You’re hiking in the woods, some distance from where you started. Something bad happens — you twist an ankle, get lost, run out of food or water, or encounter weather you’re not prepared for.
What happens if you need to be rescued by park rangers or other emergency workers? Should you be billed for their services afterward? Or, is that part of the job of being a rescuer? Is it up to the agencies that run parks to hire more people as more inexperienced hikers visit parks and the need for such assistance increases? If so, how should that be paid for?
It was 11 p.m. one night last July when a couple realized they would not make it back down the Old Bridle Path. They were with their two children just over a mile into the hiking trail on Mount Lafayette, roughly 70 miles north of Concord, N.H.
They had underestimated the time it would take to complete the 7-mile hike, rated as difficult by AllTrails.com. They had been overtaken by darkness.
The couple and their children, who were tourists from Florida, did not have flashlights or water and were tired, so they called 911, according to Col. Kevin Jordan of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. Four officers found them around 12:30 a.m., gave them water and helped them back to the trailhead, Colonel Jordan said.
Now, in what has become an increasing trend in many states, New Hampshire plans to bill the family for the cost of the rescue. The total could be $5,000, Colonel Jordan estimated. The Florida family could not be reached for comment.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to a surge of inexperienced hikers venturing into the outdoors. And that in turn has increased the pressure on search and rescue teams, as well as the costs. Increasingly, states are looking for ways to penalize people who take unnecessary risks. But some question whether these laws might also discourage people from seeking help soon enough after putting their lives at risk because of an honest mistake.
New Hampshire passed a law in 2008 that allowed it to seek reimbursement if state officials deemed that a rescued person was negligent.
“We don’t do it very often,” Colonel Jordan said. “It’s got to be something that’s pretty wild, pretty out there. But one thing I am pretty strict on is being unprepared, because those are literally the things that cost lives.”
Five other states — Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Vermont and Oregon — have similar laws allowing them to bill people for the cost of rescues in certain situations.
Hawaii has two bills pending that would allow search and rescue operators to seek reimbursement from those who strayed from hiking trails or intentionally disregarded a warning or notice, then had to be rescued.
And South Dakota passed a law to help offset search and rescue costs. In March 2020, Gov. Kristi Noem signed Senate Bill 56, allowing rescue agencies to charge each person as much as $1,000.
Eric Neitzel, a retired firefighter turned drone operator in Arizona who volunteers his services to search and rescue missions, thinks that a law patterned after the state’s Stupid Motorist Law should be adopted for hikers.
Though rarely enforced, the 1995 law said that if a driver drove through floodwaters then needed help, “the expenses of an emergency response are a charge against the person liable for those expenses.”
“Something needs to happen,” Mr. Neitzel said. “It’s kind of like regulating common sense.”
Have you, or has anyone you know, had to call for help in the wilderness? If so, what happened next? What, if anything, did you, or they, learn as a result?
Should people who are negligent or take unnecessary risks — by, say, straying from trails or ignoring warning signs — have to pay if they need rescuing? What about people who head out unprepared — for example, by bringing inadequate food or water, or not dressing for possible weather conditions? Or, do you agree more with those who say laws that require people to pay for these kinds of rescues might also discourage people from seeking help after putting their lives at risk because of an honest mistake? Why?
The article suggests that social media contributes to the problem because “hikers can post photos of the vistas from high peaks without acknowledging the realities of reaching the summit.” To what degree do you think social media encourages reckless outdoor behavior?
Do you think that charging people for search and rescue services would deter others from engaging in reckless behavior on trails? Or, do you think people tend to have an exaggerated sense of what they can handle? How well do you think you gauge your own physical abilities? How well have you handled emergencies when you have encountered them, whether in nature or anywhere else?
What solutions to this problem make sense to you? For instance, should there be more education for new park visitors? A fee charged to all hikers to offset rescue costs? Something else?
The article concludes with a quote from Katie Rhodes, president of the Adirondack Mountain Rescue in New York: “We were all beginners once and people are going to make mistakes. They just are. We all do it. We’re all human.” Do agree with her? Why or why not?
Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
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