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'Virtually no chance of him surviving' Kalmiopsis search ends for Forest Service worker missing since Jan. 26 By PAUL FATTIG SELMA - Authorities have reluctantly called off an intensive search for a man missing since Jan. 26 in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area. Todd Morris, 35, an experienced Forest Service contract worker, was last seen on Jan. 26 when he left a remote base camp during a snowstorm to retrieve a hatchet he had left at a survey plot some two miles distant. "There is virtually no chance of him surviving out there this long - maybe 5 percent at most," explained Al Rhodes, emergency services coordinator for the Josephine County Sheriff's Office. Todd Morris and his wife, Sicily, have a young daughter. Rhodes indicated that authorities didn't want to cancel the search but were forced to make the decision. The search was terminated Friday evening. In addition to the extremely remote chance of his survival, searchers were facing weather conditions that have been so difficult even well-trained and prepared survival experts were suffering hypothermia during the search, he said. All eight members of the Eugene Mountain Rescue Team were experiencing hypothermia by the time they completed an exhausting hike Friday after spending Thursday night camped on a snowy ridge, Rhodes said. About three dozen searchers combed the area to no avail on Friday. The search centered on South Bend Mountain about 18 miles northwest of Selma. Experienced searchers on foot, snowmobiles and on horseback have looked for the Centralia, Wash., resident throughout the week. They also searched by air when weather permitted. But they have been constantly hampered by snow and ice in the steep, rocky terrain. Morris was last seen when he left the camp he shared with his father-in-law and contract partner, Mike Kazio, to hike back to the survey plot. Officials had expanded their search area to a 40-square mile area on Friday but were unable to find any trace of the missing man. Morris and Kazio were contracted last July by the Forest Service to conduct plant inventories necessary to help the agency evaluate forest health. The work included measuring vegetation on 21/2-acre plots that are 3.4 miles apart in the wilderness. The two are seasoned forest contractors who know their work and the woods well, said John McCullough, survey coordinator for the Siskiyou, Rogue River and Umpqua forests. Morris and Kazio originally went into the area to do survey work on Jan. 23 before the cold weather was forecast, he said. They established a camp at Collier Bar on the north bank of the Illinois River. The plot where Morris was working was on the southwest flank of South Bend Mountain. Morris was equipped with warm clothing, a flashlight, a lighter and a limited supply of food, officials said. But family members, speaking Friday afternoon before the search was called off, weren't giving up on Morris' ability to survive. "We all still think that, if he isn't incapacitated, he'll survive this," said Charlie Leist, an uncle who lives in Rockville, Md. "We all grew up in a farming community. What I've found in farming is that you learn to be practical." Practical is how Leist described his nephew, who was reared in rural south-central Ohio. "He's always been in the out of doors, " Leist said. "We've all worked outside as farmers, mechanics. I think he can make it." South Bend Mountain, which rises to some 3,400 feet above sea level, is on the northern fringe of the wilderness area in the Siskiyou National Forest. There are no roads into the region. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.