Volunteer members of Search and Rescue of the Adirondacks gather for a photo at a North Elba Town Council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10, where they recieved funds from a LEAF grant. From left, members who attended are Elena Lumby, Rob Elder, Bear Humphreys, Tammara VanRyn, Ambie Madlangtuta, Jeff Berry and Paul Mullen. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

NORTH ELBA — Search and Rescue of the Adirondacks, an all-volunteer organization that works closely with the state Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers, recently received a grant worth more than $6,000 from the town of North Elba for an updated radio system. The grant was from the Local Enhancement and Advancement Fund, which comes from the 5% occupancy tax collected by Essex County.

This upgrade comes as the organization celebrates its 30th anniversary — a milestone that’s meaningful given the uncertainty that the organization faced during the coronavirus pandemic.

When SARNAK coordinator Jeff Berry moved to the Adirondacks in 2020, there were only a few board members holding the group together and they even considered dissolving the team.

But the team pressed on, and has been rebuilding ever since. Berry estimates that they have about a “solid” 30 members.

SARNAK’s primary role, which is to support the DEC rangers on searches and recovery missions, remains the same. However, they continue to look for ways to expand their skills and their contribution to the community. One way they’ve been doing this is by helping with races and events like the Adirondack Canoe Classic — often referred to as the 90-Miler.

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Expanding their range

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Joe Shoemaker joined SARNAK during the “rebuilding phase” right after the pandemic. He said the organization has relied for years on old hand-me-down radios from fire departments. They were grateful for any equipment, but the radios were on their last legs, with antennas missing and wires exposed.

“These are radios that, if you have 15 radios and 10 people grab radios out of a box, these are the five that nobody wants,” Shoemaker said.

The radios also had limited range. They were only able to broadcast on a few programmed frequencies and could only use them within a 40 kilometer radius of Mount Pisgah — the location of a repeater that receives nearby radio signals and rebroadcasts them at a higher power and elevation.

The new radios, a FT5D model made by a company called Yaesu, will have a much greater range than the older ones, allowing the team to communicate in areas where there is little to no cell coverage. The radios will last longer, with stronger audio and a digital communication feature that further extends their reach.

They are able to provide real-time locations associated with each person’s unique call sign. There will also be recorded “tracks” of where each radio has been, which can then be put into a system used by the DEC and other agencies that overlays the tracks onto the map. Shoemaker said this feature allow the rangers to hone in on areas searchers may have missed.

The grant money will also help more search and rescue volunteers obtain their ham radio license. With these new radios and more members with their licenses, SARNAK will have a greater ability to search within the Adirondacks, and could even help out in other areas as well.

“I sincerely think that these are going to help us save lives,” Shoemaker said. “And at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.”

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SARNAK’s future

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Elena Lumby, the training officer for SARNAK, attributes the organization’s success in part to the appeal of putting outdoors skills to use. This was certainly the case for Lumby, who was drawn to doing something in the wilderness besides collecting patches for peaks climbed.

“Everybody’s kind of united by this desire to use our love of the backcountry to help other people,” Lumby said.

Lumby said the skill level of the team has increased dramatically over the years, and this opportunity is drawing in younger volunteers. Berry said they consistently have Paul Smith’s students as a part of their team, to the point where SARNAK could become a type of pipeline into the DEC Forest Ranger Academy.

“These are students that are either very motivated for the outdoors or they’re motivated to be able to help people,” Berry said. “I think that’s kind of exciting to be able to foster that, especially for younger folks that really want to get involved with something like that.”