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The 2007 NEFF Geocache Challenge
Congratulations to everyone who participated in NEFF's
2007 Summer Geocache Challenge Tournament!
We had an awesome response to this year’s event with 55 teams registered for
the competition. It is exciting to see this kind of enthusiasm in an activity
that brings so many people into our woods! Over all, geocachers logged more than
530 cache visits during the course of the challenge.
And the winners are....
Bushwack Bob, the grand prizewinner of the DeLorme
Earthmate PN-20 handheld GPS unit. Bob
truly earned his codename on his journeys through NEFF forests.
We randomly drew 3 DeLorme
Topo USA 6.0 mapping software prizewinners from the first 5
cachers to visit all 20 caches around New England:
Chattering Child, PB & CC, and RTRD
Circusbear get the prizes! Congratulations also to
Greytimberwolf and Abuela Prime for finishing
alongside them. And honorary mentions for LisaS and
Barefoot for being the second group to visit all 20 caches.
Calling all volunteers!
We are seeking volunteers to “adopt” this year’s 20 caches, so they can
remain online permanently. Once signed up, volunteers are welcome to change the
contents of the box, update the cache posting, and make the cache your own.
Please contact Lisa Spalding at
lspalding@newenglandforestry.org with the name of the cache you would like
to adopt, and we will happily assign them on a first-come, first-served basis.
Thank you in advance for your help!
This summer’s theme
was water in the
woods!
Forests are
natural filters that provide clean water for plants, animals and people.
Participating geocachers will discover rivers, lakes, creeks, swimming holes,
and springs to learn about how forests provide clean water.
The
tournament kicked off on June 16, 2007. This is the first day of NEFF's 3rd annual
Community Forest Discovery Days,
a series of educational outdoor
educational events throughout New England.
The Rules
Were:
-
Print Geocache Challenge Tournament Sheet from this webpage.
(Yes, it was posted at 9:27 PM Friday night, June 15th! Let the games begin,
and good luck out there!)
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Find
the secret cache word in each
geoache box and record it on your tournament sheet (proof you were there!)
How
to Win:
-
Visit
at least 1 cache, record the secret cache word
on your tournament sheet and return it to NEFF by September 28th
2007 to receive a NEFF t-shirt and 1-year newsletter subscription.
-
Visit
5 of the 20 caches, record the secret cache
words on your tournament sheet and return it to NEFF by
September 28th 2007 to qualify to enter to win the Grand
Prize: an
Earthmate PN-20 handheld GPS unit!
-
The first
three people to visit all 20 caches, record the secret cache
words, figure out the 2007 NEFF Geocache Code
and return your tournament sheet to NEFF to win the DeLorme
Topo USA 6.0 mapping software, great
for planning and recording geocache outings!
Challenge caches
were posted
on this page and the Official Geocaching website.
Dates:
The tournament began on June 16, 2007 and ended
(tournament sheets due) on
Friday, Sept. 28th, 2007. Our Sponsor:
Thanks to DeLorme for sponsoring the NEFF
Geoache Challenge for a second year! 
Participating Geocache Challenge Forests:
Connecticut:
Horace A. Clark Memorial Forest, East Hartland Massachusetts:
Groton Place, Groton
Hartnett Manhan Memorial Forest, Easthampton
Mixter Nields Memorial Forest, Hardwick
Nelson Memorial Forest, Marshfield
Prouty Woods Community Forest, Littleton
Rocky Pond Community Forest, Boyleston Maine:
Allen-Whitney Memorial Forest, Manchester
Arnold Memorial Forest, Freeport
Emily Luce Memorial Forest, Readfield New
Hampshire:
Bennie Eaton Hill Memorial Forest, Hudson
Bradley-Draper Memorial Forest, Jaffrey
Chamberlain-Reynolds Memorial Forest, Center Harbor
Gordon Memorial Forest, Lisbon
Mountain Pond Memorial Forest, New Ipswich
Rich Memorial Forest, Sandwich
Townes Memorial Forest, New Boston Vermont:
Farwell Memorial Forest, Leicester
Hawk's Hill Demonstration Forest, East Barnard
Savage Memorial Forest, Reading
About
NEFF:
NEFF is a recognized leader in conserving working forests, educating the
public about forestry, and assisting landowners in the long-term protection and sustainable management of their properties. NEFF owns and manages
over 128 demonstration forests, totaling more than 23,000 acres throughout New
England. NEFF also holds 116 conservation easements, protecting over 1.13
million acres of forestland.
This tournament is to encourage outdoor
recreation such as Geocaching, to introduce the Geocache community to the
conservation efforts of NEFF, and to educate the public on the importance of
sustainable forest management in New England.
About
Geocaching:
Geocaching is part of a worldwide game dedicated to GPS
(Global Positioning System) users. The game basically involves a GPS user hiding
"treasure" (this container and its contents), and publishing the exact
coordinates so other GPS users can come on a "treasure hunt" to find
it. The only rules are: if you take something from the cache, you must leave
something for the cache, and you must write about your visit in the logbook.
Who won last year? 2006 Geocache Challenge Results: Congratulations to the winner of the 2006
Geocache Tournament, Laurie Maldari of Leominster, Massachusetts. Laurie
won a
week's stay at NEFF's Hawk's Hill Cabin in East Barnard, Vermont. Everyone who
sent in a tournament sheet received NEFF's newsletter and a Discovery Day
T-shirt. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Congratulations to MiniCashingCrew, Mrs. Nushiekitty and Nushiekitty for being the first three to have visited all twelve caches in the NEFF Geocache Challenge for 2006.
They each won a copy of DeLorme Topo USA 6.0 mapping software, a great value.
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Board of Directors
