WEBVTT 00:02.000 --> 00:04.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Across the nation, search-and-rescue teams are mostly made 00:04.300 --> 00:08.633 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% up of a patchwork of volunteers, often overseen by local sheriff's departments. But many of these 00:10.666 --> 00:14.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% teams are now struggling to keep up, as more American than ever are hitting the outdoors. 00:16.233 --> 00:18.400 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Special correspondent Christopher Booker reports from Colorado. 00:18.400 --> 00:20.933 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: High atop 00:20.933 --> 00:25.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Colorado's Rocky Mountains is where 46-year old Jennifer Staufer finds peace. 00:25.566 --> 00:29.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JENNIFER STAUFER, Climber: being outside is just such a mental clarifying relief for me. Like, 00:29.633 --> 00:33.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% it's just a place where I go to kind of reconnect with what fundamentally matters to me. 00:33.900 --> 00:38.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Raised in Colorado, Staufer began climbing more than two decades ago, and, 00:38.366 --> 00:42.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% by July of 2015, she had made it to the summit of more than 40 of the states' 00:42.500 --> 00:47.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% mountains with elevation above 14,000 feet. They're collectively known as the 14ers. 00:47.166 --> 00:51.500 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% JENNIFER STAUFER: I was 10 weeks pregnant at the time. My doctor had cleared me to hike until I was 00:51.500 --> 00:56.466 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% 20 weeks pregnant. And I was on a mission to check off some more 14ers before I had a kid in my life. 00:58.433 --> 01:00.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: That mission brought her and her climbing partner, Adam, 01:00.100 --> 01:02.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% to the summit of Crestone Peak in Southern Colorado. 01:02.333 --> 01:06.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But shortly after this photo was taken, as Staufer was making her descent, 01:06.000 --> 01:09.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% she slipped on a patch of ice, and fell headfirst down the mountain, 01:09.466 --> 01:13.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% tumbling 250 feet before coming to a stop on these rocks. 01:13.800 --> 01:15.466 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% What was going through your mind? 01:15.466 --> 01:17.566 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% JENNIFER STAUFER: The first thing is going through my mind is, 01:17.566 --> 01:21.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I'm 10 weeks pregnant. I'm probably not pregnant anymore. At one point in time, 01:21.466 --> 01:25.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I even started preparing Adam with what to tell my family if I don't make it home. 01:25.666 --> 01:30.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: They were able to get out a call to 911, dispatching Custer County 01:32.733 --> 01:36.233 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% search-and-rescue. About seven hours later, this team of 14 volunteers arrived by helicopter, 01:37.866 --> 01:40.733 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% with some having to climb more than 1,500 feet to reach Staufer. 01:40.733 --> 01:44.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JENNIFER STAUFER: I did have a collapsed right lung. I had three broken ribs. I 01:44.233 --> 01:47.133 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% had pelvic fractures. This kneecap was completely 01:47.133 --> 01:50.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% shattered in half. And then I had broken my foot in a couple of different places. 01:50.700 --> 01:53.633 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: But, unbelievably, you were still pregnant. 01:53.633 --> 01:56.033 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% JENNIFER STAUFER: I was still pregnant, yes. 01:56.033 --> 01:58.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: While Staufer's story is harrowing, 01:58.333 --> 02:03.300 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% it was just one rescue in a state that receives 3,000 calls every year for search-and-rescue, 02:04.733 --> 02:06.433 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% a number that's been steadily increasing in recent years, 02:06.433 --> 02:09.466 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% as more and more people are being drawn to the wilderness of Colorado. 02:09.466 --> 02:11.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JEFF SPARHAWK, Colorado Search and Rescue: We have to be everywhere all at once. 02:11.933 --> 02:16.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Jeff Sparhawk Runs Colorado Search and Rescue, a nonprofit 02:16.500 --> 02:21.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% organization that represents the roughly 50 search-and-rescue teams across the state. He says, 02:21.466 --> 02:25.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% over the last few years, some of these teams have experienced a record number of calls. 02:25.333 --> 02:30.033 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% JEFF SPARHAWK: We got a huge increase in calls over the pandemic. Our trailheads were packed 02:30.033 --> 02:35.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% from sunup to sundown. People were parked all over the place just to get out in the woods. 02:37.466 --> 02:40.700 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% And now there are so many more people who have moved to Colorado and don't have experience 02:43.100 --> 02:45.600 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% in our mountains, don't have experience in our rivers, don't have experience in our backcountry. 02:47.600 --> 02:51.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% By far, the majority of our missions get back to some kind of unpreparedness. 02:53.566 --> 02:57.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: After retiring in 2015, 62 year-old Jim McCoy began 02:57.866 --> 03:00.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% working for a search-and-rescue team in Park County, Colorado. 03:02.233 --> 03:05.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% This sprawling rural community southwest of Denver is about the size of Delaware. 03:05.333 --> 03:08.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JIM MCCOY, Park County Search and Rescue: Park County, which is pretty large, 03:08.266 --> 03:13.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% 2,200 square miles, has about 80 percent public land. We do, as a team, about 60 rescues a year. 03:16.433 --> 03:18.466 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% Did everybody sign in? 03:18.466 --> 03:21.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: On a recent Saturday morning, much of McCoy's 38-person team was 03:21.900 --> 03:25.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% here on one of seven field trainings members must complete every year. 03:25.600 --> 03:29.266 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% JIM MCCOY: The purpose of today's exercise was for us to practice a 03:29.266 --> 03:34.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% high-angle rescue. So we had a climber who was stranded on a vertical face and injured. 03:34.866 --> 03:35.633 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% MAN: Downslope. 03:35.633 --> 03:37.133 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% MAN: Downslope. 03:37.133 --> 03:39.300 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JIM MCCOY: It's probably about the most difficult rescue we do, 03:39.300 --> 03:44.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% the most technical thing we do, probably requires about the most gear of anything that we do. 03:44.133 --> 03:49.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: What do you think people don't understand about what you do? 03:51.566 --> 03:54.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% JIM MCCOY: One of the biggest misconceptions about us is that we get paid. Everyone on the team is 03:56.300 --> 04:00.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% a volunteer, the entire team. Each individual has to provide their own gear, their own gas. 04:03.033 --> 04:05.000 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: One study found that the average search-and-rescue volunteer in Colorado 04:05.000 --> 04:09.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% spends more than $1,500 a year. And this is how it is throughout much of the country. 04:09.066 --> 04:11.333 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOYER, Executive Director, National Association for Search and Rescue: Almost 99.9 04:11.333 --> 04:16.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% percent of all search-and-rescue in the United States is done by volunteers, local stewards 04:18.366 --> 04:20.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% of their communities. They pay for their own equipment. They pay for their own training. 04:20.966 --> 04:25.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Chris Boyer is the executive director of the national association for 04:25.066 --> 04:29.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% search-and-rescue. He says that even national parks rely on volunteers in some cases. 04:29.800 --> 04:34.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOYER: A few national parks have specialty teams. Like, in Yosemite, 04:36.066 --> 04:39.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% parks that have specialty environments usually have a half-dozen or so specialty 04:39.100 --> 04:43.133 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% rangers. But they still all rely on volunteers to do the heavy lifting. 04:43.133 --> 04:48.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I think, overall, at a nationwide level, we have a system that is broke. 04:49.533 --> 04:51.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: And, in Colorado, a state where outdoor 04:51.633 --> 04:55.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% recreation is a multibillion-dollar industry, it's especially glaring. 04:55.600 --> 05:00.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JEFF SPARHAWK: We need to figure out a way that the outdoor recreation industry, the tourism 05:03.100 --> 05:06.000 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% industry, all of those who are benefiting from this are, to some degree, supporting it right? 05:08.033 --> 05:11.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% In some weird way, you can look at us as this safety net or maybe kind of an 05:11.566 --> 05:16.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% insurance policy for this entire industry. And we see this is a non-sustainable situation. 05:18.533 --> 05:21.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Is that the way that you frame it, that this is not sustainable? 05:21.100 --> 05:25.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% JEFF SPARHAWK: Long term, it's definitely not, right? Here in Boulder County, we have somewhere 05:27.733 --> 05:30.500 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% north of 200 calls, maybe 300 calls a year. And so that's -- that's really tough for volunteers, 05:32.100 --> 05:35.033 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% right? How do you hold down a job? How do you maintain a family life? 05:35.033 --> 05:38.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% PAGE WEIL, Rocky Mountain Rescue Group: Did not get a second nap today. 05:38.333 --> 05:43.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I have two young kids. I have a 3.5-year old and a 10-month-old. So unless they're in day 05:45.866 --> 05:47.500 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% care for the day, I'm almost guaranteed to get a call while I'm trying to do something with them. 05:47.500 --> 05:49.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Thirty-nine-year-old Page 05:49.533 --> 05:52.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Weil has spent a decade with Colorado's Rocky Mountain Rescue Group in Boulder, 05:52.433 --> 05:57.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% one of the state's busiest teams. He also works as a full-time consulting engineer. 05:57.233 --> 05:59.400 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% PAGE WEIL: Yes, so have I my... 06:00.566 --> 06:01.966 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% (PHONE RINGING) 06:01.966 --> 06:04.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: On a recent Sunday, Weil got a call. 06:04.466 --> 06:08.700 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% PAGE WEIL: So let's just hear what comes out. But, yes, someone -- someone is hurt right now. 06:10.166 --> 06:13.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Within a few minutes, he and his wife, Jess, 06:13.066 --> 06:17.633 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% and their two kids all were racing toward a hiking a trail just outside of downtown Boulder. 06:17.633 --> 06:19.600 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% MAN: All units responding. 06:19.600 --> 06:24.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% PAGE WEIL: We're responding to an 80s female who fell and hit her head. It 06:26.166 --> 06:28.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% sounds like she's injured and can't walk. So we will probably have to carry her out. 06:28.166 --> 06:33.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I sort of have made it a priority of my life. Once I make that decision to respond, 06:34.333 --> 06:36.366 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% it's -- everything is out the window. 06:36.366 --> 06:39.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I'm going to get my gear and get it going. I text my wife. I let her know I her know. 06:41.233 --> 06:43.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% I will cancel meetings if I have them scheduled for work, 06:43.233 --> 06:48.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% or I'll let my supervisor know. And then, immediately, my mind is sort of in rescue mode. 06:48.033 --> 06:51.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JESSICA WEIL, Colorado: I realized like a few years into it how much of 06:51.100 --> 06:56.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% a commitment it was for me as a partner, as a spouse, as a mom. Like, it is a sacrifice. 06:57.533 --> 07:00.400 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: 07:00.400 --> 07:04.733 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% Like many search-and-rescue teams across the nation, the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group relies 07:04.733 --> 07:09.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% heavily upon donations to do this work. They also receive some state and local funding. 07:09.400 --> 07:13.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% PAGE WEIL: We're a team of approximately 80 volunteers. Our annual operating budget 07:13.733 --> 07:18.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% for our group is around $80,000 for the whole team for the entire year. 07:18.233 --> 07:23.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% NARRATOR: Help protect our state with a $29 Keep Colorado Wild Pass. 07:25.233 --> 07:28.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Starting in 2023, Colorado residents will be asked to voluntarily buy a 07:28.666 --> 07:33.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% parks pass when they register their cars. Officials here say the legislation, which passed 07:33.633 --> 07:38.633 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% last year, could generate about $2.5 million in additional funding for search-and-rescue teams. 07:40.966 --> 07:44.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Other states like New Hampshire are trying a more controversial approach, 07:44.400 --> 07:46.600 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% billing individuals who are rescued. 07:46.600 --> 07:48.666 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% LT. JAMES KNEELAND, New Hampshire Fish and Game: We do bill when 07:48.666 --> 07:51.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% there is negligence. We average about only 13 or 14 billed missions a year. 07:51.933 --> 07:54.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Lieutenant James Kneeland is a conservation officer 07:54.533 --> 07:58.166 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% with New Hampshire Fish and Game, which runs search-and-rescue operations in the state. 07:58.166 --> 08:02.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LT. JAMES KNEELAND: Well, one thing I think it has helped with is, people are trying to 08:02.333 --> 08:06.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% get themselves better prepared. If they know they have the potential for getting billed, 08:06.100 --> 08:08.700 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% I think they're doing a little bit of research on their hike, 08:08.700 --> 08:13.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% whether it's getting the right equipment or studying, can I do this in a day? 08:13.100 --> 08:14.833 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: But, back in Colorado, 08:14.833 --> 08:18.033 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Jeff Sparhawk says the state shouldn't start charging for rescues. 08:18.033 --> 08:20.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JEFF SPARHAWK: If people think they are going to be charged, 08:20.500 --> 08:25.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% they're going to delay. They're going to make it more difficult for us, more dangerous for us. 08:25.500 --> 08:29.800 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% But, in general, I think Colorado looks at this as, we take care of the folks who come here. 08:29.800 --> 08:33.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: For that, Jennifer Staufer remains forever grateful. Her son, 08:33.833 --> 08:37.300 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Morgan, is now 7 years old and shares his mom's love of the mountains. 08:37.300 --> 08:41.700 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% JENNIFER STAUFER: Morgan, my son, just climbed his first 13er, and he was really blessed to be 08:41.700 --> 08:45.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% able to do so with Jeff, who was one of the guys who was on he my rescue and helped get me out. 08:45.700 --> 08:48.100 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Staufer says she's still climbing and hopes to 08:48.100 --> 08:51.033 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% one day return to the same mountain where she almost lost her life. 08:51.033 --> 08:53.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JENNIFER STAUFER: I would love to go back and finish that climb, because I feel like 08:53.633 --> 08:57.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% its important to me to get it done under my own power and to kind of put it behind me. 08:57.600 --> 09:02.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Christopher Booker in Colorado.