Wilderness Survival Guide 107 NORTH QUEENS GROUND SEARCH AND RESCUE North Queens Ground Search and Rescue is a group of local volunteers founded in 1984 and based in Caledonia. With our location only a short drive away from Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, we work closely with the park officials as well as local RCMP and the Emergency Management Office for aid in search and recovery efforts when someone is lost or not able to get themselves out of the wilderness. We also provide emergency response for natural emergencies such as flooding, local water shortages or long power outages. 2023 was a challenging year in many ways; although there were fewer searches for missing persons, forest fires and then floods put a strain on many emergency services. NQGSAR was able to help with evacuations in the Shelburne area as fire swept through the region. Members of our team attended multidisciplinary specialized training courses and workshops which have recently included Advanced Wilderness and Remote First Aid, Incident Command System (ICS) Training, and Lost Person Behaviour. Our members also spend time training in search tactics, navigation, tracking awareness, wilderness survival, search techniques, water rescue, boat operation, night searches, rope use, and remote rescue. We have partnered with park staff and other teams in the region on several successful mock searches. We currently have 14 active members, not including our lifetime members, David Small, Jerry Burke, and Floyd Luxton. This year we welcomed two new members and said farewell to a long-standing member, Wayne Fiddes, who was with the team for over twenty years and who has done just about every job possible on the Team! We wish him and Birdie the best of luck in their new community. This year we switched our SUV for a newer truck. This, and so much more, is made possible by team fundraising efforts and many generous donations and grants. We continue to do a roadside clean up twice a year and are always looking for community help on those clean-up dates. This year we hosted a booth at the Queens County Exhibition – thanks for those who dropped by to find out more about GSAR! We look forward to continuing our partnership with Parks Canada and other local teams and groups. We are constantly working to increase the capacity and expertise of our team and new members are always welcome! We meet the second Tuesday of every month at Georgie’s in Caledonia at 7:00 pm. You can also join us for our training sessions to see what we are about. Find us on Facebook or call 902-685-3993 for more information.
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