By Nicola Whitley, Public Affairs Division Chief, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department

One of the most difficult messages it seems to get across to outdoor adventurers is the importance of safety precautions. We all know people who skip the helmet, use their PFD as a cushion, hike a mountain in sneakers and shorts, or leave the compass at home when venturing into the woods. We have also heard the many excuses too. But nobody wants to be injured or rescued either, or worse.

New Hampshire is fortunate in that we have a seacoast, proximity to three other states, hundreds of lakes and rivers, an international border, and mountains, quite big mountains, and yet we are the fifth smallest state. The White Mountain National Forest covers over 13% of the state at almost 800,000 acres. The Presidential Range in the Whites is a big draw for hikers, and New Hampshire Fish and Game’s Law Enforcement Division has a statutory mandate to coordinate all search and rescue operations occurring in the woodlands and inland waterways of New Hampshire, including searching for run-a-ways, missing persons, and the elderly, as well as all searches conducted within the White Mountains. This amounts to over 100 hiker and climber rescue missions each year and another dozen missing person searches for our Conservation Officers, not to mention drownings.

We do our level best to encourage hikers, many of whom have never tried it before, to be prepared. We have a great partner website with everything someone needs to know before venturing out https://hikesafe.com/. We send out a press release about every rescue mission we conduct and end almost all of them with safety reminders. We do articles in our magazine, social media posts, media interviews, and provide publications and education for events as well as partnering with nonprofits.

We could not do what we do without our volunteer search and rescue agencies. There are even groups that have volunteers who sit at trailheads on busy weekends and hand out safety information and advice. I once asked one of these folks how many people turn around and go home if she tells them they are not prepared. I think you can guess. We need to reach them before they leave home unprepared.

With no state funding provided to our agency to cover this cost, however, it is a struggle. So in 2014, a program was created to help defray the cost of rescues and preparedness of our Wardens for this work. It is called the Hike Safe Card https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/get-outside/hiking-safety. For $25 for one person or $35 for a family, the card exempts the purchaser for a calendar year from liability to pay for response expenses if their actions were not reckless. We have billed people, but few can afford the cost of a National Guard rescue helicopter. People who purchase a fishing or hunting license are also exempt. This program has been very successful in not only raising funds but in raising awareness.

It is human nature to believe that you are capable of more than you are, to not admit you are unprepared, and to not want to turn back when you have so much time and effort invested in something. Many people also just do not understand how much different conditions are at the top of a mountain versus the bottom, even in July. Mount Washington is known for having some of the harshest weather in the United States, including the potential for snow 12 months a year.

As we like to tell people, “The mountain will be there tomorrow, and the goal is to get back to the bottom, not the top.”