DNR pilot honored for daring night rescue of injured BWCAW paddlers

Last May, an off-duty state helicopter pilot jumped into action to help rescue two injured paddlers in a daring night rescue in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near the Canadian border.

For her lifesaving actions, Grace Zeller of Brainerd has received a top award from the Department of Natural Resource's law enforcement division, the agency announced Monday. Several of her colleagues also were recognized for their heroics in the field.

Zeller, a DNR pilot, responded to the call for support from the St. Louis County Rescue Squad the evening of May 18 after four paddlers fishing in two canoes tumbled over a dangerous stretch of water called Curtain Falls, north of Ely. Two paddlers were missing, with a second pair of men injured on a small island on Iron Lake about a half-mile west of the falls. Good Samaritans came to their aid and put out a distress call.

It would be almost five hours before Zeller arrived along with medics. With aid from a State Patrol pilot canvassing the scene and a medic at Zeller's side using night-vision googles, she managed to land the craft and retrieve Kyle Sellers of Ham Lake, who'd broken a leg in the accident. Later, she returned to extract Erik Grams, also of Ham Lake, who suffered from multiple pelvic fractures. Grams' brother, Reis, and friend Jesse Haugen were missing. The St. Louis County Rescue Squad found Haugen's body on May 31; Reis Grams' on June 3.

Zeller told the Star Tribune in a story July 21 that teamwork and calm were key.

"Most important in tight LZs [landing zones] like that is not to make any quick movements," she said. "To stay relaxed."

DNR Enforcement Division Director Rodmen Smith said in a news release that "without a doubt, her actions, teamwork, triage and exceptional piloting ability saved two lives that night."

Erik Grams, Sellers and members of their families attended the award ceremony. "It already was bad enough but things could have spiraled from there," said Grams in a DNR video of the ceremony. "We're very fortunate for the rescue effort from everyone involved, and especially Grace."

Others awarded for their lifesaving measures, according to the enforcement division:

– In March in Koochiching County, conservation officers (CO) Michael Cross and Curtis Simonson responded to a vehicle accident, where with a volunteer responder they managed to extract an injured victim who had stopped breathing. Both officers performed CPR and other life-saving measures before an ambulance arrived. While the victim died the following day in Duluth, the officers' actions "allowed the family ... to see their loved one before he succumbed," Smith said.

– In June on Blackduck Lake in northern Minnesota, CO Brice Vollbrecht and trainee Matt Boyer were credited with saving four people clinging to their capsized boat in 60-degree water. Vollbrecht and Boyer responded to an emergency call about people yelling for help from the lake. They located the four and pulled them aboard their boat.

– In May in Rice County, CO Tyler Lusignan responded to a call about several paddlers trapped in rushing water on the Cannon River near Fairbault after their canoes and kayaks capsized. Lusignan was the first on-scene with a watercraft. He and a Rice County sheriff's deputy rescued two adults and two children clinging to a tree in the river. Learning there were others unaccounted for, Lusignan searched upriver and rescued another adult and child who'd managed to get to shore.