“The [Colorado] teams that were planning to have a new member class this year, all of them have canceled that; 2020 is essentially no new members,” Sparhawk said. “It's limiting our efforts to fill the ranks.”
The financial challenges facing current and prospective volunteers could limit participation as well.
“Recruitment is very, very difficult for us now,” said Bill Gillespie, president of the Washington State Search and Rescue Volunteer Advisory Council. “We're anticipating, over the next year, we're going to see a downturn in the number of people remaining with teams or coming out for teams.”
Finding New Models
SAR leaders are looking for new ways to stay afloat. Many have posted educational signs near trailheads and organized workshops for novice recreationists to help them stay out of trouble. Other teams have tried to increase fundraising, a challenge amid a nationwide recession.
Some wonder if the current SAR model is sustainable. This year, Colorado lawmakers considered a bill that would have directed the state to study and review its search and rescue operations, while creating a pilot program to provide mental health services for rescuers.
Democratic state Sen. Kerry Donovan, a sponsor of the bill, said it fell victim to pandemic-related budget cuts. She plans to bring the measure back next year, and she’d like the state to consider providing retirement benefits and workers’ compensation insurance to SAR volunteers.
“We’re asking more and more of these guys, and it’s not a sustainable scenario,” Donovan said. “The state needs to have a larger role in supporting these folks who we ask to do so much. … We need to make sure it becomes a program that still makes sense for volunteers.”
Meanwhile, some Washington state legislators proposed a donation-funded grant program earlier this year to help fund local SAR teams. Democratic state Sen. Dean Takko, one of the bill's sponsors, said the bill ran out of time in the state's abbreviated session, but he hopes to revive it next year.
Legislators in Oregon considered a bill this year that would have allowed residents to buy a “search and rescue card” to help fund SAR teams in the state; the plan was modeled on a Colorado program that raised about $80,000 last year.
A few states are even rethinking whether to charge people for their rescues. Most still offer SAR services for free, fearing people will be less likely to seek help if they know it will be accompanied by a hefty bill.
But South Dakota passed a bill earlier this year that allows groups to collect up to $1,000 from the people they rescue. And New Hampshire residents can purchase a Hike Safe Card that protects them from liability for repaying rescue costs.
As states look at different approaches, SAR veterans say they need to find answers fast.
“Search and rescue volunteers are spending millions and millions of dollars every year to be able to volunteer,” Sparhawk said. “Especially now with COVID, where there's a very questionable economy, what disposable income do people have? Will they be able to respond as they have in the past? Can we put gas in the trucks, can we repair equipment?”
More Articles
- Encountering the News From the British Library's Breaking the News Exhibition: Unsettling, But Exciting
- Senate Commerce Subcommittee Set ... Protecting Kids Online: Testimony From a Facebook Whistleblower
- Stateline: The Pandemic Has Closed Public Restrooms, and Many Have Nowhere to Go
- Pew Trust's Stateline: Staffing Nursing Homes Was Hard Before the Pandemic. Now It’s Even Tougher.
- The Uber and Lyft of Dog Walking Fight State Oversight
- Stateline: How One School Is Tackling the Youth Vaping Epidemic
- Bureau of Land Management Plans Across West Favor Development, Reduced Protections and Minimal New Safeguards — and Ignore Agency’s Own Findings
- Too High To Drive: States Grapple With Setting Limits On Weed Use Behind Wheel; Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Indiana are Among States That Forbid Driving at Any THC Level
- Nevada and Idaho Are the Nation’s Fastest-Growing States; How Does Your State Stack Up?
- Economic Research from the St. Louis Fed Reserve Bank: What Are Teachers Really Paid? Adjusting Wages for Regional Differences in Cost of Living