|
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Monday, October 23, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Great Smoky Mountains NP Park Continues Recovery From Severe Windstorm The park continues to recover following a storm with winds peaking at over 100 miles per hour that struck the park last Monday night. All major front country areas of the park are now open, including the scenic 11-mile Cades Cove Loop Road. Here's a status report on other areas, as of late last Thursday. Cades Cove picnic area - Open. Upper Tremont Road - This section of the road, near Townsend and past the Great Smoky Mountains Institute, has reopened. Elkmont campground - The campground is fully operational. Cades Cove campground - The campground is still operating on a limited basis. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail - The park expected to reopen this road sometime last Friday. Wears Cove Road - Closed. Rich Mountain Road - Closed. Anthony Creek horse camp - Closed. About 100 employees - trail and road crews, rangers, resource management and science and education division staff - worked throughout the week to reopen roads and public use areas. They are now focusing on backcountry trail assessments. The storm affected sites at elevations between 800 and 4,000 feet within three counties. Some park facilities and vehicles were also damaged, as were more than two dozen visitor RV's and other vehicles. [Nancy Gray, Public Affairs Officer] Colonial NHP Thousands Attend 225th Anniversary Event Approximately 15,000 people attended the parade and ceremonies that kicked off the 225th anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown on Thursday, October 19th, the first day of a four-day celebration of the final battle of the American Revolutionary War. Superintendent P. Dan Smith was the presiding officer for the ceremony. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and French Minister of Defense Michele Alliot-Marie made remarks. On Friday, about 3,000 Revolutionary War re-enactors arrived to encamp on the battlefield. They presented revolutionary war life and military tactic demonstrations, and re-enacted the British surrender march on Sunday afternoon. Total attendance for the entire four-day celebration was placed at about 48,000 visitors. The event was managed by a type 3 incident management team (Skip Brooks, IC) under unified command with other agencies. [Katie Lawhon, Information Officer; Greg Stiles, Plans Chief] Mount Rainier NP Successful Search For Missing Backpacker Searchers found a missing backpacker on the afternoon of Friday, October 20th, bringing an intensive two-day search to a successful conclusion. S.H. began her hike on the Northern Loop trail on Saturday, October 14th, and planned on completing the trip this past Tuesday. Snow and fog caused her to become disoriented on the third day of the hike, though, and she ended up off-trail on Winthrop Creek north of the Wonderland trail and below Skyscraper Mountain. Unable to locate the trail despite searching for hours over rough terrain, she set up camp and waited for searchers to find her. Searchers discovered her footprints and followed them along Winthrop Creek, but were forced to turn back after encountering treacherous conditions. The search was continued from the air, and S.H. was found just after 1 p.m. last Friday. She was in good condition. She'd planned to ration her remaining food to last up to 14 days, allowing herself just one meal per day. S.H. had left her itinerary with roommates, including the date she expected to return to school at the University of Puget Sound. She is experienced in outdoor skills and is trained as an EMT. Her preparation for this trip contributed to the success of the search and her survival. Approximately 80 people were assigned to this incident. Assisting park staff were personnel from Tacoma Mountain Rescue, Seattle Mountain Rescue, Olympic Mountain Rescue, German Shepherd Search Dogs, Northwest Helicopters, King County Guardian Helicopter, and Olympic and North Cascades National Parks. [Patti Wold, Incident Information Officer] New River Gorge NR BASE Jumping Fatality Mars Bridge Day Event B.L.S., 66, of Alta Loma, California, died on the morning of October 22nd when his parachute opened too late and he hit the river during the park's annual Bridge Day event. B.L.S. was described as an experienced jumper with numerous prior jumps. In 1966, he and a friend became the first people to jump from El Capitan, a nearly 3,000-foot-tall rock formation in Yosemite National Park. This was the first BASE jumping death at Bridge Day since 1987 and the third since the event started in 1980. Jumping from the bridge was temporarily suspended while B.L.S.'s body was recovered by rescue boats and taken by ambulance to a local funeral home. B.L.S., a retired Pomona, California, police lieutenant and graduate of the FBI Academy, was one of 388 jumpers from 13 countries who paid the $75 application fee to jump from the nation's second-highest span. His equipment was collected and will be inspected as part of a joint investigation by the Fayette County Sheriff's Department and National Park Service. More than 800 jumps were made from the bridge on Saturday, and several other jumpers were injured. Rangers estimate that there were 56 water landings and 148 shore assists; all other jumpers came down in the landing zone and required no assistance. Once a year, the park allows people to parachute off the world's second-longest single-span bridge to the river below. [Fayetteville Register-Herald, via Gary Hartley, Chief Ranger] Natchez Trace Parkway Assault On Rangers On the afternoon of Friday, October 20th, park dispatch received a call from a park visitor who reported that he had been approached and threatened by several heavily intoxicated males while at one of the scenic overlooks in the Tupelo Mississippi District. A few minutes after receiving the information, ranger Scott Jamison located and stopped the described vehicle near park headquarters. Ranger Jay Drinkwater provided backup. During the contact, two men exited the vehicle - J.S., 26, and W.H., 32 - and quickly advanced on the rangers. They refused to comply with any orders, made verbal threats and became combative. Both rangers utilized their pepper spray, which was effective only on J.S.. W.H. wiped away the spray and continued to fight. One of the rangers used a baton on him, but with no success. As the rangers continued to struggle with him, a Lee County deputy arrived on scene to assist. He used his taser, which proved effective and permitted rangers to handcuff W.H. A total of six arrests were made at the scene. Assault charges are pending on J.S. and W.H. Jamison is the investigating ranger. [Allen S. Etheridge, Chief Ranger] Yosemite NP Fatal Motorcycle Accident The park's emergency communications center received a report of a car-motorcycle accident around 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, October 7th. CPR was reportedly in progress. Responding units included two park medics and Medic 3, which has advanced life support capabilities. ALS measures were utilized, but without success. The motorcycle's operator, a 46-year-old man from Ventura, succumbed to his injuries. The investigation continues. [Charles Cuvelier, Deputy Chief Ranger] OTHER NEWS Other news from today's edition of InsideNPS, the National Park Service's home page: Report on dedication of the renovated Gambrill House HQ at the Historic Preservation Training Center. Article on the centennial alumni reunion held at Mesa Verde the weekend before least. Outgoing RD Mary Bomar has announced interim personnel changes in NERO. Tracy Ammerman has won WASO interpretation's “Benchmark 10” award. Training class announced on aviation policy and regulations. Announcement for S-372 helicopter manager course. To link to InsideNPS, click on HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/ * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- Successful Ending To Search For Missing Backpacker |