Program History
On a Saturday in February 1981, three
brothers were together on Palomar Mountain approximately 60 miles north
east of San Diego, California. They were walking on a popular nature trail
a half-mile from the camping site where their parents were preparing
lunch. Two of the brothers believed that 9-year-old Jimmy Beveridge was
racing them back to camp, but he never arrived.
The family spent one hour searching on
their own, then contacted a Park Ranger who contacted the Sheriff's
Department. As often happens during February in southern California, the
weather was unpredictable. The day had been clear, warm and beautiful. As
night fell, clouds and fog moved in and the temperature steadily dropped.
By Monday, it was raining almost continuously and fog continued to shroud
the mountain top. The helicopters could fly only when the cloud ceiling
retreated enough to permit a safe take off. The wind and rain had
neutralized Jimmy's scent, so tracking dogs were of no use. The only hope
was to systematically search the entire area, and pray for a visible sign
of the boy.
Tuesday morning, the weather broke and the
sun came out. There were about 400 searchers on the scene including about
200 Marines. The search was the largest in the history of San Diego
County. That afternoon the boy's jacket and one shoe were recovered and
his direction of travel was finally established. Wednesday morning Jimmy's
body was found, curled up next to a tree in a ravine, about two miles from
the campground. He had died from hypothermia.
 A great anguish overcame many of the
searchers for this lost boy and his family. It was a deep and personal
feeling that you could see in many faces, on the mountain and for months
afterward. There was grief in it, for a young boy who had lost his life,
and also a feeling of great wrong that had occurred, with nobody to blame.
Many people were affected by this tragedy
and had a desire to prevent it from occurring again. The tragedy gnawed
at
Ab Taylor, a Border Patrol agent and renowned tracker, and Tom Jacobs, a
free-lance writer and photographer. Both had been members of the search
team looking for Jimmy. It was the first time in Mr. Taylor's thirty-one
years as a tracker that he had failed to find a missing child alive. The
experience prompted him to collaborate with Jacobs, Jackie Heet, and
Dorothy Taylor in the development of an educational program designed to
teach children, ages 5-12, very basic principles for staying safe in the
wilderness. The program derives its name from its primary message: If you
are lost, stay put-hug a tree-until help arrives.
In
the decades that followed, the original developers of the program-along
with a number of committed others-- including Lillian Taylor, Ab's
wife--trained hundreds of individuals to present the program. Up to this
point, the program had enjoyed a significant level of success in the
United States. But, in 1999, the program's concepts were translated into
Swedish and the program began to be presented by volunteers in Sweden. In
2001, the right to develop a Canadian version was granted to the RCMP and
an explosion in the number of children receiving the program in North
America occurred.
 In 2005, Ab Taylor donated the rights to
the Hug-a-Tree program and materials to the National Association for
Search and Rescue (NASAR). The intent was that NASAR would modernize the
program and continue to get the important Hug-a-Tree message out to
children. In 2007--after two years of development and using only private
donations of time and money--a new video was distributed for use in the
program. In 2008, a new presenter trainer video was released that shows
anyone how to present the program, and numerous new supporting documents
were developed and distributed for use with the program (e.g.,
activity/coloring book, program handout, presenter manual, etc).
It is the sincere hope of those who have
contributed to this project that all children will someday be exposed to
the lifesaving principles of the Hug-a-Tree program.
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Hug-a-Tree History