The NPS will present a bill for SAR costs in very egregious situations, under the heading of "creating a disturbance"(or very similar wording. This is done on a case by case basis, and only rarely.

One thing about the SAR victims I have known is that their common denominator is experience, or, rather, lack thereof. Once a person has learned a bit,the chances of their getting into trouble decline rather significantly. My own early history illustrates the point beautifully. On my very first hike in mountainous terrain, I narrowly avoided serious injury or death, only by dump luck not suffering about a fifty foot fall. I emerged uninjured and somewhat wiser. I have often thought about that incident when I have been on scenes where victims were not as fortunate.