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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Tuesday, December 19, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Yellowstone NP Storm Knocks Out Power To Most Of Park A storm that knocked out power to most of the park has added layers of extra work as preparations continue for Wednesday's winter opening. On Monday, two trucks were scheduled to enter Yellowstone to refill diesel tanks that fueled generators through the weekend in the wake of Friday's storm and outages. A snowplow was to clear snow before the trucks arrived, then pull the snow back onto the road and tamp it down in preparation for grooming. Meanwhile, NorthWestern Energy crews donned snowshoes on the ground and spent part of Sunday in a helicopter trying to get a fix on the outage. After dark Sunday, it was still unclear how many trees had toppled onto lines, but crews were preparing for more cold, rough work where power lines snake across Yellowstone's rugged backcountry. In some parts of the park, temperatures dipped to minus 30 on Saturday night. Company officials were able to reconnect power between Mammoth Hot Springs and Canyon Village on Sunday but, because of the remoteness and difficult working conditions, were unable to say when repairs might be made to restore power to the rest of Yellowstone. The powerful storm rolled into the area Friday with howling winds that knocked out power in much of western Montana and Yellowstone. While much of the power was restored in Montana, it remained cut off in most of Yellowstone all weekend. Generators consumed thousands of gallons of diesel fuel through the weekend to keep the lights on and heat flowing in places such as Old Faithful and Canyon. With so much fuel used already, park officials decided to try to fill the tanks before navigating the roads in wheeled vehicles becomes any more difficult. Once that task was completed, plans were to move snow back onto the roads to start grooming for the snowmobiles and snow coaches that are expected to enter Yellowstone for the beginning of winter season on Wednesday. Even before Friday's storm, there were discussions about light snow pack in Yellowstone in preparation for Wednesday's opening. Although snow amounts are marginal, most of the scheduled routes - including the one between the West Entrance and Old Faithful - should open to snowmobiles and snow coaches on Wednesday. Other areas - like those near Indian Creek south of Mammoth and Hayden Valley - are still being evaluated. [Mike Stark, The Billings Gazette] OTHER NEWS Other news from today's edition of InsideNPS, the National Park Service's home page: Facility Management - Director's Order #80: Real Property Asset Management and the accompanying reference manual were recently signed and issued to the National Leadership Council for distribution. Chief Information Officer - Microsoft and Adobe report major security violations regarding e-mail attachments. Until they provide security fixes, it's possible for unsuspecting users to open documents with maliciously-crafted content, completely compromise their PCs, and potentially place the entire network at risk. Fire and Aviation Management - The Smokey Bear Awards recognize outstanding service with significant program impact in wildland fire prevention as well as increasing public recognition and awareness of the need for continuing fire prevention efforts. DSC - Douglas (Doug) Braithwaite, 58, passed away on December 14th after a two-year battle with cancer. Risk Management Division - Two courses are announced, one on park safety committees and the other on accident investigation. 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. --- ### --- |