{"id":15690,"date":"2025-11-14T15:46:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T22:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-volunteer-search-and-rescue-teams-to-get-funding-boost\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:34:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:34:44","slug":"colorados-volunteer-search-and-rescue-teams-to-get-funding-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-volunteer-search-and-rescue-teams-to-get-funding-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s volunteer search and rescue teams to get funding boost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Ron
Ron Corkish, left, and David Sanderlin, both with La Plata County Search and Rescue, work in the LPCSAR operations center truck during a wildfire evacuation drill, April 23 at the Edgemont Meadows subdivision. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado\u2019s nearly 50 volunteer search and rescue teams, which for years have seen a steady rise in calls, will get more funding from the state from an increase in fees on wildlife licenses and boat, snowmobile and off-road vehicle registrations, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Starting Jan. 1, the Colorado Backcountry Search and Rescue Program fee will be $1.25, up from 25 cents, the agency said in a statement. The increased fee is a \u201cnecessary step\u201d to reflect inflation, the boost in calls and the number of \u201chighly challenging and risky rescues\u201d over the past 15 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 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,\u201d CPW\u2019s BSAR Manager Perry Boydstun said in a statement announcing the change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese types of outdoor rescues often require a specific type of training and gear, so it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last time the fee was increased was in 1987, CPW said. Since then, there has been a significant rise in calls for help<\/a> and the cost for administration, training and equipment has also gone up.<\/p>\n

Per Colorado law, CPW has one opportunity to increase the BSAR fee to a base level. Then, the fee can only be increased by the Consumer Price Index.<\/p>\n

Last year the 25-cent backcountry search and rescue surcharge raised $77,000 from vehicle registrations, $149,000 from wildlife licenses and $100,000 from the sale of Colorado Search and Rescue cards. It\u2019s estimated the $1 increase in the fee could deliver an additional $2 million a year to the state Backcountry Search and Rescue Fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been discussing this fee bump since the \u201990s. We are grateful for the collaborative support of the governor, legislators, many sheriffs, CPW, and many unpaid professional BSAR responders for getting this long standing project to an improved situation,\u201d Jeff Sparhawk, executive director of the Colorado Search and Rescue Association, said.<\/p>\n

The teams also still rely on direct donations from the public, he added.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s all-volunteer search and rescue teams provide services free of charge to the person lost, injured or stranded in the backcountry. The teams are county-based and coordinated through the sheriff\u2019s office or county government.<\/p>\n

CPW provides support and funding on a statewide level after teams file incident reimbursement forms and through a county allocation application process. Counties can use the money to buy equipment, vehicles, computer software, train its volunteers, for mental health services, communications, maintenance and other fixed costs.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado Backcountry Search and Rescue Program fee will now be $1.25, up from 25 cents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1031,28,1807,976],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-parks-and-wildlife","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-search-and-rescue","tag-outdoor-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15690"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19790,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15690\/revisions\/19790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15690"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}