A NPS helo brings in a load of SAR gear before beginning a “rope down”. Photo by Brian Zambrano.
A report by two researchers in the field of wilderness medice have come to some interesting conclusions. Yosemite seems to account for 1/4 of Annual NPS Search and Rescue costs at nearly $1.2 million in 2005.
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve ($29310) and Denali National Park and Preserve ($18345) were found to have the highest average SAR costs along with Yosemite National Park.
Hiking and boating were the cause of most SAR activities with most of the fatalities occuring from Hiking (22.8%), suicides (12.1%), swimming (10.1%), and boating (10.1%).
Fortunately for us it was money well spent. The researchers also found that 1 in 5 (20%) of all SAR requests would have resulted in a fatality if NPS personnel had not responded.
For more information you can check out the abstract at the Wilderness Medical Society journal at wemjournal.org.