Frederick City Cooperative Wildlife Management Area (CWMA) contains over 7,000 acres of forest land in western Frederick County. While the watershed’s primary purpose is maintaining water quality as it supplies part of the city water supply, it also provides opportunities for public recreation such as hunting, fishing, hiking, bird watching, mountain biking and horseback riding… and now geocaching.
In cooperation with the Sustainability Manager at the City of Frederick Department of Public Works a total of 5 geocaches have been allowed to be placed in preapproved locations. Locations were chosen to avoid many of the critical habitat areas in the watershed. The well-managed forests and excellent water quality mean that the Watershed provides habitat for a variety of animals and plants, some of which are rarely found elsewhere. The Watershed is home to 36 sensitive species, of which, 22 are threatened and endangered species.
A few other interesting facts:
- The ponds along the Blue Trail were all built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
- Stoner Road and most of the other fire roads were built/improved by the CCC.
- Much of the Watershed was logged in the 1800s (before becoming City-owned) for the Catoctin furnace.
- Fred Besley, Maryland's first state forester mapped the forest stands in the Watershed in 1913. At the time, there were large tracts of American chestnut. Stumps and stump sprouts can be found throughout the Watershed.
Specific to this cache: Small loc n' loc beneath a host.