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[MSAR] Helicopters.

From: Paul Fleming <pfleming@nwlink.com>
To: msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [MSAR] Helicopters.
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 11:31:57 -0800

Does any organization have any guidelines, procedures or experiences about horses and helicopters. I am working on a basic helicopter safety course for my unit and was wondering if anyone else had addressed this yet.

Paul Fleming
Peninsula Mounted Search And Rescue

From una@cowpox.lanl.gov Thu Apr 3 16:22:32 2003

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Subject: [MSAR] ESCAPE, New Mexico SAR conference May 2-4
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MSAR-riders,

NMESC still has not put the registration form for ESCAPE on their website, but Tom Russo (Cibola SAR) scanned it and put
a PDF on their website (http://www.swcp.com/csar/). Print,
fill out, and mail your registration form with a check to
the address on the bottom of the form As Soon As Possible.

How to fill out the form:
-------------------------

NMESC Team Member: yes or no, depending whether your team
has joined NMESC (http://www.nmesc.org/).

Team Affiliation: the name of your SAR unit.

Special Needs: horse.

Please list names: write in anyone *not* a SAR team member
who is coming with you (relatives, friends, and prospective
SAR volunteers are welcome at ESCAPE). If you plan to share
a room with another SAR person, write their name also (the
other person must also register, on their own form)...but
anyone bringing a horse *read on*.

Lodging: most lodging is at Philmont Ranch Headquarters but
horses will be accomodated only at Ponil Camp, 20 minutes'
drive away. At Ponil Camp the lodging choices are bunkhouse
($8.50) and "Personal Tents/Vans/RV's" ($2.50, which covers
your use of drinking water, showers, and toilets; there are
no RV hookups).

Meals: meals will be served at Ranch Headquarters. There
is a small diner in Cimarron. Given the drought conditions,
you should expect open fires will not be permitted.

Other info about ESCAPE:
------------------------

The program for ESCAPE should be available online Real Soon
Now. Meanwhile, here is an outline of what I know (or expect)
about ESCAPE, relevant to mounted SAR.

Location

Most ESCAPE events, and all meals, will be held at Philmont
Scout Ranch Headquarters, on New Mexico Route 21 about 3
miles south of Cimarron. However, ESCAPE accomodations for
horses will be in and near Ponil Camp, on the edge of the
Elliot Barker State Wildlife Area, at the end of New Mexico
Route 204 (graded dirt, about 10 miles north west Cimarron). Driving time from Ponil Camp to Ranch Headquarters is about
20 minutes.

Maps

Philmont Scout Ranch is shown on US Forest Service's map of
Carson National Forest (current edition is 2002), and the most relevant USGS 7.5 minute topographical maps are Abreu
Canyon and Ute Park (for Ponil Camp), and Coyote Mesa (for
Ranch Headquarters).

Horse-friendly accomodations

The ESCAPE registration form describes several grades of
accomodation above bunkhouse, but those are all at Ranch
Headquarters. At Ponil Camp your choices are the bunkhouse
(which has been closed for the winter) or camping in your
own setup.

Ponil Camp has potable water, toilets, showers, a bunkhouse,
and several corrals. The corrals can accomodate 30-40 horses,
provided the horses are well behaved in close quarters. You
might want to do a little advance training with your unit's
horses, if you want to use a corral; there are no individual
horse accomodations.

Horse units may also camp with their horses in the Elliot
Barker State Wildlife Area; along Ponil Creek there is a
large grass meadow in the flat bottom of a gorgeous canyon.
If you camp in the Barker but use showers, toilets etc. at
Ponil Camp, please pay the $2.50/night fee on the ESCAPE
registration form.

A third place to accomodate horses nearby is on US Route 64
in Cimarron Canyon (Cimarron Canyon State Park, which spans
the canyon within the Colin Neblett Wildlife Area). There
is a developed campground directly across US Route 64 from
a pair of pipe corrals, each about 20 feet on a side. This
campground, named Gravel Pit Lakes on the USFS map of Carson
National Forest, is about 15 miles from Cimarron, all paved.
(If interested in staying there, let me know and I will give
you my contact information; we stayed there last fall en
route to a training mission.)

A fourth option is to investigate the small motels and b&b places in the area. There are many of these, and in New
Mexico it is common for such places to have private horse
corrals or pens for their guests' horses. You are on your
own here.

Events

Horse-related events will include a 90 minute class (indoor)
on MSAR by myself, held at Ranch Headquarters; and a field
exercise (I expect 3 hours), probably orienteering on horse,
held at Ponil Camp.
Typically, MSAR participants arrive a few hours earlier than
others, on the afternoon of the first day, and have a more or
less casual ride to exercise their horses. We may ride at
will in the Barker Wildlife Area, on or off trail; we do
*not* have permission to ride on Philmont Scout Ranch, except
for the field exercise.

Other events: HAM radio exams, PACE/ICS-100 exams, and much
other training typical of SAR conferences. The PACE/ICS-100
exam is intended for New Mexico SAR volunteers, but volunteers
in other states near the New Mexico border may be interested
in this too; study materials for the exam are online:

http://www.ibiblio.org/msar/units/santafe/PACE/

There will be helicopter training. Whether it will include
horses remains to be determined. I will try to arrange some combined horse and dog training...it can be a real advantage
on SAR missions if these two species work closely with each
other.

Despite all these events, ESCAPE is a small conference with
200-300 participants. We are expecting a lot of horse units
this year, perhaps 1/4 of all particpants.

See you there,

Una Smith
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Posse, in New Mexico

[MSAR] Helicopters., Paul Fleming, 04/03/2003