NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

BLACKBERRY EDITION

Thursday, October 13, 2005

NOTICE

The Morning Report, which has been down for some time now, resumes publication today. It was suspended while the NPS discussed and resolved concerns raised by the Department regarding privacy issues - specifically, the publication of people's names in incident reports. In accord with DOI's direction, incident reports will no longer contain such names. The archive and search features that appeared on the Morning Report masthead have also been removed, as they provided access to several thousand past incident reports. New incident reporting instructions will be disseminated in the near future. In the interim, please follow existing guidance. Any editorial changes needed to meet DOI concerns will be made at this end. [Editor]

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Areas

Update on Hurricane Recovery Operations

Jean Lafitte NHP&P/New Orleans Jazz NHP

The Eastern IMT (Gordon Wissinger, IC) is charged with both assisting the employees of the two parks and with overseeing the overall NPS response to the hurricane.

Director Mainella took an aerial tour of the parks with incident commander Gordon Wissinger and Jean Lafitte superintendent Geraldine Smith. The group landed at Bayou Segnette State Park to assess temporary housing for 15 NPS employees and 47 MMS employees. The director also met with New Orleans Jazz superintendent John Quirk and officials from GSA, FEMA, and Louisiana State Parks. Director Mainella also met with employees affected by the hurricanes at the Jean Lafitte Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center. Associate Director for Visitor and Resource Protection Karen Taylor-Goodrich joined the director to visit Big Thicket and view damage and recovery operations there. Today they will travel to Gulf Islands.

Employee Assistance Branch - Staff met with the director and briefed her on developments. EA submitted 10 sheriff's office names for placement of trailers at Bayou Segnette per FEMA's request. EA provided requested photographs of trailers to Jean Lafitte employee.

Resources and Facilities Branch - Actions by area:

Barataria - Crews continued to prepare for reopening of Barataria Preserve by removing debris and clearing the Old Barataria Trail and Plantation Trail. They began clearing canoe trails with saw crews by airboat. Canoe trails are needed to access scientific research stations.

Chalmette - At the Malus-Beauregard house, ventilation and chipping operations continued. Stabilization of the Carriage House began and work was completed on the non-historic addition to the back of the house. Ventilation continued and the damaged carpet was removed at the Superintendent's Lodge. The branch chief met with the Lousiana State Historic Preservation Officer and identified the need to order cultural resource historic architecture expertise for work at Chalmette.

New Orleans Jazz - The crew chipped and stacked debris at Louis Armstrong Park. Debris that was not chipped is being left for disposal by the city.

Cane River - A four-member saw crew traveled to the park for historic hazard tree trimming work. Work on historic fabric stabilization continued.

Bayou Segnette - Site preparations were completed for campsites 1 through 50. The group continued to work on wave pool debris removal and hazard tree removal at the group camp section of the park.

Law Enforcement Branch - LE provided security for the helicopter landing zone at the state park for the director's visit. They also provided security for Chalmette and Barataria work crews, mapped and photographed dump sites at Barataria, and operated boats for saw crews to travel through Barataria canoe trails

Gulf Islands NS

A second Eastern IMT (Rick Brown, IC) is overseeing recovery operations at Gulf Islands NS.

Hurricane recovery work in the Mississippi District of Gulf Islands National Seashore is nearing completion. Seashore personnel are eagerly moving forward with plans to reopen sections of the park to public access on Monday.

Work crews made major progress in clean-up and recovery work on the islands over the past several days. On West Ship Island, most of the organic debris and muck has been removed from the inside of Fort Massachusetts. Shoreline debris removal is almost complete on both East Ship and West Ship Islands. Work crews are spiking-out for two consecutive nights on a boat at Horn Island, where they continue to perform shoreline clean-up work.

Displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina have started moving into some of the 48 FEMA trailer homes which have been placed in the campground. Electrical and water hookups are now functional on all the campsites.

The temporary visitor contact station will be delivered and installed next week. Stabilization work at the damaged visitor center is almost complete. The building has been cleaned out, dried out and sprayed to control mold growth. The remains of the skiff house pier and boardwalk behind the visitor center were removed by crane and barge.

All employee assistance related to residential clean-up work has been completed, pending any future requests. Assistance provided by incident work crews included debris removal, hazard tree removal, and electrical and water line work.

Rehab work continues on the three park residences which were damaged during the hurricane. Workers have completed insulation and drywall installation, asbestos floor removal and roof repairs. Remaining work includes additional electrical and plumbing repairs, and the installation of new windows.

Debris removal along all park roads, road shoulders and ditches is complete. Crews will continue removing remaining debris from other areas of the park.

A Coast Guard contractor has removed approximately 1.75 tons of hazardous material from park property to date. Additional hazardous materials will be removed from the islands.

A total of 159 personnel are currently assigned to the incident.

Additional Information

A web site has been established as a repository for official documents related to hurricane recovery operations: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1.

[Betsy Haynes, Deputy IO, IMT, JELA/JAZZ; Dorene Ruffing, IO, IMT, GUIS]

Hot Springs NP

Methamphetamine Lab Seizure

On the morning of October 2nd, rangers stopped a vehicle with an expired tag at West Mountain Summit and observed numerous, small zippered bags in the interior of the vehicle. The female driver and the male passenger appeared nervous and evasive during the contact. Subsequent investigation led to the discovery of a fully functional methamphetamine lab within the vehicle's trunk. Local drug task force personnel were called to process the materials. The female was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Over the past two weeks, rangers have issued 13 citations for various drug related offenses, including narcotic possession, marijuana possession, methamphetamine possession, prescription medication without a prescription, and possession of narcotic paraphernalia (syringes). Another traffic stop resulted in the seizure of 4.4 grams of suspect methamphetamine. [Dennis Stock, Chief Ranger]

Great Smoky Mountains NP

Plant Poaching

On September 17th, rangers stopped to check an unoccupied Toyota pickup truck parked in a pullout on Newfound Gap Road. As they did so, they saw an individual approaching them carrying a large white bag. The rangers obtained consent to look in the bag, which contained a large number of plants that had been pulled from the ground with the roots intact. These plants were later identified as downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens). Three more people eventually came out of the woods with bags of freshly dug rattlesnake plantain. The rangers obtained consent to search the pickup truck and found two more bags of the plantain. In all, the four individuals collected approximately 2,400 plants weighing a total of 14 pounds. All four were arrested and charged with possession of plant resources (major). Park resource technicians replanted the plantain and have been monitoring them to document the survival rate. Rattlesnake plantain is a member of the orchid family and is listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Rangers are investigating the incident with assistance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the N.C. Department of Agriculture. Additional charges are being considered. [Walt West, Acting District Ranger]

Washington Monument

Bomb Threat

The Park Police are investigating a bomb threat to the Washington Monument that was called in around 2:30 p.m. last Friday afternoon to Washington Metropolitan Police. Park Police quickly closed the monument and surrounding grounds, which were then thoroughly checked by Park Police and Metro Transit Police search dogs. The area was deemed safe at about 4:15 p.m. and reopened to the public. [Lt. Roxanne Brown-Ankney, USPP]

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Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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