The successful rescue of a missing mushroom picker yesterday morning has Kamloops Search and Rescue concerned about future incidents.
KSAR Spokesperson Jenn Stahn says they were called out to search for a man who’d gone missing in the Loon Lake area Saturday night while he was out mushroom picking.
“So he was located, tired, hungry, and thirsty, but he was able to walk out on his own.”
Stahn says, the worry now is that because mushroom season will be huge this year due to the wildfires last summer, other pickers will end up missing.
“The year following a wildfire is a really good year for mushrooms, and we tend to have a lot of people come in from all over the country, and even across North America looking for those mushrooms.”
Stahn says, issues can arise when foragers have secret spots they don’t wish to share.
“We find that with all kinds of foragers, they want to keep their areas private so they can continue to go back, and unfortunately, you end up with people that go missing, or are injured in those areas, and we just don’t know where to start looking for them, and that can really delay our response time.”
Stahn adding, they recommend foragers be prepared and actually tell people where they are going before heading out.