Window on the Lake: Lost in the woods
By Jim Steele —
For people who travel the roads between cities the remote terrain that passes the window might go unnoticed.
The landscape is formed by tectonic movement and large volcanoes. Some volcanoes such as Cow Mountain have fallen in on themselves forming a rough foothill landscape.
Others such as Konocti are more majestic and very steep. If you stick to the roads and trails, traveling and finding your way around the county can be routine.
But things can also go wrong. A wrong turn, a missed sign, an overly confident assessment of your skills and you can find yourself all alone in our rough backcountry with the wrong clothes, no food or water and disappearing daylight.
This can be very serious, what now? Well, it happens all the time and the Sheriff”s Department is in charge of the searches for lost persons in Lake County.
When it looks like professional help is needed to locate a lost child, camper and the elderly or to rescue a hurt off-road vehicle driver, no matter the time, terrain or weather, the Sheriff calls out the Lake County Search and Rescue Association, Inc. (LCSAR).
The Sheriff facilitates all aspects of the mission and LCSAR provides search strategy, tactics, resources and management. Everybody works together for the lost person.
This completely volunteer citizens group with ages between High School (K-CORP at Kelseyville High School) and 70-something are dedicated and trained for search and rescue missions in our rough backcountry and city streets.
The skills needed to locate, medically stabilize and transport a missing person are map reading, compass and GPS orienteering, first aid, CPR, wilderness first aid, tracking and clue awareness, radio, search vehicles, technical rescue and helicopter operations.
A few have all the training, all have some. Everybody gets together and improves each month.
The LCSAR is looking for people who want to give back to the community in a special way.
There is a need for members of the various teams, ground, off-road vehicles, horses and dogs.
People are also needed to drive vehicles to the site, provide training, maintain equipment or organize fundraising events.
Almost everyone can help. The requirements are to pass a background check, train on the mission requirements, attend the monthly meetings and be supportive and involved.
If you”re interested in finding out more, the LCSAR and Lake County Sheriff”s Office are conducting a workshop for perspective members on October 10 at 7 p.m. at the Lake County Hill Road AWP facility. This will be approximately an hour and half of what the organization does, where you can fit in, the requirements and some forms to get you started.
Call 998-1302 to RSVP (required).
When someone is lost-in-the-woods, you may be the person to help give them another chance.
Jim Steele is a Retired Cal Fish and Game scientist, registered professional forester, part-time consultant and a full-time Lake County resident-volunteer.
