WSGA - C.I.T.O. Discussion http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:07:12 -0700 60 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=333 CITO events with our parks for 2010! The more we volunteer to help our parks, the more support we'll get for geocaching from the land managers. Plus, giving back to the parks and helping the environment just feels good, doesn't it?

Groundspeak's 8th annual CITO weekend is April 24-25, and we hope to have CITO events scheduled across the state then, so everyone can attend one in their area. (Feel free to set one up!)

But CITO events aren't limited to Earth Day weekend - we encourage you to talk to your local parks and organize a CITO anytime during the year that it will help them. For instance, the first CITO in the Puget Sound area this year will be March 6 - Cougar Mountain CITO 2010.

Parks at every level - city, county, state, federal - can benefit from a CITO event. Cougar Mountain is a King County Park, but we've held CITOs at Mount Rainier NP and at state parks like Dash Point, as well as city parks in Kent and other municipalities.

And despite the name, CITO (Cache In, Trash Out) isn't limited to picking up trash and debris. It can include invasive-plant removal, native plant restoration, even trail-building - basically, whatever type of volunteer work party will help the park.

CITO events are easy to host. Just like the movie "Field of Dreams," if you build it, they will come. Contact a park near you and ask if they could benefit from a volunteer work party. Find out what kind of work they need done, and determine a mutually agreeable date and time. Usually 2-3 hours on a weekend are all you need. Publish the CITO event, and people will start signing up. (Check the geocaching calendar beforehand to ensure your event doesn't conflict with another one.) You might want to provide some drinks or snacks, and some geo-goodies to give away as prizes (WSGA often can help with that, and sometimes Groundspeak or even fellow cachers).

So, go to it - let's celebrate our many great parks in 2010 by showing them some love! Post your ideas and events here and in your Chapter forum so everyone knows about them.]]> Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:29:24 -0700 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=333 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=211



Oh well... MANY more opportunities for CITO in City Parks! ]]> Tue, 26 May 2009 16:23:20 -0700 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=211 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=197 Campground, and plans for our big event on May 16!

As you'll see by the photos on our page (GC1NYJH) taken on Friday last week, there's
still quite a bit of snow in the campground. However, it is melting
rapidly, and at a faster rate than last year's record snowpack did. In
fact, the big snow patch in front of my office window, which was two
feet deep and covered the entire yard on Friday, is now only a foot and
a half deep and half the yard is bare grass. That's happening more
slowly in the shade of the campground, but inexorably nonetheless.

I spoke with Jean and Harry Millan, our campground managers, this
afternoon, and they'll be moving in on May 11 and spending the week
getting ready for our event. I spoke with our maintenance rangers
yesterday afternoon, and they have a long list of projects for us to
work on: you and me, on the CITO day, but also other volunteers
throughout the rest of the summer as well.

Looks like we'll have two big priorities on May 16: First, building the
platform tents for use by volunteers; and second, painting the interior
walls of the bath house. It seems that mildew got into the building over
the winter, so their crews have been cleaning the walls with bleach, but
the walls will need to be repainted before the bath house can be
reactivated this year. "Do you have volunteers who could do that?" they
said. Do I ever! So come prepared to build tents, paint walls, pick up
windfall, and probably shovel a little snow.

Since the bath house will be delayed opening, it will not be available
for our CITO group to use. However, we do have a shower in the Community
Building apartment next to the campground, so anyone who really wants to
clean up after the day will be welcome to use that.

The Community Building will be where we'll gather after the work day for
our social event, including a barbecue and raffle. Another heartfelt
thanks to LucieandRickie, Hydnsek, and Combatnurse2003 for their efforts
in planning the barbecue and gathering swag!

There's still plenty of room for more volunteers, so spread the word,
and we look forward to seeing you on the 16th!]]> Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:16:04 -0700 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=197 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=190 GC1Q56T

Hope to see you there!
-Vicki (from seattlegeekgrrrlz)]]> Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:23:24 -0700 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=190 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=165
Until funds once again become available for these mothballed parks to be managed by Washington State Parks, these parks will have no facilities and no garbage pickup. You can imagine what a need there will be for periodic CITO events at these parks.

Nolte State Park

117 acre park near Enumclaw
Home to one of the 10 oldest caches in the state of Washington, Nick Nolte's Private Diary
Contact info:
Call Joe Bicondoa at 253-394-6309
or Email at friendsofnoltestatepark@q.com

Squilchuck State Park

288 acre park near Wenatchee
Location of the WSGA's 2005 Summer Campout
When I have contact info for Squilchuck I will post it here.]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:33:01 -0700 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=165 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=149
All CITO weekend events arranged by March 25 will be included in the upcoming WSGA CITO t-shirt. It will feature a map of our state with all of the 2009 CITO events plotted on it. Groundspeak will not be producing a CITO shirt this year, so this will be the only 2009 CITO shirt available for the state of Washington. Details about the shirts will be coming soon from Laurie our WSGA President, but don't miss the opportunity for your event to be included!

The WSGA's goal for CITO Weekend 2009 is to have at least two events held within each chapter. If more can be held within any chapters, that will be even better! This is the biggest and best way we have to build good relations with the land managers who oversee all the wonderful places that we get to play, and to give back to our environment.

Putting on a CITO event is very easy to do, but to make it even easier I will be posting additional topics soon with tips on how to organize a successful CITO event. In the meantime, who is going to step up and agree to host an event? Let's hear from you so we can make a big impact in our state with CITO this year!]]> Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:01:56 -0700 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=149 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=120
We are planning many more CITO events this year than we have in the past. I'm sure Cathy is up to the job!]]> Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:57:20 -0700 http://www.wsgaonline.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=120