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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Tuesday, February 14, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Grand Teton NP Successful Search for Missing Snowshoer Rangers, Teton Country Search and Rescue volunteers, and search dog teams from Wyoming K-9 and High Country K-9 conducted a search on the evening of Saturday, February 11th, for a 71-year-old man who became lost while snowshoeing in the vicinity of Granite Canyon. The Connecticut man was found at 11:45 p.m. on Saturday night. The incident began when Teton Interagency Dispatch Center received a cell phone call at 6 p.m. Saturday evening from the man's daughter, who reported that her father was overdue from a snowshoe hike in the Granite Canyon area. The temperature at 6 p.m. was already minus 6 degrees below zero and dropping. Rangers immediately began organizing a search for him. They were able to reach him on his cell phone and determined that he'd evidently wandered onto a steep ski trail located 400 feet above the floor of Granite Canyon. This trail is used by backcountry skiers as they exit the canyon to return to the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort at Teton Village. Two rescuers on skis made their way to Trailbridge, reaching him at 11:45 p.m. They accompanied him to the Granite Canyon trailhead, arriving at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. The man had begun his snowshoe hike at 11 a.m. on Saturday. He was carrying little in the way of extra food, water or winter clothing that might have assisted him in spending an unexpected night out in subzero weather. He had informed his daughter of where he was going and when he planned to return, which initially helped to direct the search operation. [Jackie Skaggs, Public Affairs Specialist] JOBS Biscayne NP GS-025-12 Chief Ranger (Re-advertisement) Biscayne National Park is re-advertising the vacancy announcement for its chief ranger. This GS-025-12 position is currently open on USAJOBS, vacancy announcement number SESO 06-47, and closes on February 27th. The park is looking for a strong leader, willing to manage a very challenging visitor and resource protection program and ready to step beyond the protection function to contribute to overall park management and decision making. The park is continually challenged to find successful solutions to issues involving boating operations, seagrass and coral reef protection, recreational and commercial fishing, scuba diving and snorkeling, and competing visitor use desires. The park is developing a fisheries management plan, a general management plan, cooperative use plans for the Stiltsville area, and many other challenging projects that the chief ranger will be closely involved with. The chief ranger will work with many special interest and user groups, often under difficult circumstances. He or she, like other members of the park's management team, is a primary park representative at community events and public meetings, often involving politically sensitive and controversial issues. The park consists of 173,000 acres and is approximately 25 miles long by 14 miles wide. Much of the park consists of Biscayne Bay and the Florida reef track, so knowledge of boating operations is a plus. The park provides diverse habitat for more than 17 threatened and endangered species and contains evidence from 42 known shipwrecks. The park includes 4,000 fragile coral patch reefs, which are part of the third longest coral reef system in the world. If you would like more information about this challenging position in an incredibly beautiful park, please call superintendent Mark Lewis at 305-230-1144, ext 3002.
PARKS AND PEOPLE Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs Ranger Bob Wilson Retires Bob Wilson will retire on March 3rd following nearly 33 years of government service, 29 of those with the NPS. Bob began his NPS career at Crater Lake National Park as a seasonal park technician (remember the 026 series?) in June, 1976. He worked three seasons at Crater Lake, mostly as a backcountry ranger. Bob participated in the first prescribed fires and fire use fires at that park.
Bob also worked seasonally at Everglades National Park, starting in 1978, and became a permanent employee there as the resource management and fire cache manager. While at the Glades, he also held additional positions in fire and vegetation management and as the Royal Palm subdistrict ranger. Bob was a key member of the park's wildland fire program and managed numerous prescription and suppression fires as incident commander (fire boss in those days). Bob transferred to Yosemite National Park in 1984 as a park ranger in the Valley District involved primarily with law enforcement, search and rescue, and emergency medical services. While at Yosemite, he served as the Valley District's case management officer (before the days of 1811's), Mariposa County deputy coroner, and park dive officer. In 1988, Bob transferred to the newly created Great Basin National Park as its first protection branch chief. He established programs in law enforcement, search and rescue, emergency medical services, and wildland fire and structural fire. In 1991, Bob transferred to Delaware Water Gap NRA as a criminal investigator and the park's law enforcement specialist. While there, he also had details as the acting New Jersey district ranger and acting Pennsylvania district ranger. In 1997, Bob transferred to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks as the law enforcement specialist. He also served as acting chief ranger on a detail during the year 2000. Bob has the full complement of ranger skills, including wildland and structural fire, technical rock rescue, boat operator, expert nordic and alpine skier, and search and rescue skill is all environments, including winter and swiftwater. He's an accomplished park medic and has saved numerous lives. He has received many NPS awards and commendations, including eight special achievement awards, a STAR award and numerous on-the-spot awards. Other awards and commendations of note include distinguished FLETC graduate, Department of Interior meritorious achievement commendation, exemplary act (team) award, and DOI award of merit, and, most recently an Office of National Drug Control Policy, distinguished service (team) award. Before joining the National Park Service, Bob served his country in the U.S. Navy during Viet Nam conflict, from 1969 to 1973, with the underwater demolition and SEAL teams as a Navy SEAL operator, and for a short period of time as a Seabee construction diver. Bob is a 1976 graduate of the University of California at Davis, with a bachelor of science degree in environmental planning and management. When not studying in the library, Bob played on the nationally ranked UC Davis rugby club. Bob and his wife Sharon met in San Diego in 1972, and they were married in 1974 in La Mesa, California. Sharon is a 1978 graduate of UC Davis, and she worked as a seasonal interpretive ranger at Everglades, Shenandoah, and Delaware Water Gap. Their four sons - Gavin, Brendan, Trent and Skyler - were all born at home. Gavin, Brendan and Trent have all worked seasonally for the National Park Service at Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Bob's short term plans are to visit his dad in Ohio this spring and hike the entire length of the John Muir trail this summer. Bob and Sharon then plan move to central Oregon. A retirement dinner will be held on March 4th starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Orange Blossom Junction restaurant, located on Highway 198 between Visalia and Lemon Cove. Anyone planning to attend or wishing to share stories should contact Diane Purvis (559-565-3111), Bud Walsh (559-565-3763) or David Fireman (559-565-3711) for further details. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |