NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

BLACKBERRY EDITION

Monday, October 24, 2005

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INCIDENTS

South Florida Areas

Waiting for Wilma

The Service's National Incident Management Team (JD Swed, IC) has been pre-positioned in Orlando, Florida, for immediate response, if needed. Thirteen overhead team members are planning and preparing to assist parks with employee accounting and assistance, emergency damage mitigation and park recovery. Establishment of the ICP in Orlando in advance of the storm's arrival enables the team to respond at the first safe opportunity to the storm-related needs of NPS employees and park units. The general trend in lessons learned in responses to Isabel, Katrina and Rita, is that pre-positioning a team in advance of a hurricane results in more successful and rapid recovery of parks and employees from the effects of these weather events.

Big Cypress NP

Big Cypress NP remains closed to visitors in both front and backcountry areas. Critical motorized equipment has been moved to higher ground and emergency response equipment has been staged in two high ground areas strategically located for SAR and recovery operations. Rangers have been working around the clock to provide security for facilities and enforce closures, and will remain on duty except for the period when winds are above 39 mph. Projections are for eye landfall about 25 miles north of US 41, where the park's headquarters complex is located. Average winds of at least 95 mph are expected, with gusts to 120 mph. The park is working closely with Collier County through it's emergency operations center to organize a mutual aid response to in-holders within the park and county residents in the nearby communities of Everglades City and Chokoloskee. The park will be providing swamp buggies, airboats and jon boats with operators to assist in evacuations as needed. The park is also cooperating with Everglades in the utilization of resources and manpower in those areas with a common boundary. Some rangers from Everglades will be staying in Big Cypress housing outside the evacuation zone and in motel rooms that have been reserved by Big Cypress. Rangers and a maintenance employee from the Gulf Coast District of Everglades will work with the Big Cypress team to provide more staffing depth, and Big Cypress has included Everglades' facilities in Everglades City in recovery evaluation, planning and security.

Everglades NP/Dry Tortugas NP

Everglades National Park was completely closed as of Sunday morning at 8 a.m. The park's Gulf Coast Visitor Center and Flamingo services had already closed. Dry Tortugas NP closed to visitors last Wednesday.

Biscayne NP

The park remains closed.

Canaveral NS

Due to the possible effects of Hurricane Wilma, the park was closed at 6 p.m. on Sunday and will remain closed until at least 6 a.m. tomorrow. The current expected arrival of the storm is sometime early Monday morning, with potential waves of 10 to 15 feet, winds of 40 to 70 mph and possible power outages.

DeSoto NM

The park began its final shutdown procedures yesterday afternoon and closed as of 6 p.m. Employees have been notified to stay home on Monday. The management team will make an after-storm assessment once the hurricane has safely passed by.

[Ken Garvin, FMO, SERO; Shauna Dyas, IO, National IMT; Rick Cook, PAO, EVER; Ed Clark, Chief Ranger, BICY; John Stiner, CANA; Charlie Fenwick, Acting Superintendent, DESO]

Buffalo NR

Machete-Wielding Horseman Arrested Following Threat to Ranger

On the afternoon of October 15th, a ranger was assisting two elderly women with a flat tire just outside the park boundary when a man rode by on a galloping horse. Although this was out of the ordinary, the ranger continued to change the flat tire. As he was clearing the scene, the horseback rider rode up to the ranger at a full gallop before coming to an abrupt stop, brandishing a machete over his head while shouting profanities. With the horseman only feet away, the ranger ordered him to drop his weapon and dismount while calling on his handheld radio for back-up. After several orders, the horseman dropped the machete and dismounted, continuing to shout profanities and yelling "go ahead, shoot me." The subject, who appeared extremely intoxicated, refused to comply with the ranger's orders, at which time pepper spray was used to gain compliance. A county deputy and a state trooper arrived soon after and assisted the ranger in arresting the man. Subsequent interviews indicate that he had been fighting with neighbors at the time. He is currently being held at the Searcy County holding facility on multiple state charges. The U.S. Attorney's Office was immediately notified and is considering filing federal charges against him. This is the second assault on a Buffalo National River ranger in which pepper spray had to be used in the last three months. [Bob Maguire, Chief Ranger]

Acadia NP

Fatal Fall from Oceanside Cliff

On October 2nd, a 39-year-old man from Toms River, New Jersey, fell off a 50-foot-high ocean cliff near Thunder Hole and was critically injured when he landed on rocks near water's edge. His girlfriend reported that he'd jumped to a lower rock for a better view while they were walking along the cliff top. He lost his balance on the lower rock, grabbed hold of some small juniper bushes, but could not stop his fall to the rocks below. Rangers arrived on scene within 15 minutes and determined that the man was alive, but had sustained a serious head injury. They put him on a rescue litter and carried him into the ocean to a waiting US Coast Guard patrol boat that took him, a ranger/paramedic and a ranger/EMT Bar Harbor. The man was transferred by ambulance to MDI Hospital in Bar Harbor, where he was pronounced dead about 25 minutes later. (Kevin Cochary, Branch Chief, MDI Operations)

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Directors Office

Yount Award Nominations Sought

On October 18th, Director Mainella transmitted a memorandum to all regional directors entitled “Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award.” It solicits nominations and sets January 25th as the deadline for responses. Negative replies are requested. The text of the memorandum follows. For a Word copy of the text and/or copies of the nomination forms, please click on “More Information” below.

Nominations for the 12th Servicewide Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award for excellence in the art and science of "rangering," which is presented annually to one of the Regional Harry Yount Award honorees, are due not later than January 25, 2006.

The Harry Yount Award is a peer recognition that is given to that individual whose overall impact, record of accomplishments, and excellence in traditional ranger duties has created an appreciation for the park ranger profession on the part of the public and other members of the profession.

This award is made possible by the National Park Foundation. With it the National Park Service not only recognizes and honors outstanding national park rangers but seeks to:

Encourage high standards of performance

Foster an especially responsive attitude towards public service

Enhance the public's appreciation of the Park Ranger profession

Build esprit de corps and further the spirit of the art and science of "rangering"

As former Director George B. Hartzog, Jr., said in Battling For The National Parks, "... rangers are the cornerstone of every park organization ... Every superintendent has used the phrase. 'Have the rangers do it,' thousands of times. A park would not be a park without a ranger."

This award honors rangers who have formed the "cornerstone of every park organization." Skilled in traditional, generalist ranger duties, their records show both tangible and in-tangible benefits to the park ranger profession. Their total impact exceeds normal expectations, and they reflect initiative, professionalism, imagination, perseverance, competence, creativity, resourcefulness, dedication, and integrity.

Harry Yount Award honorees demonstrate:

Outstanding leadership

Exemplary contributions

Notably high standards of performance

Excellence in traditional ranger duties and skills

Dedication to the Park Ranger profession

A record of overall excellence of service

Previous recipients of the Harry Yount Award have embodied the intent of the Award, which is to honor rangers who have consistently gone out every day and done the traditional, generalist ranger duties of protecting the resources and serving the visitor; and, who have done it well in the eyes of their peers over time.

Recipients of the Harry Yount Award form the heart of the Ranger Corps, reflecting its high standards and commitment to the Service's mission. They are knowledgeable of and sensitive to the natural, cultural, and recreational resources that make up the National Park System, placing them foremost in their priorities. Their leadership in being able and willing to do the tough jobs well--with style, grace, appreciation, and humor--serves as a role model for all rangers. Through them the highest and best traditions and values of the Service are carried on as they accept opportunities for, and meet challenges to, excellence.

In 1994 the Servicewide Harry Yount Award was initiated at a White House ceremony. The Harry Yount Award is an integral part of the Service's employee recognition program and represents the hallmark of recognition for "rangering." It has my strongest support.

Each region is to have a Harry Yount Award program. The recipients of the Regions' Harry Yount Awards will be the nominees for the Servicewide award.

Nominations for the Servicewide Harry Yount Award are to be sent to Dennis Burnett, National Park Service, Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, 1201 I Street, NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20005. The nominations are due no later than January 25, 2006. Questions should be directed to Dennis Burnett at 202-513-7128 or by e:mail.

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=2&prg=45&id=3046" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=2&prg=45&id=3046

JOBS

Lake Roosevelt NRA

GS-025-12/13 Supervisory Park Ranger

The park is advertising for a GS-025-12/13 supervisory park ranger to serve as the park's chief ranger. Primary responsibilities of the position are leadership and management of programs in law enforcement, visitor and resource protection, water-based search and rescue, fee collection, and special park uses, with a particular emphasis on the building and sustaining of cooperative relationships with federal, state, and tribal partners. The chief ranger also serves as a member of the management team, providing overall direction for management and administration of the park. The announcement is PWRSEA-2005-67; it opens today and closes on November 21st. For a full copy of the announcement, go to USA Jobs and enter the above announcement number in the search field.

The Upper Columbia River is rich in cultural and natural significance. For more than 9,000 years, people have gathered along the banks of the river to fish and trade with each other. In 1941, Lake Roosevelt was created by the damming of the Columbia River by the Grand Coulee Dam. The lake is approximately 154 miles long along the main stem of the Columbia River and extends from the dam site at Coulee Dam, Washington, to near the Canadian border. The landscape of Lake Roosevelt is dominated by the immense valley and gorge created by the Columbia River; characterized by the granites of the Okanogan on the northwest side, the basalts of the Columbia at the south end, and the metamorphic rocks and former ocean-bottom deposits of the Kootenay Arc on the northeast side. It is also easy to see the change caused by the immense floods that occurred during the last ice age, when floodwaters greater than anything else seen on the face of the earth washed across eastern Washington. Vegetation varies from the dry shrub steppes of the lower canyon to the more temperate forests of the northern part of the river.

Recreational opportunities in Eastern Washington abound. The cost of living is moderate; the three communities of Coulee Dam, Grand Coulee, and Electric City offer a full range of living options. The city of Spokane is located approximately two hours away. [Debbie Bird, Superintendent]

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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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