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Wilderness search widens for Morris By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune SELMA - The search for a Forest Service contract worker missing since Saturday is being expanded in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area of the Siskiyou National Forest. After a ground team on Thursday failed to find any sign of Todd Morris, 35, of Centralia, Wash., in an area where he had been conducting a plant survey, officials plan today to launch a extended search. Morris was last seen when he left the camp he shared with his father-in-law and contract partner, Mike Kazio, to hike some two miles to retrieve a hatchet left at a survey plot on South Bend Mountain. Officials suspect he became lost in a snowstorm while returning to camp. "We believe he was mobile and made it out, but that he missed a turn and continued walking," said Al Rhodes, emergency services coordinator for the Josephine County Sheriff's Office. Members of the Eugene Mountain Rescue Team searched the survey plot as well as the surrounding area on Thursday to no avail, Rhodes said. Snow returned to the area on Thursday, keeping aircraft involved in the search on the ground. About three dozen searchers, including members of the Josephine County Sheriff Posse, will be deployed today to expand the search area, Rhodes said. Searchers have established a base camp at Frantz Ranch, a site near the Illinois River about two miles by trail from the northern tip of the wilderness. Morris and Kazio had established a camp at Collier Bar on the north bank of the Illinois River. The plot where he was working was on the southwest flank of South Bend Mountain about 18 miles northwest of Selma. After Morris became lost on Saturday, Kazio searched for him, then hiked for two days to notify authorities that his son-in-law was missing. Kazio told authorities that Morris is equipped with warm clothing, a flashlight, a lighter and food. He was also carrying a cell phone but it would not work unless he was at a high point in the region, officials said. South Bend Mountain, which rises to some 3,400 feet above sea level, is just southwest of Bald Mountain. There are no roads into the region. Morris and Kazio had been contracted last July by the Forest Service to do plant inventories needed to help the agency evaluate forest health. The two are seasoned forest contractors who know their work and the woods well, said John McCullough, survey coordinator for the Siskiyou, Rogue Rive and Umpqua forests. "Todd Morris installed the particular plot he was lost from," McCullough said, adding that work was done in 1996. "He knows the area very well." The two men originally went into the area on Jan. 23 before the cold weather was forecast, he said. "They had no idea of the low snow levels they were going to encounter," he said. "They were adequately prepared for winter work. But they weren't prepared for a risky operation. "My assumption is that he got hurt," he said. "But the possibilities are endless. You get caught in a whiteout and you become totally disoriented. There is also a chance of a wildlife encounter. "The fact we haven't been able to find him with everyone that has been looking, well, that isn't good," he added. Search and rescue units also include personnel from Jackson and Curry counties. The Josephine County Amateur Radio Emergency Services is also assisting. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.