated be as many people as possible. I am not saying plunder them from the wild, but rather ONE seed pod be taken by an approved nursery then grow as many of those plants as possible and pollinate getting more seed and making more plants. Also some tissue culture, but I do believe in having a little genetic variation too so not all should be tissue culture. That way the plants are available and do not need to be poached because then it will be more trouble than its worth to collect wild plants. I see it happening with orchids all the time. The entire plant is illegal and therefor every serious collecter wants it. Then the wild sites get stripped to feed the demand. It has happened with the newest species of paph. Paph Kovicii(sp) It is a huge pink paph. The largest to date. It makes the Rothchildianum look small. There are some growers here in the states that have plants that came herer BEFORE the flasks were made available for the plants. Peru allowed 5 nurseries over there to collect a certain number of plants to start a breeding program so the wild plants will be not needed to feed the desire of the collectors. Granted there are still poacher of plants available on the market, but it lowers it some. Especialy when the flask of Kovicii(sp) are still going for over 500 bucks a flask. Even when its culture is still being written. So I feel that every plant that is in demand should be cultivated by as many people as possible starting from a single seed pod or maybe 5 just so the population is not disturbed in the process. That way if need be they can be reintroduced if the need arrises. Not everyone can be controled and there are plants that are now extict in the wild, but since they are in cultivation there is the chance for them to be reintroduced to their natural location if it still exists. Have fun everyone!
 
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