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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Thursday, August 3, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Coronado NM Cleanup Begins Following Severe Flooding The park has begun efforts to recover from the effects of the flooding caused by the nearly eight inches of rain that fell on the area on Sunday and Monday. An initial damage assessment has shown that about a third of the main park road was damaged, that almost all of the picnic area was lost, and that the well house, water system and wastewater system were completely destroyed. Park staff, supported by Army National Guard soldiers, are removing debris from the road and continuing damage assessments. The park remains closed and is operating under ICS. [Gary Haynes, Chief Ranger] Caribbean and Florida Parks Preparations Underway For Tropical Storm Chris Parks in the Caribbean and in Florida are preparing for Tropical Storm Chris, which may soon become a hurricane: Virgin Islands NP - All vacant buildings and vacant park residences have been shuttered, but the park is continuing normal operations because the storm is well to the northeast of the park and moving away. San Juan NHS - The park is operating normally. Park staff began securing all loose items on Tuesday and sandbags were placed at Fort San Cristobal to keep potential storm waters from entering the tunnels to the fort. The storm is expected to pass within 100 miles of the northeast side of the island. The park closed at its regular time yesterday. Big Cypress NP - Since the storm is continuing on course toward south Florida and is expected to reach Dry Tortugas by 2 a.m. on Monday, it appears that the park will be within the wind/rain effect zone by late Saturday - and that it may be a hurricane by that time. The park currently plans on shutting down by close of business on Friday in order to protect park resources and the visiting public and to provide employees with sufficient time to prepare for Chris' arrival. Maintenance and fire staff will begin shuttering various buildings and securing grounds and equipment beginning this morning. Hotel reservations are being made for park staff in case a general evacuation is ordered. IT staff will back up the park's server tonight and pack it for evacuation on Friday. Normal park operations will continue until Friday afternoon. All routine flights will cease by lunchtime. An assessment will be made of building shutdowns at noon on Friday and announcement made of the time that the rest of the park's staff will report to their hurricane assignments, close up offices, etc. The visitor center will remain open until close of business on Friday, but the building and offices will be shut down throughout the day and minimal services made available to visitors during that process. [Jeff Brice, NPS Assistant Coordinator, SEAC; Benvenito Olivencia, Chief Ranger; Paul Thomas, Deputy IC, VIIS; Ed Clark, IC, BICY] Grand Canyon NP Rangers Conduct Three Short-Haul Helicopter Rescues The park conducted three short-haul rescues during the second half of July: Thursday, July 13th - Rangers on the Bright Angel trail received a report of an unconscious 14-year-old day hiker approximately one mile down the trail. Upon arrival, they confirmed that the girl was unconscious and requested a helicopter to extricate her to the rim. A medic was short-hauled by the park helicopter to the scene from the South Rim. The girl was stabilized and evacuated by short-haul back to the helibase, then transferred to an air ambulance and transported to Flagstaff Medical Center. Tuesday, July 25th - Dispatch received report of an overdue backpacker on the Shoshone Point route. Portions of the route consist of a fourth class climb through the Coconino formation with significant exposure. A search with the park helicopter was begun and the man was found about 10 minutes later. He was conscious but appeared to have fallen approximately 50 feet and had sustained lower leg injuries. A short-haul operation was launched, using Yaki Point as the staging area. A medic was flow in and lowered to the scene. He stabilized the man and the two of them were extracted via short-haul back to Yaki Point. The patient was transferred to a park ambulance, driven to the South Rim helibase, transferred to an air ambulance and transported to Flagstaff Medical Center. Saturday July 29th - Dispatch received a report of an unconscious 55-year-old woman about a mile and three-quarters down the North Kaibab trail. According to the report, she'd fallen off a mule on a concession ride to Roaring Springs. Rescuers headed down the trail from the North Rim and by park helicopter from the South Rim. When they reached the woman, she'd regained consciousness, but was suffering from pelvic, arm and head injuries. A helicopter cargo let-down operation was conducted to lower equipment to the scene. The woman was stabilized and extracted by helicopter short-haul from Supai Tunnel to the North Rim helibase, then transferred to an air ambulance and transported to Flagstaff Medical Center. [Bil Vandergraff, Backcountry Ranger] Glacier NP Injured Hiker Rescued From Atsina Lake Area An injured hiker was rescued from the Atsina Lake area in the Belly River drainage on Tuesday, August 1st. While hiking with his companions, the man apparently fell from 30 to 40 feet, sustaining an array of injuries. The incident was reported to park staff via satellite phone by a Glacier Wilderness Guides group leader, who came upon the accident just after 1 p.m. A helicopter assigned to the Red Eagle Fire flew park staff to the accident area. The hiker was flown out in an ALERT helicopter and taken to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center. [Matt Graves] Buffalo NR Drug And Cash Seizures On the afternoon of July 25th, a ranger was conducting a patrol of the lower end of Grinder's Ferry Access when he encountered a pickup truck stuck near the river's edge. Fresh cut vegetation had been placed under the vehicle in an attempt to free the vehicle. The ranger contacted the driver, Martin Matzenaur of Little Rock, Arkansas. After contacting him regarding both his stuck vehicle and the resource violations, the ranger noticed a large zip-lock bag of Sudafed pills lying on the front dash and a stash of rocks and other natural resources in the bed of the pickup. A consent search of the vehicle revealed that Matzenaur and his female companion were in possession of over one hundred ephedrine pills, over 10 grams of methamphetamine, and about $17,000 in cash. Both had extensive drug histories. They were arrested and the case was turned over to the sheriff's department and drug task force. Matzenaur was held on a no bond warrant for parole violations and returned to the custody of the department of corrections. His companion is currently being held on drug possession and distribution charges. The street value of the methamphetamine is believed to be from $2,000 to $3,000. [Robert Still, Middle District Ranger] 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: WASO - Memorandum from Steve Martin on providing staff support for 2006 wildfire season. Media - News article on how the Flick Creek Fire in NOCA was started by a woman who was burning pages from her journal in a campfire. WASO - Announcement of winners of 2006 natural resource stewardship awards. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |