The Lewis and Clark Search and Rescue team will meet Thursday to plan their strategy in the efforts to recover Jeff Rayman, a 44-year-old Helena man who has been missing since his raft capsized on the Dearborn River on May 25.

According to Lewis and Clark County Undersheriff Leo Dutton, the team will evaluate river conditions to assess the appropriate action plan. The search may continue this weekend.

Members also will decide which resources are most appropriate, whether it be hovercraft, all-terrain vehicles, cadaver dogs, divers or boats, he said.

Dutton said the team may have to float the river instead of using the hovercraft because there will be more people on the water.

The team is still hindered by murky water, he said, but water levels are dropping. The Dearborn River has subsided from more than 5,000 cubic feet per second at the time Rayman went missing to about 700 cfs on Tuesday afternoon — still well above the 250 cfs average.

The night of the accident, 56-year-old Lanny O’Leary of Helena was rescued by hovercraft and treated for hypothermia.

The next morning, searchers recovered the body of the third rafter, Melody Alvestad, 48, of Tacoma, Wash., about 12 miles upstream from the confluence of the Dearborn and Missouri rivers.

Alvestad was the only member of the party wearing a life jacket. Rayman was wearing fishing waders.

Reporter Angela Brandt: 447-4078 or angela.brandt@helenair.com