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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Tuesday, January 23, 2007 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Lake Mead NRA Major Illegal Dumping Site Discovered On December 28th, rangers found a large illegal dumping site while on patrol near the River Mountains just east of Henderson, Nevada. The dump was located on Bureau of Land Management land, bordering both the park and Bureau of Reclamation properties. Strong winds and recent storms in the area had spread trash from the site (approximately three truck-loads of blueprint documents) onto all three jurisdictions. A cardboard box with a FedEx shipping detail was collected at the scene. Special agents from the NPS and BLM were contacted and conducted an investigation that lead them to a company located in Las Vegas named Energy Inspectors. During an interview, two employees from the company, M.D.R. and J.S., admitted to dumping the blueprints over a two-month period at the location. They both returned to the site and removed the trash. The case will be prosecuted by BLM. The joint investigation is one of many that have occurred over the past three years in Clark County as a result of the southern Nevada area partnership interagency law enforcement team. The team includes rangers - and, more recently, special agents - from the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, US Forest Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service. The team was created in 2004 as a result of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. For more information on the team, please feel free to contact interagency resource protection specialist John Tesar, who can be reached at 702-293-8944. [Paul Crawford, Acting Supervisory Special Agent] Glen Canyon NRA Man Plunges To Death From Dam Overlook On the evening of Thursday, January 18th, visitors in the area of a popular scenic viewpoint near Glen Canyon Dam reported a highly intoxicated man at that location to both Page Police Department and the park. Rangers responded and found the 19-year-old at the canyon rim, threatening to jump. He said he was distraught due to an argument that he'd had with his girlfriend earlier in the day. Ranger Laurie Axelsen talked with the man for more than a half hour in an attempt to get him to move away from the rim, but he suddenly moved forward, went over the edge and fell about 500 feet to his death. Due to darkness and the extremely hazardous topography, a recovery effort was not begun until the next morning, when the body was extricated by a team of rangers and members of the Coconino County Sheriff's Office with the assistance of an Arizona DPS helicopter. [Mark Law, Law Enforcement Specialist] OTHER NEWS Other news from today's edition of InsideNPS, the National Park Service's home page: Fort McHenry - The “Grey and Green” marched proudly through the colonial city of Annapolis on January 17th as rangers from Assateague, Antietam, Hampton and Fort McHenry participated in the inauguration ceremonies for Governor Martin O'Malley. Lake Mead - On Saturday, January 20th, NPS divers found live zebra-type mussels known as quagga mussels (Dreissena spp.) at the Katherine Landing Marina on docks and hulls of houseboats. Several other areas of the park have been checked and found to be free of the mussels. Fire and Aviation Management - The January, 2007, edition of the Structural Fire Newsletter has been posted to the Fire and Aviation Management web page. Yosemite - After the Merced River flood a decade ago, a rare consensus arose on a plan to “reinvent the valley” and another to protect the Merced River. Yet, ten years later, both plans remain tied up in court, challenged by a small but passionate group of activists. NPS Alumni - The Newseum, “the world's first interactive museum of news,” has named five members to its board, including past Director Robert Stanton. Carlsbad Cavern - Paula Bauer, supervisory park ranger at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, will soon be leaving to begin an exciting new job in France. Paula will be the assistant director of visitor services at the Normandy American Cemetery in Normandy. 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. --- ### --- |