Oregon Public Broadcasting

Search and rescue operations are an everyday occurrence in national parks.

A new study that analyzed 15 years of data shows that on average, national park rangers launch 11 search and rescue missions each day nationwide.

Those in most need of rescue are hikers, boaters, and young adults.

Travis Heggie of the University of North Dakota's Recreation and Tourism Studies Program co-authored the study. A former park ranger himself, Heggie says people who need rescue generally have little wilderness experience.

Travis Heggie: “Some of them are lost. Other people have actually slipped or fallen or sprained an ankle, or have some type of injury, or they're dehydrated and gone delirious and just wandering.”

Heggie says the average rescue operation costs the Park Service around $900. But the cost is much higher at Washington's Mount Rainier National Park.

The forbidding terrain there often requires air searches. In 2005, that drove the average cost at Rainier to more than $9000 per search, the third highest at any national park.

The study does not include search and rescue operations on U-S Forest Service land, such as the area surrounding Mount Hood in Oregon.