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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Wednesday, June 28, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Grand Canyon NP Update on North Rim Closure Highway 67 and the North Rim remained closed yesterday as a result of the Warm Fire. The fire, which was started by lightning on June 8th, is burning approximately 30 miles north of the North Rim's developed area. The North Kaibab Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest closed to public access Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. and will remain closed until further notice. The closure is due to both the fire and firefighting operations. NPS personnel, along with members of Joe Reinarz's Northern Arizona Type 2 incident management team began escorting visitors out of the North Rim on Monday. Seventy-seven vehicles were escorted out of the park to Fredonia, Arizona, using Forest Road 22, a dirt road west of the fire. Yesterday morning, the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, Arizona Department of Public Safety, and Arizona Department of Transportation began working in unison to evaluate Highway 67 to determine if it is safe and free of hazards. Once this has been determined, the remaining visitors and park employees will be escorted from the park. If it is determined that Highway 67 is not passable, the National Park Service and the IMT will continue to escort visitors out of the park using Forest Road 22. Visitors are currently staged at the Grand Canyon Lodge, the North Rim Campground and North Rim Entrance Station. Park officials hoped to have the remaining 150 vehicles escorted out of the park by noon yesterday. Park employees were to be escorted out sometime early yesterday afternoon. Coconino County Emergency Services and the American Red Cross are working to set up facilities to provide support for park employees and residents who will be escorted from the park. Additional information on the location of those facilities will be provided as soon as it becomes available. The North Rim will remain closed until further notice. The South Rim remains open. All facilities and services on the South Rim are open and accessible. Information on the status of North Rim lodging can be obtained by calling 1-888-297-2757. Information on camping can be obtained by calling Spherix at 1-800-365-2267 and, for backcountry camping, by calling Grand Canyon's Backcountry Information Center at 1-928-638-7875. For additional information on the Warm Fire, please contact the Northern Arizona Type 2 incident management team at one of the following phone numbers: 1-928-643-6804, 1-928-640-6103 or 6104. [Maureen Oltrogge, Public Affairs Officer, Grand Canyon NP] Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial Significant Section of Monument Falls to Ground On the evening of June 22nd, a piece of granite facing stone weighing about 500 pounds from the monument column fell onto the upper plaza of Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. It fell from the southeast side of the observation deck at the 317 foot level and broke into a number of smaller pieces, also shattering the plaza floor. The granite piece measured about three feet by four feet by eight inches. While the event was witnessed or “heard”, no one was injured. The monument was already closed for the day and the scene was secured for public safety and to prevent collectors from removing evidence of the event. It will remain closed until further notice. The monument has since been evaluated by regional staff, architects and engineers. The initial inspection included viewing, photographing and physically inspecting the monument and plaza and researching archived construction and repair project documents. A report is being prepared. The monument may open again this summer, but special events will likely be moved elsewhere on the memorial grounds. The July 29th Cardinal Chorale afternoon concert, the July 1st Firelands' Symphony evening concert, and the July 4th naturalization ceremony have all been moved to other locations. [Andrew J. Ferguson, Superintendent] Delaware Water Gap NRA Heavy Rains Lead to River Closure Heavy rains that fell on northeast Pennsylvania earlier this week caused the Delaware River to rise rapidly from its normal level of about five feet to nearly 17 feet at the main river gauge within the park. Due to the high and fast-moving water and the amount of debris being carried downstream, the section of the river within park boundaries was closed to all use on Tuesday morning. Since heavy rain continues to fall throughout the region, the National Weather Service is currently predicting that the river will rise above flood stage by Wednesday evening. The park, which experienced severe, so-called “hundred year floods” in September 2004 and again in April 2005, has put ICS into effect and is making all necessary preparations for the third flood on the Delaware in as many years. These include moving park employees from two houses near the river in the Pennsylvania District and relocating the trailer that is serving as an interim visitor center at Kittatinny Point in the New Jersey District to higher ground. The trailer was recently brought in as a temporary replacement for the previous visitor center, which was so damaged in the 2005 flood that it can no longer be used. [Bill Halainen, Incident Information Officer] Pictured Rocks NL Falling Fatality On the morning of Thursday, June 22nd, 43-year-old Juanita Richardson of McBain, Michigan, fell from a cliff above Lake Superior about a half mile southwest of Miners Castle. Richardson was picnicking along the cliffs with her husband when the incident occurred. He ran to the visitor information center at Miners Castle to report the incident to park staff. Personnel from the park, the Alger County Sheriff's Department, the Michigan State Police, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources extricated Richardson from a rock ledge near Lake Superior. She was transported by Alger County Ambulance to Munising Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. The investigation is continuing. [Larry Hach, Chief Ranger] Yellowstone NP Mudslides Temporarily Close North Entrance Heavy rain and hail from a powerful thunderstorm which crossed the northern section of the park early Tuesday afternoon caused four small mud slides across the road linking Gardiner, Montana and Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming. The mud slides were located between the southern section of the Gardiner River Canyon and the Montana/Wyoming state line at the 45th parallel. Park staff closed the road at the North Entrance and at the Mammoth Hot Springs campground at 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon. Crews used heavy equipment to clear away the debris and the road reopened to traffic at 5:45 p.m. This was the second incident that inconvenienced park visitors and employees on Tuesday. Shortly after noon, a small wildland fire north of the park in the Gallatin National Forest took out the transmission line that provides electrical service to Gardiner and all of Yellowstone National Park. Back-up generators were brought on line in Yellowstone to provide power. Forest Service and National Park Service firefighters quickly brought the small fire under control, allowing NorthWestern Energy crews to repair the damage and restore power by 1:30 p.m. [Al Nash, Public Affairs Officer] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: Human Capital Organization - The Department and OMB have been urging agencies to ensure that their operations are as effective and efficient as possible. The NPS is accordingly undertaking a preliminary review of the agency's human capital organization. HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4587" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4587 * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |