This is an interesting philosophical issue here. One on hand, this info is going to get out and is increasingly available to those who use a little GoogleFu. On the other hand, I don't think we should help/encourage the spread of it. The spots this group are likely to share will very likely include 1) obvious popular places AND 2) lots of places few have found and popularized before. Afterall, this group is full of genuine wanders who find cool places. We appreciate it amongst ourselves, but we don't want the "I'm too lazy to find something on my own, but hey Google told me about this cool place just a half mile this way, so let's go party there and leave our cigarette butts and wrappers lying around" crowd. To me, the point of this is not just the first type of place which we'll likely already know about, but the second. Security and confidentiality are a must, IMO, even if that means less convenience and usability. Just my $0.02.
Okay guys, this is one subject I've done allot of soul searching on over the years, so here it goes! I'm an archaeologist and for years the battle has been "Do you show the unwashed and ignorant" all that good stuff and risk getting it destroyed or do not show it and risk getting it destroyed by those same unwashed and ignorant souls because they didn't know how important it was"? Until I went to work for the BLM I wanted it all locked up-only the those in the know who could enjoy all that great archaeology-then I found my first real "pot hunted site" and went on the war path and for many years I spent weekends and many a day doing stakeouts or areal patrol with the cops and trying to catch the bad guys, even did catch a few and went to court and put them away. But at the same time, I had schools showing up at my door, wanting to see sites and wanting to learn about archaeology. On top of this "the public" were always stoping by and also wanting to see all that good stuff and I had my bosses telling me, that "my" stuff was on land that belonged to the "public" and was public whether I liked it or not-besides, they pay their taxes so you had better tell 'em what they should do out there and why it is important to just look at it and not take it or destroy it. Educate the unwashed and all will be well-well that works for most people, but not for all.
So, we worked with the schools, the public, the amateur arks, the Indians and everyone we could think of, to just do that-make them appreciate it and maybe they will not destroy it, dig it up or love it to much. Where I worked, we (the staff) worked together as a group to try and protect and inform the public that this whole system (the birds, the bees, the ark, the wilderness, yes even the cows) was theirs, but they had to work with us or they would loose it! We took the public on regular tours of the public land around here so they could learn what they could do and not do, how to survive and enjoy nature and the rest! Yes we showed some rock art sites, some neat historic places, some great landscapes, how to get un-stuck, even where they could go off-road with their atv's and where not to. From when the snow left 'till it came back, we were in the back country showing the public about their public lands-it even worked sometimes, still had problems. I remember having 37 vehicles following me around the back country as me and the local historian and one of our wild lifers were pointing out the sites and answering questions. Did we show everything out there "No", but maybe one of those "unwashed " following us around would come in one day and tells us about something neat they had found that we did not know about! In conclusion, you can't protect it all, but you have to hope that most people, given a chance, will do the right thing and not blow that rock art away or shoot that wild horse for the hell of it. Sorry for talking so much, guys just remember, someone will find our places no matter what we do, and as that old saying goes " I'd rather have them in the tent pissing out and outside pissing in"!
Smoke
