Good morning, Attached is the R4 Saw Accident/ Near Miss Review from 2020-2023.  There were 25 incidents reported, with 15 of those incidents resulting in injury. This review was modeled after the Lessons Learned Center 2004-2019 Tree Felling Accident Analysis.  It is understood that this review does not capture all incidents and near misses, only the incidents that were voluntarily submitted using the R4 Saw Accident and Near Miss Reporting Form.  This form is available for use by all agency, partner, and volunteer sawyers.  The intent of these reviews is to help facilitate conversation during training and chainsaw refreshers regarding topics where sawyers are getting injured or having near misses.  Thanks for sharing and please reach out if you have any questions.

Region 4 Saw Accident_Near Miss Review 2020-2023

2024 Northern Rockies WSI Sessions

2024 Northern Rockies Wilderness Skills Institute Application

The 2024 Northern Rockies Wilderness Skills Institute will be held from May 20 – 24, 2024. It will start at 11am PT on Monday and conclude at 12pm PT on Friday. All participants are expected to sign up for the entire week. COST: There is no cost to attend. FOOD: On your own – no food provided. Participants will handle their own meals. Cooking facilities may be provided – more information will be provided ahead of the event.

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Dr. Donner discusses some key general tips for SAM splint use, and demonstrates a sugar tong splint for wrist and forearm injuries. Includes discussion on structural bends, fitting and molding technique, immobilization with sling, supination, and pronation. MedWild provides wilderness medicine, wilderness survival, and search and rescue instructional videos on a variety of topics: high altitude illness, traveler’s diarrhea, shoulder dislocation and reduction, shelter building, bushcraft, space blankets, hypothermia, medical kits, survival kits, frostbite, snake bites, fire craft, ropes and knots, orthopedic injuries and sam splints, cold water immersion and more.

Instructor: Howard Donner, MD Co-Author “Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine” Served as a physician for Denali National Park, Himalayan Rescue Association, and the 1998 NOVA Everest expedition. Served as a medical operations consultant for NASA for over 5 years. Whitewater rafting guide, commercial pilot, and certified flight instructor.

Recommended Audience: Outdoor enthusiasts and health care professionals including physicians, nurses, search and rescue teams, EMT, paramedics, ski patrol, corpsman, guides, instructors, wilderness first responders, and anyone else interested in educational and “how to” videos on wilderness emergency medicine, search and rescue, expedition medicine, backcountry first aid, wilderness survival training, and military medicine. Dr. Donner’s draws on his extensive backcountry and travel experience to highlight key signs, symptoms, treatments, and improvised techniques and skills.

More from MedWild: Complete Video Library:    / medwildvideos     / medwildvideos     / medwildvideos   MedWild videos featured at: www.wilderness-medicine.com

Be a “Professional Beginner”

Always be learning, always striving to approach the process with the wide openness of someone starting fresh and fighting the natural tendencies to Narrow one’s mind and calcify one’s conceptual model.

New Information should be welcomed despite its demands for flexibility and ongoing adaptation.  With this approach, learning is also exhilarating, a journey of endless discovery and self-Improvement!

Plan Ahead and Prepare

Dust off your boots and get ready for trail season! Join us the evening before our volunteer schedule launches to learn about this year’s best projects and how you can join. Hear this season’s highlights from our Trail Projects Director Alex Cravener and Board Member and Crew Leader Tom Dabrowski. We’ll have some fun trails trivia sprinkled throughout and tips for what to expect if this is your first time out on the trail.  SIGN UP HERE

https://equinediseasecc.org/alerts

Monday, January 8, 2024 – 5:51 AM MST

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If you’re headed outdoors, you should always carry either a prepackaged first-aid kit or a DIY kit that you can create using our list as a guide. Knowing how to use the items in a first-aid kit is as important as having them, so consider taking a training course.

Recently, I wrote about the dark side of CPR. Despite a common misperception that CPR can rescue almost anyone from the brink of death, most people that receive it don’t survive. Of those that do, many sustain devastating neurological injury and may never wake up. CPR often causes additional injuries that can add pain and indignity to the final moments of life, and can sometimes be traumatizing to the healthcare providers that deliver it.

I heard from many nurses, doctors, EMTs, and paramedics who were grateful that I had brought attention to the difficult reality that CPR may often cause more harm than good.

But I also heard from people who owed their lives to CPR. Nick Sakes, an avid cyclist from Minneapolis, was 58 when he collapsed on a ride at a busy intersection. A nurse in a nearby car saw him go down. He didn’t have a pulse, and she performed CPR until paramedics arrived. Using a defibrillator, they found that he was in an abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation, a common cause of cardiac arrest that is often responsive to electric shocks.

For many, a ‘natural death’ may be preferable to enduring CPR

After three shocks, Sakes’ heart reverted to a normal rhythm. He had a pulse again. He regained consciousness the next day, and was startled to find a team of doctors looking down at him. Apart from sore ribs, he suffered no significant injuries from his cardiac arrest, or from his resuscitation. “I haven’t had any problems,” he told me. He still rides his bike just as much as before. “I feel exactly the same,” he said. READ MORE

“Nurse refuses to perform CPR,” read the caption on an ABC newscast in California. “911 dispatcher’s pleas ignored.” Several days earlier, an elderly woman at a senior living facility had gone into cardiac arrest. The dispatcher instructed an employee to perform CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. But the employee refused.

“Is there anybody there that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?” the dispatcher said. It made the local news, which elicited a national outcry and prompted a police investigation. But the woman was already dead — her heart had stopped. And according to family, the woman had wished to “die naturally and without any kind of life-prolonging intervention.”

So why the controversy? It comes down to a widespread misconception of what CPR can, and can’t, do. CPR can sometimes save lives, but it also has a dark side.   READ MORE

READ FULL DOCUMENT: 2023-08-03_UpperMores_CommunityMeetingPresentation

READ FULL DOCUMENT: 2023-06-16_UpperMores_PreScoping_ProposedActionReport
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NEPA Public Scoping period underway. https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/boise/?project=64242

Comment period closes November 20.

Recreation proposals have been split out to another yet-to-be-named and detailed NEPA scop, so the remaining Proposed Action (PA) for Upper Mores project is now almost exclusively a vegetation-management action under Emergency Authority.

It does not address trails improvement proposals that clubs and IDPR have worked on with the Forest Service prior to and during the pre-scoping period.

However, we do look forward to working with FS on what is tentatively named Highway 21 Recreation EA to address Recreation improvements in a separate but concurrent process. Happily, the new project scope may be on a wider scale than the initial project area boundary the Upper Mores proposal.

There is one particular item in the PA that is worth commenting on, which is the picture on page 10: It is no longer an applicable example of need to remediate a legal route as specific problem no longer exists.

In coordination with IDC Ranger District, IDPR’s Trail Cat Program has repaired all trouble spots on NFR314 from top at NFR380 down to near Idaho City.

Alex Ernst

Land Access Coordinator

IDPR – Recreation Bureau

208-832-8412

Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation

2023 National Trails Workshop

Engaging with Tribes on Wilderness Stewardship

Suggested by Marc and Tyler Kelly

Tyler’s Boy Scout Troop is working on their Wilderness Survival Merit Badge.

FIRST AID AND OUTDOOR RECREATION

Written by Steve Belcher

It’s healthy to get outside and enjoy hobbies like hiking, biking, climbing, riding horses, and camping. However, all of these outdoor activities come with potential risks and challenges, so it’s essential for anyone who plans to spend plenty of time outside to understand the basics of outdoor first aid. The principles of first aid are the same no matter where you are, but outdoors, the practical application can look very different. You’ll need to be resourceful enough to both bring what you might need and use what you have at hand in order to stabilize someone’s condition in an emergency.

Wilderness First Aid Basics

Being well-versed in wilderness first aid is an important life skill if you plan to go on outdoor adventures. Not only does it help you become more self-sufficient and capable, but it can be a life-saving skill in certain situations. The majority of outdoor injuries are minor and easily treatable with a first aid kit, but that isn’t always the case. In some situations, knowing first aid can make a world of difference, especially since there aren’t any emergency responders close by in the wilderness. You don’t need to be a professional doctor or nurse, but you do need to have the equipment and the knowledge to be able to keep someone’s condition from worsening until you can get help.

First Aid Kits

No matter where you go, you should always have a first aid kit handy. Stock your kit with your trip in mind, thinking about the types of situations you could encounter as well as how long you’ll be gone. The longer your trip will be, the bigger your kit should be. The kit should be well-organized so that everything you need is easy to find; you don’t want to waste precious time rummaging around for what you need in an emergency situation. Consider using different-colored containers and clear labels to organize your supplies. You should also make sure that everything is packed to withstand the elements.

Wounds

Wounds can range in severity from minor scrapes to serious injuries. Without proper care, there’s a risk of infection or even death. When someone is wounded, the basic steps of wound care are to get the bleeding under control, do what you can to prevent infection, and take measures to promote proper healing. You’ll want to bring along supplies such as bandages of different sizes, gauze, antiseptic, and antibiotic ointment.

Dehydration and Heat Exhaustion

When you’re out on the trail, it’s not always easy to remember to keep drinking water like you should, and overexposure to the sun is a real possibility. When someone gets overheated, dehydration and heat stroke are real possibilities, and both of these conditions can endanger your health. Heat stroke occurs when people don’t sweat enough to lower their body temperature, and it’s incredibly common in people who are outdoors a lot. It can often come on rapidly, and it requires immediate medical attention. Always bring more water than you think you’ll need on your trip. If someone becomes overheated, find or create a shady spot where the person can rest, give them water, and use some of the water you have on hand on their skin to help cool them down. Then, head back to civilization so the person can get professional medical treatment.

Burns

If someone gets burned in the wilderness, remember the four C’s: Cool it, clean it, cover it, and call for help. Cool the burn using cool water; the longer heat stays in the body tissue, the deeper the burn becomes. Then, clean the burn with soap and water. Cover the burned area with antibacterial ointment, then apply a non-stick bandage to protect the burn. If you don’t have a bandage, cover the burn with a makeshift bandage using whatever you have, such as a clean shirt or a sock; it’s crucial to keep more bacteria in the environment from getting into the wound. Once the burn is covered, get help from a professional as soon as you can.

Strains, Sprains, and Broken Bones

Almost three-quarters of all non-fatal wilderness injuries are broken bones or sprains. It’s incredibly common to sprain an ankle on a steep trail or trip and fall on a limb, causing a broken bone. It can be hard to diagnose these injuries in the wilderness, but often, you can help to reduce greater injury by using the RICE method: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Reduce the swelling by icing the area with anything you have on hand, whether that’s water from a stream, water from a bottle, or even snow. Compress the injured area with a bandage, bandanna, or clean clothes, but make sure you don’t tie it too tightly; you don’t want to cut off circulation. If you suspect a broken bone, apply a splint to immobilize the area. Elevate the injury above the heart, even if that requires you to sit down on a trail and let people pass you by. This should be done for at least 20 minutes before attempting to have the injured person move again. It may be necessary to use a hiking pole or big stick to help with balance or bear some weight while you make your way back to civilization. RICE should be repeated every two hours on the walk back to help reduce the seriousness of the injury.

CPR

In the event of cardiac arrest in the wilderness, chest compressions should be initiated right away. However, it’s important to be realistic about the situation, given the circumstances you may be in. For instance, usually, you should keep going with CPR until help arrives or until you’re too exhausted to continue. But if you’re hours or even days away from civilization, you should know that the effectiveness of CPR decreases rapidly after 20 to 30 minutes.

Hypothermia

Hypothermia due to environmental exposure is common in wilderness settings. Any temperature below 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit can be linked to hypothermia, but it’s especially common in below-freezing temperatures. It’s also possible to get hypothermia in temperatures around 40 degrees if you’re exposed to heavy wind and rain. It’s easy to lose body heat, especially for people who aren’t dressed correctly, people who get wet by accident, people who are dehydrated or have poor food intake, and people who are fatigued. The severity of hypothermia (mild, moderate, or severe) can be assessed by asking the person questions that require higher reasoning; seeing if their shivering can be stopped voluntarily; checking to see whether or not you can get a pulse on their wrist (if you can’t, that may indicate a core body temperature lower than 86 degrees); and seeing whether the person can be taken out of the fetal position. Hypothermia can be treated by reducing heat loss by adding clothes or changing into dry clothes; adding fuel and fluids like hot liquids, carbs, and proteins; and getting the person warmth from a fire or another external heat source.

• August 3: Legacy Trails Grant Program: 2023 Pre-Application Overview
• August 10: Bridging the Gap Assessing, Empowering, and Engaging People with Disabilities in the Outdoors
• August 17: Creative Trails Programming through Public-Private Partnerships
• August 24: Porous Flexible Pavement, Asphalt, or Porous Asphalt: Lessons Learned for Multi-Use Trails in the District of Columbia
• August 31: Got Mud: Tackling Mud and Erosion on Equestrian Trail

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5 ways lightning strikes people

Backcountry_Lightning_Safety 062623

OSHA_FS-3863_Lightning_Safety_05-2016

Lightning Safety Topic (002)

One noxious weed a lot of gardeners deal with is the dreaded goat head weed. This weed forms a dense mat that overtakes almost any planting area and causes a lot of problems. Especially among garden beds where you grow ground cover, look out for this plant.

The first recorded instance of goat head weed occurred in California in 1902. As the decades went on, horticulturists noticed the noxious weed formed monocultures that outcompeted native plants. This led to the classification of the plant as an invasive species.

With that in mind, identification and removal of the dreaded goat head weed are on every one of us who grow. Among native habitat conservationists, farmers, and ranchers, we can reduce the chance of invasion by this weed into our gardens, our bare feet, and in the feet of our livestock.

So, what is goat head weed and how do you get rid of it? Read on, and find out!    READ MORE

Chemical Herbicide

Two types of chemical control suited to removing goat head weed are glyphosate and oryzalin.

In this illuminating book, brain scientist and horsewoman Janet Jones describes human and equine brains working together. Using plain language, she explores the differences and similarities between equine and human ways of negotiating the world. Mental abilities—like seeing, learning, fearing, trusting, and focusing—are discussed from both human and horse perspectives. Throughout, true stories of horses and handlers attempting to understand each other—sometimes successfully, sometimes not—help to illustrate the principles.

Horsemanship of every kind depends on mutual interaction between equine and human brains. When we understand the function of both, we can learn to communicate with horses on their terms instead of ours. By meeting horses halfway, we achieve many goals.

We improve performance.

We save valuable training time.

We develop much deeper bonds with our horses.

We handle them with insight and kindness instead of force or command.

We comprehend their misbehavior in ways that allow solutions.

We reduce the human mistakes we often make while working with them.

Instead of working against the horse’s brain, expecting him to function in unnatural and counterproductive ways, this book provides the information needed to ride with the horse’s brain. Each principle is applied to real everyday issues in the arena or on the trail, often illustrated with true stories from the author’s horse training experience. Horse Brain, Human Brain offers revolutionary ideas that should be considered by anyone who works with horses.

Background:

In 2018 Forest Service staff and partners developed a week long training program with the vision of “providing the highest quality Wilderness training program in the Northern Rockies that will educate, support, and cultivate a community of present and future wilderness and wildland stewards through the cooperation of the Forest Service, partners, and volunteers.”

The Northern Rockies Wilderness Skills Institute (NRWSI) is a training partnership between multiple partners that include the Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation, Society for Wilderness Stewardship, United States Forest Service, and the Ninemile Wildlands Training Center.  The Institute currently features one week of training hosted each year. NRWSI has been put on hold for the last three years but now we are ready to bring practitioners back together again in person in 2023.

The 2023 Northern Rockies Wilderness Skills Institute will be held from May 22 – 26, 2023 in Powell, ID. It will start at 1pm PT on Monday and conclude at 3pm PT on Friday. All participants are expected to sign up for the entire week. The planning team is currently pulling together the training sessions and the application process will open up in March with a deadline to register no later than April 7th.

COST: There is no cost to attend.

FOOD: On your own – no food provided. Participants will handle their own meals. Cooking facilities may be provided – more information will be provided ahead of the event.

CLICK HERE FOR SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

APPLICATION WINDOW CLOSED  (If interested contact them about a place in the 2024 workshop)

Please contact Jimmy Gaudry (jimmy.gaudry@usda.gov) or Carol Hennessey (carol.hennessey@usda.gov) for more information.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Pictures from the Workshop

This past week I was fortunate enough to join our field leaders and Wilderness Ranger Fellows at the Northern Rockies Wilderness Skills Institute which took place at Powell Ranger Station near the north end of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness for five days. The skills institute brought together 150+ people from all over the region. There were many field-going folks, as well as program leaders from the Forest Service, people from the National Parks, and other nonprofit organizations like SBFC. Everyone was there to dive deep into the traditional skills and knowledge it takes to keep Wilderness accessible and wild for everyone.

I was extremely impressed with our SBFC staff and fellows. Our strong group of twenty showed a massive amount of enthusiasm and leadership throughout the week. None of them were afraid to speak up and to ask questions, even though many of our people, particularly our fellows, are very new to this world. I see so much strength and potential within this group. They have become great friends and it’s apparent that they will be ready for their first hitches in June to get into the Wilderness and do good work.

Thanks to all the people who helped to make the 2023 NRWSI possible, including our very own program manager Josh Page! Due to the major efforts of many, the future of our Wilderness lands are brighter than ever.

Looking ahead, we will be coming to you with regular blog posts from our field staff and fellows, as well as with other helpful communications to give you info and tools to get into these landscapes throughout the season. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear more of from us in the future!

Here’s to the Frank and Selway being wild and accessible forever!

I’ll see you out there.
Ryan Ghelfi

Tonight we are hosting a volunteer webinar on Zoom at 6:15 PM (Mountain Time). Come learn about our trail projects and get your questions answered! Sign up here!

SBFC will partner with Here Montana to take folks out on a stewardship project in the Bitterroot Mountains in 2023. Listen to their director Alex Kim talk about their mission.

Keep an eye out next year for information about the 2024 Northern Rockies Wilderness Skills Institute

Our friends at the Idaho Trails Association are looking for volunteers for a couple of awesome Wilderness projects in June on the Selway River Trail (women’s only) and out of Wilderness Gateway (family trip!)

SBFC has a few spots left on our single day volunteer project at Colgate Licks on June 3 and Horse Creek on June 21. Sign up before the spots are gone!

On Thursday, June 1, we are celebrating National Trails Day a few days early with a screening of Outdoor Idaho’s In the Shadow of the Bitterroots at Mother Earth Brew Co. in Boise. Learn more!

DOWN LOAD PDF

Want to brush up on your backcountry skills? We have some great (and free!) learning opportunities coming up. See our Upcoming Webinars and Events section below for more info about these in-person and online events:

• Backpacking 101: Four opportunities to learn more about backpacking both in-person and online including our first webinar TONIGHT!
• Safety and First Aid: One-hour webinar covering how to prepare for the worst when hiking.
• Backcountry Nutrition: Join Pam Bond and Tom Dabrowski to learn how to create your own backpacking meals!

A Balanced Intake of Key Minerals is Essential for the Support of IR Horses

Minerals have direct and indirect involvement in virtually every action in the body and have important effects on insulin resistance (IR) or its consequences. IR is different in the horse than in the human, but the same basic principles apply. There is evidence of activated antioxidant defenses in the tissues of IR horses.

Building the horse’s own antioxidant basic defenses is most effective. This includes the superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase enzyme systems, as well as the antioxidants glutathione, CoQ10, carotenoids and vitamin A, flavonoids, and vitamins E and C. Glutathione is particularly widely distributed.

SOD absolutely requires copper and zinc. Catalase requires iron, which is not an issue, as the typical equine diet supplies plenty of iron.

Glutathione activity depends on selenium, a very common deficiency. Selenium is also essential for the generation of the active form of thyroid hormone, T3, from T4. Selenoproteins, important to immune function, are just beginning to be looked at in depth. Both IR and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) horses are prone to inflammatory and allergic-type immune reactions rather than using the more sophisticated arm of the immune system.

Zinc is a commonly deficient mineral. Low serum zinc is associated with IR and type 2 diabetes in humans and rats. Supplementation of zinc supports defenses against type 2 diabetes in rat models; exactly why has not been determined. It is known that zinc is important on several levels as it’s involved in insulin release and sensitivity, as well as being an antioxidant in SOD.

Like zinc, copper is critical for SOD function. Copper deficiency causes IR and fatty liver in rats. Low liver copper is found in human fatty livers. Deficiency is also linked to higher liver iron in IR, a known problem in IR horses, too.

Magnesium has been associated with IR for 40 years, with hundreds of human papers dedicated to the subject. Magnesium is not a treatment, but by correcting a deficiency it makes the disease easier to control.

Magnesium dietary intake and magnesium status—whole body levels—are both associated with strong defenses against IR and they deteriorate when someone develops IR. It becomes a cycle you need to stay on top of to allow stabilization.

A 2013 study included almost 2000 non-diabetic subjects that were followed for 15.6 years. Magnesium intake was a “significant protective factor” against type 2 diabetes, including progression from IR to diabetes. Researchers could predict who would most likely become IR by looking at their magnesium levels.

Magnesium increases insulin receptor number and sensitivity in experimental rodent IR. Magnesium deficiency interferes with insulin signaling. Deficiency has also been linked to activation of allergic and inflammatory reactions.

Iodine is essential to production of thyroid hormone. Low iodine status has been identified in human patients with type 2 diabetes. Normal thyroid function is required for insulin sensitivity.

IR horses may also have low thyroid hormone levels in some cases. This is probably euthyroid sick syndrome, meaning it is an effect rather than a cause. In most of these horses, with correct levels of selenium and iodine, and control of IR, the levels will rise again. Low thyroid is not a primary part of the syndrome but can make some horses very depressed and lethargic. Thyroid supplementation can be used but by addressing the above you will not need supplementation long term.

Chromium has been important for people, probably due to processed foods being stripped of many essential minerals. It is required for a normal cellular response to insulin. The exact dietary requirement is unknown, but supplementation in IR horses is not helpful in most cases. Grass absorbs chromium very efficiently and soil levels are abundant in most areas. The ECIR Group has observed a problem only when horses are eating hay grown on alkaline soils where the plants may not absorb the chromium as readily.

It’s not as fancy as a pricey magic bullet supplement but the best place to start supporting your IR horse on a low-sugar and low-starch diet is with balanced intake of key minerals.

REFERENCES
Hata A, Doi Y, Ninomiya T, Mukai N, Hirakawa Y, Hata J, Ozawa M, Uchida K, Shirota T, Kitazono T, Kiyohara Y. Magnesium intake decreases Type 2 diabetes risk through the improvement of insulin resistance and inflammation: the Hisayama Study. Diabet Med. 2013 Dec;30(12):1487-94. doi: 10.1111/dme.12250. Epub 2013 Jun 29.

Hruby, A, Meigs J, O’Donnell C, Jacques P, McKeown N. Higher magnesium intake reduces risk of impaired glucose and insulin metabolism and progression from prediabetes to diabetes in middle-aged Americans. Clinical Trial Diabetes Care. 2014 Feb;37(2):419-27. doi: 10.2337/dc13-1397. Epub 2013 Oct 2.

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