A rancher who saddles up a couple horses to search for someone lost in the Badlands can get paid for his trouble starting July 1.

A North Dakota Visitors Rescue Fund established by the Legislature has $25,000 to help pay for search and rescue operations.

Rep. Frank Wald, R-Dickinson, said he added money to State Tourism's budget at the request of western ranchers and emergency responders, who felt there should be compensation when they go to extraordinary lengths to assist visitors.

The money must be paid out to a local jurisdiction, such as a sheriff's office or a fire department and then either retained, or paid out to an individual, depending on who incurs the cost.

Wald said rural volunteer fire departments, often the front line in search and rescue missions, operate on a shoestring budget and shouldn't have to bear the brunt of tourism mishaps.

The fund will be managed by tourism. Jurisdictions that incur search and rescue costs, or represent individuals who do, can submit claims to the Tourism Department.

The Legislature appropriated $100,000 for a similar fund two years ago based on an expensive rescue operation for a Lewis and Clark visitor.

That money was never tapped and expired with the end of the 2001 biennium.

Wald said he was thinking mainly of the Maah Daah Hey Trail when he asked for the new money, but the fund is available statewide.

The Maah Daah Hey Trail runs in the Badlands from near Medora to nearly Watford City. Local park rangers and sheriffs say they're called out about eight times a year to assist someone lost or injured on the trail.

The question of reimbursement recently came up in Slope County. Officials there are concerned about where money for search and rescue would come from if the Maah Daah Hey Trail is extended 50 miles south in their direction.

The Forest Service is in the preliminary stages of extending the trail.