As rivers in Guthrie County have seen a larger increase in public use this summer, Guthrie County Conservation and local public safety agencies are approaching the topic of emergency protocols.

Conservation Director Brad Halterman says it’s great that more people are using public access areas of local rivers and streams for kayaking, fishing, and other recreation. He reckons that the increased use could lead to dangerous situations, “The more folks that use a public area, sometimes that increases the chance of something happening. And understanding that if something happens on a river in between accesses or in between areas that you can get onto the river it’s good to have some protocols in place for if an emergency situation does come up that each department and each entity knows exactly what those protocols are in order to properly handle those types of situations.”

Halterman says emergency protocol plans are in the infancy stages, as he, the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, and Guthrie County Emergency Management Agency are working to gather information from nearby counties that could help develop their own plan. The topic was discussed by the Conservation Board at their July meeting.