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North Shore Rescue (NSR) has called attention to a problem of missing signs on hiking trails and expressed more than a little irritation over the thefts.

“NSR crews have just completed a rescue on Grouse near the Old BCMC trail and Mackay Creek for a lost hiker,” the group wrote on Facebook on September 24. “It should be noted that someone keeps pulling down the trail markers in this area despite our team members remarking it consistently.”

NSR team leader Mike Danks discussed the matter further in a September 25 article in the North Shore News. He explained that signs have been removed repeatedly, making clear the trail markerts are going missing as a result of deliberate human action.

“Without having access to the markers that are on the trees, this can be very challenging and it leads to the potential of people getting injured or stuck,” Danks told North Shore News’ reporter Brent Richter. “[We] have marked that trail three times now from top to bottom and three times, all those markings have been taken down.”

The signs were installed by NSR volunteers to help hikers find their way around trails without getting lost. Danks emphasized that the theft of the signs is a problem that endangers lives in a very literal sense.

“They’re putting the public at risk and they’re putting our members are risk when they have to go in and rescue them,” he said.