PA Wilderness Search Rescue

The primary mission of PaWSAR is the safe return of a missing loved one to their family, to minimize loss of life, injury and property damage and to provide recovery services as needed – always with concern for the safety of all parties. To achieve this goal we train to provide professional level search and rescue services, preventative educational awareness programs and respond to requests from local and state entities.

Our core values of Integrity; Compassion; Respect; Accountability – to the subject, to the team and to ourselves; Professionalism in our level of conduct; Dedication and Teamwork remain the guiding forces behind PaWSAR. We strive to educate ourselves and our members to the highest standards of SAR and maintain every necessary proficiency that we might always stand at the ready, “That Others May Live.”

Tanya Goldberg is from Bucks County originally, now a resident of the Lehigh Valley. Growing up, she spent her days raising puppies for The Seeing Eye or at the farm riding
and taking care of horses. As a child, Tanya learned America Sign Language and English Sign Language to be able to communicate with her friend, and they are still
friends of 27 years. After high school, she had the opportunity to travel to South Korea and live there for 8 months, learning the culture and language. Once returning home
Tanya has focused on her career within the gas industry providing medical and industrial gases to the east region. She is pursing her EMT certificate as well as being
certified in SARTECH III, WFA, SARIA, BLS, NIMS, 100,200,700,800. Tanya is a ground team member and the Medical Lieutenant, always ready to support the team and
additionally when our RIT team is deployed.

John Norris is a West Virginia native, who from a very young age, spent many hours with his father hunting, hiking, gathering, and tracking in the wilderness. John joined the
Army right after high school. During his time in the Army, John attended the Tracking/Counter-Tracking Course taught at the JFK Special Warfare Center at Ft.
Bragg. It was during this course that John was able to bridge the gap between his hunting knowledge and Mantracking. Johns combat tours include Hati, Bosnia/Kosovo,
Afghanistan, Iraq, and South East Asia. Before leaving active duty, John became an Army Master Instructor and Training Developer. As a Army Civilian (DA Civil
Service/GS), he continued his career as an instructor and training developer. John currently works in a Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) branch of
the Army at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and volunteers his time to Search and Rescue, serving on the Board of Directors, and as Chief of PaWSAR’s Eastern Division. John is
a SARTECH I, NASAR Tracker I, Certified Government Tracker (Forensic Spoorology) and Search Manager with certications of MLPI and SARIA.

Marnie Powell has been involved in search and rescue since 2001. She is a K9 handler, Search Manager, Search Technician, allowing her to be involved in all matters of any
search incident. She is currently the Deputy Chief of PaWSAR, which she helped found in 2010 to provide assistance in the community to help find lost people. She is
passionate about learning and advancing her knowledge to help others continue to provide search services. She is currently training Indy, a 4 y/o Labrador retriever
certified in scent specific trailing through IPWDA and NAPWDA; and Gaia, a 6 y/o German Shepherd certified in human remains detection through IPWDA.