BOWDOIN COLLEGE GRANT EAST — A hiker who injured her ankle Saturday on Whitecap Mountain spent several hours on the mountain before game wardens and volunteers helped carry her out.
Donna Chale, 57, of Pittsfield was taken to Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening, Sgt. William Chandler with the Maine Warden Service said Sunday.
Chale and a companion were hiking a trail on Whitecap Mountain near the former Katahdin Iron Works site on Saturday afternoon when she fell and severely twisted her ankle, Chandler said.
“She was unable to make it down, so her companion hiked down, but she had to drive a little ways to find cell phone reception before she called 911,” the sergeant said.
Several game wardens went to assist, but it took some time for them to reach the area where Chale had been hiking. Chandler credited a group of high school students and their chaperones from Brewer who were camping in the area for helping to carry the woman out.
The woman finally was taken to a hospital at about 10 p.m., several hours after she initially fell.
“It was a pretty rugged trail and it wasn’t in great condition,” Chandler said. “This time of year, with wet rocks and falling leaves, things can get slippery.”
The warden sergeant said he had been involved in three separate incidents over the weekend in Piscataquis County in which hikers needed assistance.
On 10/6/08 at 8:34 AM,
AlwaysThinking wrote:
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The Maine Warden Service is funded by dollars from hunting and fishing license sales, and a portion of snowmobile, ATV and boat registration money. There is also funding which comes from the federal level, depending upon how many licenses and registrations are sold. Hikers pay very little, if any money to use the trails in the state. Is it any wonder that the Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife budget is in such bad shape?
Several Wardens, vehicles, ATVs and an airplane were used to find and extract this hiker from her predicament. Three separate incidents involving hikers over the weekend and how many for the year, was using a department whose job is to enforce fish and game laws.
Think about it, if the Warden Service is spending money on rescuing hikers and other non-paying individuals, this means less money for them to enforce fish and game laws. Add in the number of times the Warden Service has to dive for bodies that are not involved in hunting and fishing and you can see more of our dollars going to someplace other than where it was meant to go.
How many times has the department been granted money from the general fund to help with these expenses and then have had it pulled because the state cannot afford it? (What makes them think that the sportsmen and women can afford the increased license fees?)
Do not get me wrong, these folks are entitled to use the woods, waters and trials, and perhaps some of them even purchase licenses or registrations to add dollars to the department’s coffers. But what about those who do not contribute anything and still expect to be rescued if they get themselves in a bad situation?
Has the time come to utilize Dirigo Search and Rescue rather than the Maine Warden Service to extract people who are not participating in a sport that contributes to the funding of the department? Or perhaps it is time to demand that money from the general fund be granted and delivered to the department. Other than that, the one thing that may make sense is to start charging individuals for their rescue and extraction. You can purchase insurance to cover these expenses, so it would not meant that you would have to pay the thousands of dollars that it costs for your rescue out of your pocket. The sportsmen and women then would not have to continue to pay the expenses of others.
After all, even non-consumptive users like to watch wildlife. If the Warden Service was not rescuing people who are hiking then they can be spending the time protecting that wildlife for all to enjoy.
There is a good chance that these people who are being rescued do not even have any idea who is going to come after them if they get themselves into one of these situations. I wonder if maybe those who answer the 911 calls should be calling someone other than the Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. Remember, it is not called Dept of Hiking & Paddling! (Paddle craft do not pay registration fees at this time)
At this time I will not even go down the road about the Maine Warden Service enforcing ATV, snowmobiles, and boat laws. There are not many of these vehicles that propagate naturally in the fields and forests of Maine!
On 10/7/08 at 2:33 PM,
AnnaPeterson wrote:
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I am the companion who went for help for the injured woman. I was going to post a comment about how wonderful the game wardens, the medics, and the volunteers from Brewer high school were. Now I feel that I must instead respond to Always Thinking.
The three of us who were hiking that day are veteran outdoors women. One of us is a Maine Guide and I do have a hunting and fishing license and support the Dept Of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, as do many members of my family. We own and register an ATV, 3 snowmobiles and 2 boats.
I am not sure what you mean about hikers not paying to use the trails in our state. This seems like a gross generalization to me. How do you know what organizations we belong to, how much we pay for state taxes, what kinds of licenses we purchase, or what groups we give money to?
We did not plan on this injury happening. It is called an accident. My friend did not want the help. She tried to walk out on her own and with our help. It turns out, she had an extremely serious break which required surgery, a plate, and pins. We all knew that she could not walk and we could not help her. We did not impulsively call 911! We went for help after she started to show signs of shock and was weakening.
It is certainly not our fault that we required the numerous resources which thankfully came to our rescue. We are all grateful for the support and the help we received.
As educators in the State of Maine, we certainly are aware of the immense resources that were used for this rescue. If this could have been accomplished with less man power, that would have been fine with us.
Praises and thanks go to the wonderful game wardens, the medics, and Cindy McGlaughlin and the students from Brewer High School. These people were so wonderfully kind, positive, and uplifting to us all. They were and are heroes to us.
On 10/8/08 at 9:06 AM,
AlwaysThinking wrote:
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They most certainly are a great bunch of people are they not! They drop everything that they are doing to come and help whenever the call comes in!
I was just thinking that if they are going to be doing something like this, the general fund needs to help pay for it and the department should not have to use their own funds for this service. The only way that this will come about is if we all demand that the state transfer funds to them for these activities. If they do not want to transfer the funds, then the people who take the emergency call need to be calling someone else!
The Maine Warden Service operates on limited funds and even the number of miles that they can use for general patrols each month. Miles and dollars used for rescues and searches take away from what they are supposed to be doing.
I am not picking on you or your friends at all. It would appear that you did everything right and got expert service and results! My original comment was a generalization of all of the searches and rescues that they perform each and every year and not directed at your group in particular. However, the fact remains that once again the department had to direct their activities in a direction for which they were not, and are not, created for.
Perhaps a letter to your State of Maine Senator and Representative demanding funds to be allotted to the Warden Service might be the next thing that you and other people who have used their expert and rapid search and rescue service should do to help the department. Even those who have never had to use the department for this type of service should take the time to request the funding, as we never know when we “may” need them to come for us! The only way that we can be assured that they are there for us in the future is to help get them the funds that they need to continue these above and beyond services!
On 10/10/08 at 10:41 AM,
AnnaPeterson wrote:
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I have already written letters to Commissioner McGowan and Commissioner Martin praising the game wardens, medics, and students involved in this rescue. I want them to be aware of the good that was done that day. We are grateful for the help received and will consider how to contact political parties in the future. We have also sent a letter to the Superintendent of Schools about the great work of Cindy, Mark, and their students.
It seems that we are the "same" side in wanting to give these people all the resources they need to do this great work!
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