Exercise Evaluation Report: Tasman District SAREX 2026

• Author(s): Rachel McKenzie (evaluator)

• Source: NZSAR report (PDF)

• Publisher(s): New Zealand Search and Rescue

• Publication date: 22 May 2026

• Country: New Zealand

Why it matters in operational practice: Its concrete design lessons are useful: build short capability-specific exercises, test HQ–field communications under task load, collect every agency’s risk assessment, and use a consistent debrief aide-memoire.

Operational transferability: Applicable across multi-agency land SAR with local adaptation for governance, culture and available specialist assets.

Important methodological limitations: A single modular exercise; no objective KPIs; evaluator could not observe every activity; some findings used participant conversations.

Training influence: Use a multi-agency scenario with a separate communications inject, partner capability briefing, sign-cutting/clue-management station and structured team debrief.

SAR training sections: Management—resource selection and tasking, briefing, progress monitoring, organisational learning; leadership—coordination, risk management, debriefing; practitioner—tracking and sign awareness, clue awareness, communications, field safety, specialist-environment awareness.