With costs mounting for Fish and Game, ‘Hike Safe’ cards viewed as big part of the solution

By CLAIRE SULLIVAN

New Hampshire Bulletin

Published: 09-27-2024 8:49 AM

A 38-year-old hiker who injured her leg and could not continue on. A 56-year-old man who had a medical emergency on a remote trail. A 70-year-old who slipped and injured her ankle while hiking.

These are just a handful of the hikers who needed the help of Fish and Game conservation officers and other rescuers this summer. How to better support the dozens of costly, laborious missions is one of many questions under consideration by a four-lawmaker committee studying the department’s financial woes.

Part of Fish and Game’s problem, some said, is advertising. The lawmakers and various stakeholders testifying before them are searching for ways to better promote Fish and Game’s voluntary Hike Safe cards, which help offset the cost of the search-and-rescue efforts. This step, though, would be only one piece of addressing the department’s funding strains.

“I think largely New Hampshire has a branding problem. … Who are we, right?” said Tyler Ray, founder and director of Granite Outdoor Alliance, a nonprofit representing 120 outdoor businesses, to the committee Thursday. “… New Hampshire has this ruggedness, this sense of individualism that I think we could celebrate, and this Hike Safe card is a differentiator.”

For $25 a pop – or $35 for a family, including spouses and children and stepchildren under 18 – those recreating outdoors get some peace of mind that, should they find themselves needing to be rescued, they won’t be liable for the costs. (Unless, Fish and Game warns on its website, “they are deemed to be reckless or to have intentionally created a situation requiring an emergency response.”) Hunting and fishing licenses and current registration for off-highway recreational vehicles, snowmobiles, and boats also offer some liability protections.

The cards expire Dec. 31 each year and are valid only in New Hampshire. Their full cost, minus a small transaction fee, goes to the search-and-rescue fund, according to the department. In 2015, when the cards were first launched, Fish and Game sold 2,846, raking in roughly $74,800, according to Jessica Whelehan, a licensing supervisor with the department. Last year, the department sold 14,539, totaling over $371,000.