NPS Morning Report - Tuesday, July 24, 2001
- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Tuesday, July 24, 2001
- Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 10:37:49 -0400
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Tuesday, July 24, 2001
INCIDENTS
01-348 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Follow-up: Flash Flooding
On July 8th, severe rains caused flash flooding throughout southern
West Virginia. Due to the impacts on the park, the Eastern IMT headed
by Bob Panko (Everglades NP) has been assigned to assist with recovery
operations. Here's today's update on developments:
o The Federal Highway Administration has approved funding for
flood-caused road repairs and the contracting process is
underway for emergency work on the Cunard Road. Estimates are
that it will take seven to ten days to make the road passable.
This is very good news for rafting outfitters, as well as for
private boaters. A local construction company has begun
contract work on the Wolf Creek bridge at Fayette Station. The
bridge provides access to the park's most popular commercial
rafting take out area. The de-watering process which exposed
the abutments revealed an extremely large area of undermining
on the south end. If not for one boulder staying in place,
that end of the bridge would have fallen. The contractor
expects to be finished shoring up the foundation by late
Friday, barring any unforeseen delays.
o The New River roads crew has completed cleanup work on park
facilities at Glade Creek and Grandview Sandbar. They will
work on the McCreery launch site today. The Shenandoah trail
crew is still working on the Kaymoor trail; the New River
trail crew is making repairs to the Southside Junction trail.
Handwork on the Thurmond-Minden trail has been completed, but
mechanized equipment will be required to finish the job.
o The cultural component of the resource assessment team (RAT)
finished fieldwork yesterday and will begin compiling a
report. Two new team members arrived - a geomorphologist to
look at alluvial fans and an ecologist to deal with landscape
restoration. The infrastructure group is compiling
documentation of roads and trails repair activities. The RAT's
compliance section anticipates most mitigation work to fall
under categorical exclusions, but some river channel projects
may require environmental assessments.
o Planning has begun to transition the incident back to the
park. Total incident costs to date: $130,200.
For more information on IMT operations and pictures of the area, see
the park's web site at http://www.nps.gov/neri/flood2001.htm. [Kent
Cave, IO, New River Gorge Flood Incident, 7/23]
01-385 - Lake Roosevelt NRA (WA) - Thefts; Arrest
The silent alarm at the Kettle Falls district office went off around 1
a.m. on July 19th. Rangers Beth Lariviere and George Rabtzow responded
and confirmed that a B&E had occurred, and that efforts had also been
made to break into the Kettle Falls contact station. Lariviere,
suspecting that an effort would also be made to take fee canisters
from down lake campgrounds, alerted the campground hosts at Hunters,
40 miles south. The hosts noticed a vehicle leaving the campground at
the time of the call and gave Lariviere a description of the vehicle.
They also checked the fee canister and found that it was gone. Upon
hearing this, Lariviere called ranger Chris Rugel, suspecting that the
thieves might be headed toward the Fort Spokane campground, 20 miles
south of Hunters. Rugel dispatched rangers Pieter Sween and Adam
Kelsey, who checked the canister there and found it had been
vandalized. Sween and Kelsey then headed toward the Porcupine Bay
campground, 17 miles south of Fort Spokane, arriving just before 4
a.m. They parked about a quarter mile from the campground and walked
in. As they entered the campground, they heard a tapping sound coming
from the area where the fee canister is located. They got to within 20
feet of the person at the canister when he realized that the rangers
were approaching and bolted up the hill behind the campground. A chase
ensued, with local officers assisting. Around 10 a.m., S.W.,
35, of Spokane was arrested. Rugel took him to a local
hospital after S.W. showed signs of a seizure. S.W. was
released by doctors, but then complained of a head injury so was
reexamined and again released. S.W. will be arraigned today. He
has numerous past convictions for theft, and has served time in jail.
Two other people may have been involved with these thefts, but no one
else has been apprehended. S.W.'s car has been impounded. The park
has been experiencing break-ins into offices and thefts of fee
canisters for a year. [Lynne Brougher, LARO, 7/20]
01-386 - C&O Canal NHP (DC/MD) - Fugitive Arrests
On the evening of June 30th, ranger Bob Conway contacted two adults
and a juvenile at the Little Pool backcountry campsite. A check of the
two adults revealed both had felony warrants out against them - T.D.,
41, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was wanted in Maryland for
armed robbery and C.M., 38, also from West Virginia, was
wanted for failure to appear on charges of distributing cocaine.
Conway decided to clear from the contact and wait for backup. Six
rangers from C&O Canal, Antietam and a local state park entered the
campsite early the next morning while all were sleeping and made the
arrests without incident. The fugitives were turned over to state
officials for processing. [Dwight Dixon, DR, CHOH, 7/5]
01-387 - National Capital Parks (DC) - Homicide Suspect Arrested
While patrolling Sherman Circle Park on June 20th, officers Eric Tam
and Tehron McCall stopped a vehicle for numerous traffic law
violations. The operator, D.W., was placed under arrest
for driving without a license. A subsequent computer check revealed
that D.W. was wanted by city police for first degree murder while
armed in connection with a double homicide in the district in August,
1999. D.W. was also wanted on a misdemeanor bench warrant for
failure to appear for an arraignment hearing for possession of heroin.
[Sgt. R. MacLean, USPP, NCR, 7/9]
01-388 - Canyonlands NP (UT) - Search
On the afternoon of Sunday, July 22nd, Grand County SAR requested NPS
assistance in a search for two swimmers who were last seen in distress
near Cow Canyon, located in the Dewey Bridge area outside the park.
Rangers Steve Young and Steve Swanke, assisted by an interagency crew,
responded in one of the park's specialized rescue boats and recovered
the bodies of the mother and son at separate locations within two
miles of the point last seen. The search effort was managed under ICS.
[Steve Swanke, CANY, 7/23]
01-389 - Lake Mead NRA (NV/AZ) - MVA with Fatality
K.R., 33, died of injuries sustained in a motorcycle
accident on Lake Mead Drive late on the evening of July 9th. He was
found down an embankment at mile 8 and flown to the UMC Trauma Center,
where he later passed away. [Dispatch, LAME, 7/10]
[Additional reports pending....]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level 2
Two new large fires were reported yesterday - one each in California
and Utah. Six large fires were contained - three in Utah, two in
Washington, and one in California. Initial attack was moderate in the
Northwest, Southwest, and California and light elsewhere. Very high to
extreme fire indices were reported in Arizona, California, Colorado,
Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
The full NICC situation report can be found at
http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf.
National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)
Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue
Date 7/20 7/21 7/22 7/23 7/24
Crews 153 67 86 86 76
Engines 216 151 89 142 82
Helicopters 56 53 51 51 46
Air Tankers 3 0 0 0 0
Overhead 1,110 476 679 496 498
Park Fire Situation
The report is again unavailable today due to problems with Internet
access.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/24]
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Golden Gate NRA (CA) - The park is currently recruiting for a
GS-0401-12/13 supervisory natural resource management specialist,
GS-0401-12/13. The vacancy announcement opened on July 19th and will
close on August 9th. The announcement number is GOGA-01-38(MPP). It
can be found on USAJobs at www.usajobs.opm.gov/wfjic/jobs/IV6380.
[Shanti Quintero, GOGA]
UPCOMING IN CONGRESS
The following activities will be taking place in Congress during
coming weeks on matters pertaining to the National Park Service or
kindred agencies.
For inquiries regarding legislation pertaining to the NPS, please
contact the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs at
202-208-5883/5656 and ask to be forwarded to the appropriate
legislative specialist. For additional information on specific bills
(full text, status, etc.), please check Congress's web site at
http://thomas.loc.gov/.
HEARINGS/MARK-UPS
Tuesday, July 24th - 10 a.m., 1334 Longworth
House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public
Lands (Hefley): Hearing on:
o H.R. 1814 (Olver, MA), a bill to amend the National Trails
System Act to designate the Metacomet-Monadnock-
Sunapee-Mattabesett Trail extending through western New
Hampshire, western Massachusetts, and central Connecticut for
study for potential addition to the National Trails System.
o H.R. 1456 (Goode, VA), a bill to expand the boundary of the
Booker T. Washington National Monument, and for other
purposes.
Thursday, July 26th - 2:30 p.m., 366 Dirksen
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (Bingaman): Hearing on:
o S. 817 (Domenici, NM), a bill to amend the National Trails
System Act to designate the Old Spanish Trail as a National
Historic Trail.
o S. 423 (Wyden, OR), a bill to amend the Act entitled "An Act
to provide for the establishment of Fort Clatsop National
Memorial in the State of Oregon, and for other purposes".
o H.R. 640, a bill to adjust boundaries at Santa Monica
Mountains NRA.
o S. 941 (Feinstein, CA), a bill to revise the boundaries of
Golden Gate NRA in California, to extend the term of the
advisory commission, and for other purposes.
o S. 1057 (Akaka, HI), a bill to authorize the addition of lands
to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park in the State
of Hawaii, and for other purposes.
o S. 1105 (Thomas, WY), a bill to provide for the expeditious
completion of the acquisition of State of Wyoming lands within
the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park, and for other
purposes.
LEGISLATION INTRODUCED
The following bills either directly or indirectly pertaining to the
NPS have been introduced since the last Morning Report listing of new
legislation (July 17th):
o S. 1180 (Edwards, NC), a bill to direct the Secretary of the
Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of
designating the International Civil Rights Center and Museum
in the state of North Carolina as a unit of the National Park
System, and for other purposes.
NEW LAWS
The following bills have passed Congress and been signed into law by
the President:
No new laws.
* * * * *
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