Adirondack Park Incidents: A Retrospective Review of Search and Rescue Reports of 2008 and 2009

Abstract

The Adirondack Park encompasses a mixture of mountains, forest, wetlands, and waterways and is the largest park in the lower 48 states of the United States. Locals and tourists use this land for hiking, camping, canoeing, hunting, fishing, trapping, snowmobiling, skiing, mountain biking, and rock climbing. Given the large number of people who use the Adirondacks for recreation, there is an equally large number of accidents, injuries, and illness that occur in areas ranging from state-operated campgrounds to remote backcountry. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the demographics of search and rescue operations in the Adirondack Park. This study is a retrospective review of the Adirondack Park Forest Ranger search and rescue reports from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2009. Epidemiologic data, including subject demographics, incident, reason for injury, medical care needed, preparation of subject, and prior medical conditions, was gathered from the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation for each report. Between 2008 and 2009, 239 search and rescue missions were carried out for 349 subjects. Twenty-eight percent of cases involved an injured subject and 9% involved illness. Fifty-six percent of the subjects had a known prior illness or medical condition or were medication dependent. Twenty-one percent of cases were thought to be due to subjects exceeding their abilities. Of the search missions, 54% of subjects had little experience with the activity and 9% had no experience at all. Only 43% of subjects had any form of orientation equipment with them at the time of rescue. This study highlights the importance of continued surveillance of injury and illness in the Adirondack Park. That will aid in educating subjects on the preparation needed for wilderness activities as well as tailoring search and rescue resources to the demographics of injury and illness within the park.