Recent NYS Forest Ranger actions:

Town of Ohio
Herkimer County
Wilderness Search: On Dec. 2 at 7:21 p.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a call reporting an overdue hunter in the area of North Lake/Ice Cave Mountain. Forest Ranger Lt. Murphy responded, along with Forest Rangers McCartney, Hanno, Candee, and Evans. Once on scene, Rangers spread out on key terrain and fired signal shots to see if the hunter would respond. The Rangers heard a shot in return, proceeded east into West Canada Lake Wilderness in the direction of the shot fired, and made voice contact with the 59-year-old hunter from Beaver Falls. At 2:14 a.m., Lt. Murphy advised that Rangers had located the subject cold, but otherwise in good condition, and were assisting him out of the woods. Earlier in the afternoon, the hunter’s GPS died and with the heavy snowfall, he was unable to follow his own tracks and became lost about three miles from camp. The hunter was returned to his camp at North Lake at 3:47 a.m.

» Continue Reading.

Recent NYS DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Town of Fort Ann
Washington County
Wilderness Rescue: On Nov. 28 at 1:06 p.m., Warren County 911 transferred a call to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch requesting assistance for a 57-year-old male hiker from Clifton Park with a possible leg fracture one mile from the summit of Buck Mountain. Forest Ranger Lt. Ganswindt and three Forest Rangers responded to assist. After locating the hiker, the Rangers splinted his injured leg and proceeded to carry him to a waiting ATV to drive him out of the woods. Once back at the trailhead, the hiker declined further medical assistance and the incident concluded at 5:14 p.m.

Recent NYS DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Town of North Elba
Essex County
Wilderness Rescue: On Nov. 10 at 4:36 p.m., Essex County 911 transferred a call to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch reporting an 84-year-old male hiker from Rochester with chest pains on Mt. Jo. Forest Ranger Lt. Burns and Forest Ranger van Laer responded, along with the Lake Placid Fire Department and Lake Placid Volunteer Ambulance Service. The hiker was treated by Lake Placid EMS and assisted to the ambulance. Forest Rangers were clear of the scene at 6 p.m.

» Continue Reading.

Recent NYS DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Town of Johnsburg
Warren County
Wilderness Rescue: On Oct. 26 at 9:37 a.m., Warren County 911 transferred a call to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch reporting an injured hunter on a ski trail near Gore Mountain in North Creek. Further information indicated the injury was a broken leg due to entrapment under a boulder. Forest Rangers Kabrehl, Donegan, and Quinn responded to assist. At 11:06 a.m., Rangers Quinn and Donegan reached the injured man, removed him from the boulder entrapment, and performed advanced wilderness first aid to a badly damaged leg with severe lacerations and a compound fracture. Forest Rangers and members of the North River Fire Department carried the 31-year-old hunter from Hudson Falls off the ledge in a litter to a location with ATV access. The hunter was transported to a local hospital for further medical treatment.

» Continue Reading.

Recent NYS DEC Forest Ranger actions involve lost hunters, missing hikers and more:

Town of Watson
Lewis County
Wilderness Search: On Oct. 22 at 7:08 p.m., Lewis County 911 transferred a call reporting a lost hunter to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch. The hunter’s friend contacted 911 reporting that his friend was disoriented and could not be reached by radio. Forest Rangers Evans, Thomes, and Lee responded to assist. Ranger Evans was first on scene and went into the woods, along with a Lewis County Deputy Sheriff, and the reporting party. Ranger Evans advised the responders located the lost hunter at 9:11 p.m. The 59-year-old hunter from Queensbury was escorted out of the woods to his vehicle and the Rangers were cleared from the scene.

» Continue Reading.

Recent NYS DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Village of Saranac Lake – Harrietstown
Franklin County
Wilderness Rescue: On Oct. 15 at 1:12 p.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a report of an overturned canoe in the Second Pond boat area on Lower Saranac Lake. One person was on shore and uncertain if her companion was still in the water or on shore looking for their dog. Forest Ranger Balerno and DEC Operations staff responded and confirmed the two subjects were out of the water looking for the dog. At 2:20 p.m., Forest Rangers Evans and Balerno located the couple from Oreland, Pennsylvania, and their dog, loaded the group onto a DEC boat, and returned them to their vehicle at the launch.

» Continue Reading.

Recent NYS DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Town of North Elba
Essex County
Wilderness Rescue: On Oct. 5 at 7:45 p.m., Essex County 911 transferred a call to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch reporting two hikers lost off the Street and Nye Mountains Trail in the High Peaks Wilderness Area. Forest Ranger Lewis responded and located the hikers from Rochester at 9:51 p.m. before starting the trek back to the trailhead. At 11:18 p.m., Ranger Lewis and the couple arrived back to the trailhead at the Adirondak Loj and were cleared from the scene.

» Continue Reading.

Recent DEC Forest Ranger Actions:

Town of North Elba
Essex County
Wilderness Rescue: On Oct. 1 at 5:42 p.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a 65-year-old hiker from Long Meadow, Massachusetts, reporting he had injured his ankle near MacIntyre Falls. The hiker said his hiking party braced his injury and he would hobble down the trail with them. Forest Ranger LaPierre responded, hiking up the trail to the man’s location while Forest Rangers Evans, Burns, Gliddi, and Booth came in with a six-wheel ATV. Once on scene, Ranger LaPierre splinted the injury and assisted the hiking party to the Whales Tail Junction where they were met by the secondary group of Rangers and driven out to the trailhead to their vehicle.

» Continue Reading.

Recent NYS DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Town of St. Armand
Essex County
Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 22 at 12:10 p.m., Franklin County 911 transferred a call to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch reporting an injured 64-year-old hiker from Dyer, Indiana, on Baker Mountain. The hiker went off the trail, fell, and injured his right leg. Forest Rangers Evans and Sabo responded to assist. Once on scene, Forest Ranger Evans provided first aid for the subject’s unstable knee and ankle. Due to the extent of the injury, New York State Police (NYSP) Aviation was requested along with backup rescuers including members of Search and Rescue of the Northern Adirondacks in case of a possible carry-out involving a high-angle rope technique on steep terrain. NYSP Aviation, with Forest Ranger Benzel as hoist operator, completed the hoist rescue off the mountain at 4:18 p.m. The hiker was transported to a local hospital for further medical treatment.

» Continue Reading.

Recent DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Town of Piercefield
St. Lawrence County
Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 17 at 10:25 a.m., DEC’s Central Dispatch received a call from a relative of two campers on the Bog River after one of the campers injured their back and had difficulty moving. Forest Rangers Baldwin, Lee, and Hogan responded to assist. At 12:20 p.m., Rangers Baldwin and Hogan located the campers and began the walk out to the road. At 1:07 p.m., Ranger Baldwin transported the campers back to their vehicle. The 66-year-old man from Honeoye Falls who had suffered the back injury stated he would seek further medical attention on his own.

» Continue Reading.

Town of Long Lake
Hamilton County
Wilderness Search: On August 20 at 2:30 p.m., Hamilton County 911 transferred a call to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch from a lost hiker on Owls Head Mountain in the Sargent Ponds Wild Forest. Forest Rangers Temple, Scott, and DiCintio responded to the trailhead. With no coordinates from the dropped call, New York State Police Aviation was called in with Forest Ranger Praczkajlo to search the marshy areas where the subject was believed to be. Coordinates obtained through a 911 callback placed the hiker in a marshland just off the south side of the mountain. At 6:25 p.m., Dispatch was notified that the 69-year-old hiker from Baltimore, Maryland, had been located and reunited with her family.

Lost hiker assisted by Forest Ranger after being lost in the Sargent Ponds Wild Forest/DEC photo

» Continue Reading.

Recent NYS DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Town of Franklin
Franklin County
Wilderness Rescue: On Aug. 14 at 10:11 p.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a woman reporting that her two friends were overdue from kayaking on Union Falls Pond. The 21-year-old woman and 22-year-old man from New City went to watch the sunset from their kayaks but their friends grew concerned when it got dark because the pair are not familiar with the area. Forest Ranger Baldwin responded to the camp and after interviewing members of the party, determined that the group had found one of the kayaks along the shore. Ranger Baldwin swept the road in the surrounding area before reaching out for assistance. Once cleared of a separate incident, Forest Ranger Praczkajlo responded to assist with the search and was on scene at 12:26 a.m. Forest Rangers fueled up and used the reporting party’s boat and began searching the area where the kayak was found. Rangers turned off the motor and yelled out for the missing kayakers. At 1:12 a.m., the Rangers heard the pair yelling for help from the shore and proceeded to pick them up. The overdue kayakers stated that when one of their kayaks flipped, they panicked and attempted to grab onto the other one, flipping it, and then swam to shore. Rangers Baldwin and Praczkajlo took the two kayakers back to their camp and the incident concluded at 2:18 a.m.

» Continue Reading.

Recent DEC Forest Ranger actions:

Town of Harrietstown
Franklin County
Wilderness Rescue: On Aug. 5 at 3:24 p.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a man reporting that he was stranded with his wife and two granddaughters (10 and 16 years old) on the shore of Middle Saranac Lake. He stated that the wind was too strong to paddle back the way they came. The caller estimated that the group was about a quarter of a mile north of the outlet of Middle and Lower Saranac lakes. Forest Ranger DiCintio responded to assist with the help of DEC Operations staff. Two boats were deployed to the stranded canoeists’ location, one to transport the group of four and the other to tow their canoe and two kayaks. At 6:13 p.m., Ranger DiCintio advised that the group from Cincinnati, Ohio, had been dropped off at the South Creek boat launch where their vehicle was located.

» Continue Reading.