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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Friday, June 2, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Olympic NP Injured Woman Rescued Following Three-Day Ordeal On May 15th, an off-duty park employee was hiking the wilderness coast when he was alerted by other visitors to the presence of a seriously injured 19-year-old woman lying behind a beach log in a fetal position. The woman was suffering from dehydration, a broken leg, chest injuries, facial injuries and numerous abrasions and bruising. She informed the employee that she had fallen about 25 to 30 feet down a cliff three days earlier as she was attempting to climb up high for a view of the area. Despite very spotty cell phone coverage in the area, the employee was able to contact park dispatch. Due to the remoteness of the location and the difficulty in getting resources to that area in a timely manner, the US Coast Guard was contacted for assistance. A Coast Guard helicopter located the victim and evacuated her to Port Angeles, where she was evaluated at a local hospital and subsequently airlifted to the regional trauma center in Seattle. Since the woman was day-hiking away from her base camp with limited supplies when the accident occurred, she lay injured for nearly three days without food or water. [Barb Maynes, Public Affairs Specialist] Badlands NPS Assist with Armed and Barricaded Subject The Pennington County Sheriff's Office contacted the park around 9:30 p.m. on the evening of Tuesday, May 30th, and asked for rangers' assistance in dealing with an armed and barricaded subject in the town of Wall, just outside of the park's boundary. The person in question was being investigated by state and county authorities after threatening several people at gunpoint in Rapid City, South Dakota. The man, who is well known to rangers because of his association with an air tour management company which operates near the park's northeast entrance station, was reported to be armed and dangerous. Rangers joined state and county officers at his residence. Initial effort to apprehend him without incident failed, so a perimeter was established around the site. State and local officers and a tactical team responded and the man was arrested without incident in the early morning hours of the following day. [Mark Gorman, Chief Ranger] Mesa Verde NP First Lady Laura Bush visited Mesa Verde National Park from May 23rd to May 26th to help the park celebrate its centennial and to vacation in the park with her close friends. The official event took place in Long House, the park's second largest cliff dwelling. Approximately 200 invitees attended. The event celebrated Mesa Verde's livelihood, its placement as the first cultural national park in the nation, and its place in education and protecting and interpreting Native American culture and heritage. The First Lady and her companions enjoyed the park by visiting several pristine cliff dwellings and hiking in the backcountry. Tours of the park's research center and library were also organized for the First Lady and her friends. The National Park Service was tasked with assisting the Secret Service and the White House Communications Agency during the visit. An in-park incident management team was established to run the event. Approximately 45 people were assigned to the event, including 15 law enforcement rangers and eight members of Intermountain Region's special events team. In reality, though, every employee in the park had a hand in making the First Lady's visit a complete success. [Jessie Farias Jr., Chief Ranger] Springfield Armory NHS Special Event: Armed Forces Day On May 20th, the park hosted its annual celebration of Armed Forces Day. Park staff, VIP's, community leaders, reenactment groups, and modern military units commemorated the contributions of Americans in military service throughout the history of the United States. A parallel theme was the contribution of the US Army's Springfield Armory to the nation's defense from 1794 to 1968 through its production of military firearms. The most well known of those designed, developed and produced at the armory was the M-1 rifle. Reenactment groups portrayed the dress, camp scenes, and equipment used by troops through eight major conflicts, from the Revolution through the Vietnam War. Members of the US Army, Massachusetts Army National Guard, and US Air Force Reserve brought modern vehicles and equipment and answered visitor questions about modern military operations. The 77th New York Balladeers serenaded visitors with the music popular during the Civil War, and the Warehouse Point Fife and Drum Corps played tunes representing the time period of the Revolution through the Civil War. [Phil Selleck, Acting Superintendent] * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |