The Forest Ranger Foundation

10/08/2026

It was a busy week, lots of blade time.

Plus, separated hiking partners reunited with their parties in this week's NYS DEC Forest Ranger report

10/06/2026

Two Rangers are on that wall, 1 - Raymond L. Murray: He died on October 9, 1970, in a plane crash near Hammondsport (Steuben County) during an aerial forest-fire detection flight; the plane failed to gain altitude on takeoff. He had about 20 years of service, was also a volunteer firefighter, and left a wife and two daughters. His name was added to the wall in 2017; the DEC’s Raymond Murray Award for valor is named in his honor.
2 - Daniel G. McKenzie: A longtime Forest Ranger based in North Hudson (Adirondacks). He died of a heart attack on October 6, 1948, while fighting a small roadside wildfire during a prolonged drought; he responded quickly in his Conservation Department truck with a civilian helper. He is listed in the official Roll of Honor as Forest Ranger, New York State DEC.

10/02/2026

Here is the full roster of the newest Rangers!

Joshua Betts – Highland, Ulster County
Jack Caulfield – Massapequa, Nassau County
Ian Dill – Morris, Otsego County
Ethan Engel – Peru, Clinton County
Tucker Griffin – Niskayuna, Schenectady County
Griffen Johnson – Rome, Oneida County
Isaac Knapp – Stanfordville, Dutchess County
Ian Lupole – Kirkwood, Broome County
Alison MacCue – Croghan, Lewis County
Kaylynn Massa – Freehold, Greene County
Brian McMahon – Spencerport, Monroe County
Jacob Owen – Allegany, Cattaraugus County
Jeremy Patnode – Chateaugay, Franklin County
Mitchell Rigano – North Chili, Monroe County
Nathan Ryan – East Greenbush, Rensselaer County
Timothy Sarno – Kinderhook, Columbia County
Samantha Severing – Livingston Manor, Sullivan County

09/30/2026

Come see Prajackalope!

09/30/2026

Welcome to the family!

09/19/2026

Rangers stay busy as fall hiking season gets underway.

Forest Rangers carry a 74-year-old hiker in a wheeled litter down the Hurricane 9N trail in the town of Keene, Essex County, on July 30.

KEENE, N.Y. Eight state Forest Rangers carried a 74-year-old Pennsylvania hiker off Hurricane Mountain in the Essex County town of Keene on July 30 after the hiker suffered a lower leg injury, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said.

Forest Rangers Osita Ezumah and Charles Foutch responded at 3:19 p.m. to a call for an injured hiker about a half-mile up the Hurricane 9N trail. The rangers splinted the hiker's ankle.

Six more rangers arrived to help with the carry-out. Rangers gave the hiker medication and packaged the patient in a wheeled litter for the trip down the mountain.

The group reached the trailhead at 7:49 p.m. A family member took the hiker to a hospital.

Photo provided.

09/16/2026

Rangers had a rescue on Marcy this past weekend.

09/12/2026

https://www.nny360.com/life/outdoors/dec-ranger-week-in-review-forest-rangers-rescue-hikers-across-adirondacks-over-labor-day-weekend/article_f55876b9-ef75-5e60-a244-ee38e536efa4.html

New York state forest rangers rescued lost and injured hikers across the Adirondacks Sept. 4-7, including a hiker airlifted from Haystack Mountain and two hikers who set out without headlamps

08/29/2026

There is a fantastic story about the career of Prajackalope in the current Adirondack Life Magazine

You live rangering. Dispatch calls on a blizzardy night and you roll out of bed, ready to hike miles to find a lost hiker in armpit-deep snow on Marcy. A swimmer’s disappeared beneath the falls at Wilmington’s flume, and you rush away from a birthday party or a school concert. Maybe it’s a fir...

08/21/2026

Make sure you go out and purchase Adirondack Life Magazine September/October edition: The feature, A Ranger’s Life - must read.