Geocaching, Letterboxing, and Orienteering

One of the opening statements by the New Forest Review Group (1988) that orienteering “by its very nature causes very considerable disturbance to wildlife and damage to flora over wide areas” has been shown to be unsupported. There is trampling of vegetation, but little evidence of disturbance of mammals and birds. It has also been shown that the reason for this is that orienteering, by its very nature, and by procedures of good practice, is a sport of low ecological impact. There also seem to be many wide-ranging educational benefits of orienteering, letterboxing, and geocaching and particularly the development of environmental stewardship, where the benefits outweigh the minor environmental impact. However, the growth in popularity of these activities needs careful monitoring and further research carried out.