EDITORIAL: Rangers are the police of the wilderness
Press-Republican
July 15, 2010
EDITORIAL: Rangers are the police of the wilderness
Press-Republican
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In lean times, taxpayers always urge
their government representatives to cut spending in just about every
area except public safety. Citizens want to keep as much of their money
as possible, of course, but they also insist on feeling safe. Cut
anyplace possible in the budget, but be careful when you cut police
departments or fire departments. If those cuts are going to leave
constituents feeling vulnerable, don't make them.
One of the
greatly overlooked areas of public safety in these parts is the New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation rangers. That's probably
because only a small minority of us spends much time in the woods.
Those who do, though, have a dedicated and thoroughly professional crew
of rangers as their safety net.
DEC Region 5, which encompasses
the North Country, sends out a compendium of its log a month or two at a
time to news outlets. The report is useful as a reminder of how not to
act in the wilderness, and it's interesting to see some of the missteps
hikers, campers, hunters and anglers take and how the rangers react to
get them back to civilization in one piece.
The reports also
document the lengths to which rangers have to go sometimes to bring
happy conclusions to unhappy predicaments.
Often, hikers get lost
and must be found. Sometimes, one hiker will become separated from his
companion or his party. Rangers will use a variety of means to find
whoever is lost, sometimes by following a cell signal, sometimes by
tracking the person and sometimes by simply flooding the area with
officers until they locate the individual, who by this time may be
panicky, dehydrated or injured.
They never know what kind of
emergency they will be asked to confront. Rangers received a call one
recent Sunday evening, just before dark, that a hiker from Canada had
had his eye impaled by a tree branch. Not knowing the seriousness of the
injury, but knowing it didn't sound good, they found the victim and
escorted him back to the party's vehicle. As it turned out, the injury
was not serious, but, had it been, the rangers would have been prepared.
Several
of the accounts in the report include searches beginning in the
afternoon and lasting until midnight or beyond. Weekends seem to be
especially problematic, since that's when most people are going into the
woods and mountains.
Rangers are prepared to treat and transport
the sick and, of course, the injured. One rescue was a demented
individual who could offer no assistance in his own recovery.
DEC
advises anyone going into the wilderness to take supplies, including
food and water, and to stay connected with others. When that advice is
ignored, the rangers are there at any time and in any conditions to
solve problems that result. What police are to city streets, rangers are
to the forest, and we're lucky to have them.
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