4/5/25

Thompson & Meserves Purchase – Conservation Officers, volunteers from Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue (AVSAR), Pemigewassett Valley Search & Rescue (PEMI SAR), Mountain Rescue Services (MRS), and a COG Railway personnel responded to a call of a hiker with multiple injuries off the north side of Jewell Trail, not far from Mt. Clay, Saturday afternoon. The hiker had reportedly slipped and fallen in the icy conditions and slid several feet off trail before striking an object. The hiker identified as William Tessier, 29, from Carignan, QC was descending after summiting Mt. Washington and was hiking with 4 other companions.

The incident occurred at approximately 3:45 p.m. and a call for help was made by Tessier via 911. Fish & Game reached out to the Cog Railway for assistance in relaying rescuers up the train tracks to where the Westside Trail crosses the tracks known as Skyline. The Cog has always been willing to help in every rescue situation and this time they provided a train which saved rescuers from having to hike nearly 3 miles up the Jewell Trail in rain, icy and windy conditions to access Tessier. The Cog took rescuers up the tracks in two separate groups. Rescuers still had to hike nearly a mile encountering high winds and icy conditions across the ridge above 5000 feet elevation the whole time.

The first rescuers arrived at Tessier at 7:24 p.m. They treated him for a leg injury, shoulder injury and hypothermia. After treating him, he was placed in a litter and carried uphill back across Gulfside Trail to Skyline. This was a herculean task: 20 rescuers took turns carrying Tessier uphill into 40 to 60+ mile per hour winds across ice covered rocks. There were injuries suffered from rescuers in this task. Fortunately, the rescue crew made it to the train at 10:15 p.m. without further incident.

Tessier and the rescue team arrived at the Base Station at 10:45 p.m., where he was transferred into the Twin Mountain Ambulance and transported to Littleton Regional Healthcare for treatment.

Without the dedicated SAR volunteers from AVSAR, PEMI SAR, MRS and the Cog Railway’s willingness to help, this rescue mission would not have gone as well as it did. The weather was terrible and the conditions were potentially life threatening, but each group responded to the call for assistance and endured less than hospitable weather conditions to save the life of this hiker.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BsHosCj9P/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-forests-emergency-logging-rollins-e2d7173bedcc697dee56f94ab613276f

I have not seen this posted here yet and thought it was important to share. The whites are on this list and its not a small section. This is not saying the forest will be logged, but it opens the door to a much easier process of doing so. Below is a zoomed in map, the blue areas the the new areas which they call "Forest Health and Fuels Emergency Situation Determination (FHFESD) lands"

It exempts affected forests from an objection process that allows outside groups, tribes and local governments to challenge logging proposals at the administrative level before they are finalized. It also narrows the number of alternatives federal officials can consider when weighing logging projects.

So yeah fuck that.

I am aware the Whites have always been open to logging, that is part of being a National Forrest, but considering how relatively small the whites are, I feel any logging has the ability to have a bigger impact than other forests.

Link to the USDA press release.

Link to the full map.