Brendan Jackson in the Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia. (Provided photo — Sam Prestidge)

NEWCOMB — Last month, Brendan Jackson, an assistant forest ranger with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, was on-duty camping in the backcountry interior of the High Peaks Wilderness. He clocked out of service when he set up camp near Duck Hole on the evening of June 7, but he never clocked back in.

His body was discovered in his tent by forest rangers eight days later on June 15.

In the wake of Jackson’s death, his friends have started a petition criticizing the DEC for what they say was a failure to raise concern or notice his absence. They are calling for reforms to how the agency keeps track of its personnel while they are in the field. Their hope is that these will prevent a similar tragedy from unfolding in the future. As of Friday evening, the petition — started by Meg Michelle at tinyurl.com/yc7kxj4z on Monday — had 4,425 signatures.

Jackson had camped at a designated campsite at Duck Hole — located in the western High Peaks Wilderness area more than 6 miles into the woods from the nearest trailhead access point from the Upper Works Road in the town of Newcomb. He was an experienced hiker and figurehead in the Adirondack hiking community. Learn more about Jackson’s role in the Adirondack backcountry community here.

He signed out of duty for the day through a transmission to DEC’s central dispatch in Ray Brook, as is common practice for DEC personnel in the field, according to an agency spokesperson. Jackson was working a multi-day assignment in the area, and was supposed to sign in for duty the next morning. That call never came, along with subsequent sign-in and sign-out calls that would have accompanied the rest of his assignment.

His friends say the search did not start until they raised concerns about his absence to the DEC on June 14.

They believe Jackson likely died the night he clocked out at Duck Hole. But his cause of death is still unknown because in the time it took to find and retrieve his body, it had decomposed to the point where an autopsy was inconclusive.

Jackson’s family could not hold an open casket funeral, and the petition says they never got to see his face one last time.

It also says the delay in his retrieval caused unnecessary trauma to the rangers who recovered his remains.

The DEC declined to comment on a range of questions about Jackson’s death, current policy and the petition, citing the ongoing investigation being conducted by the DEC’s Bureau of Environmental Crimes Investigation Unit and New York State Police.

DEC spokesman Jeff Wernick said the department is evaluating all of its processes and procedures to ensure appropriate oversight of AFRs. He said it will implement any necessary enhancements identified from this evaluation.

In an official statement from the DEC, the department called Jackson a “remarkable steward.”

“Brendan put the public’s safety above his own when responding to rescues, suppressing fires, patrolling trails and helping maintain backcountry facilities,” the statement reads.

A division of Forest Protection Honor Guard served at his funeral last month.

“Jackson was a long-time and valued DEC employee,” DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said in a statement. “We offer our heartfelt sympathies to AFR Jackson’s family, coworkers and all who loved him.”

Sam Prestidge, one of Jackson’s friends who is promoting the petition, said they don’t want anyone else to go through what Jackson’s friends and family have.

“Why we’re doing this … I think is so evident — we don’t want anybody to ever have to do this again,” Prestidge said. “We don’t want people to have their friends, their family left in the woods … for eight days and eight nights alone in a sleeping bag in June heat.”

Prestige said he hasn’t heard from DEC in any official capacity, but that he hadn’t reached out directly to them either, so he wouldn’t necessarily expect to hear anything from them up until this point. He does hope that more is done on their end to address this situation beyond the public remembrance message in the July 2 rangers “Week in Review” press release and beyond the funeral presence, which he noted was very much appreciated by family and friends.

The petition

The petition calls for the DEC to adopt a staff tracking software to track rangers’ call logs and flag their interior call-outs for follow-ups.

Prestidge emphasized that he is not a ranger and not an expert on the DEC, but that he has friends who are. He said, to his knowledge, the DEC previously had a program like this, but that it stopped existing several years ago. He said software like this is in use around the country.

The petition suggests adopting standardized times to have check-ins from rangers who are in the backcountry.

It also suggests limiting the seasonal AFR program to be primarily for public education and rescue prevention. This would prevent their duties from gradually increasing.

The petition proposes creating an AFR coordinator position to train and supervise AFRs, instead of having that be done by rangers, who take that on in addition to their normal duties.

It also calls for the DEC to provide rangers with resources and equipment like standard issue safety gear, clothes and washing machines. Prestidge said, from what he hears, when rangers get blood or bodily fluids on them during a rescue, they need to drive home and wash the bloody clothes in their personal washing machines, which is not emotionally or physically appropriate.

Jackson’s family asks that donations in his memory are made to the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Summit Stewardship Program at tinyurl.com/nnpacs5t.