DENVER — Fees that support Colorado Backcountry Search and Rescue, or BSAR, will increase from 25 cents to $1.25 to expand funding for the state's volunteer search and rescue teams.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) announced the change on Thursday afternoon. The increased fees will apply to wildlife licenses, as well as boat, snowmobile and off-highway vehicle registrations.
The fee was initially 25 cents — a price that was set in 1987. It has not changed since then.
CPW called the new reimbursement fee of $1.25 a "necessary step" to keep up with an increase in backcountry calls for help, account inflation, and more rescues and recoveries that are highly technical and risky. Plus, the overall cost of SAR operations, necessary equipment and training, and administration has gone up.
The surcharge will skyrocket the total BSAR revenue from $500,000 up to $2,500,000 to support search and rescue efforts each year. BSAR volunteers spend around $5 million a year during their operations, and that does not include vehicle, equipment, or technology costs.
“We’re constantly amazed by the dedicated volunteer search-and-rescue professionals across Colorado who are ready to mobilize and help people in a time of need when they become stranded, lost or injured in the backcountry,” said CPW BSAR Manager Perry Boydstun. “These types of outdoor rescues often require a specific type of training and gear, so it’s really important that our statewide BSAR program accurately provides our local teams with funding for resources they need to complete rescues without jeopardizing their own safety.”
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission voted to approve this increase at its November meeting.
Colorado has about 50 search and rescue organizations, which are 100% volunteer-based.
And anybody in Colorado's backcountry who finds themselves in an emergency can rest assured that they can call for help and never see a bill from those search and rescue teams. The rescue is always free. Costs only come into play from medical care in a ground ambulance or air ambulance.
- Purchase a Colorado Outdoor Recreation Search and Rescue card (CORSAR), which helps reimburse Colorado SAR teams for costs during operations, plus required equipment and training. They are available for $5 for a year or $20 for five years.
- The Keep Colorado Wild Pass, which allows you to enter state parks and is available to buy along with a renewed car registration, partially supports Colorado SAR teams. It costs $29 for one year.
- CSAR accepts direct donations, as do the teams from each county.
Always call 911 if you are in an emergency in the backcountry.
To keep rescues free to the public, CPW provides support to the local teams from the statewide level. There are several ways to help outside of the surcharge fee detailed above — those are listed in the text box to the left.
CPW's BSAR funding is distributed through incident reimbursement forms and a county allocation application process, the agency said.
They can use that reimbursement to purchase equipment, training, small capital improvement projects, mental health services, communications, computer software, maintenance and some fixed costs, CPW said.
This year, Denver7 has covered many stories of rescues and recoveries, but we have also gone in-depth with Colorado's search and rescue teams to learn more about what happens behind the scenes and how their work has a long-lasting impact on families and loved ones.
In early July, we shared the story of Brian Chambliss, a Denver videographer, who lost his dad in a tragic incident in the Rocky Mountains in July 2019. Amid the sorrow, he learned about the state's search and rescue teams, which played an enormous role in recovering the body. And his eyes were opened to all that they do as he watched Alpine Rescue Team volunteers scour the mountain to ensure Brian's family could bring his dad home. He wanted to somehow give back to the organization that had done so much for his family and his father, and as the owner of the videography company Plugged In Productions, the answer seemed pretty clear.
You can read our story here and watch it in the video below.
A few months later, in October, Denver7 highlighted a special group of experts — all volunteers — who make sure all the pieces are in place to have a successful mission when somebody calls for help. They are the Colorado Search and Rescue (CSAR) Association's statewide coordinators, who are responsible for the organization that powers rescues in every corner of the state.
No other state in the U.S. uses highly experienced volunteers on a around-the-clock schedule to coordinate between responding jurisdictions.
Hear from two of these coordinators in our story and in the video below.
