NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, March 23, 2007

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INCIDENTS

Mount Rainier NP

Two Hikers Die After Fall In Creek

Two backpackers hiking in Mount Rainier National Park were killed Monday after falling off a makeshift log bridge while trying to cross a creek that was rerouted by winter floods. In any other year, a National Park Service bridge would have carried the hikers easily across the waterway, Ipsut Creek, that claimed their lives. But the bridge - like many in the 368-square-mile park - was made useless during the floods that battered the park last fall. The sole survivor of the hiking party contacted park personnel at 10 a.m. Monday, saying that her two hiking partners - a married couple - had been swept away by Ipsut Creek, said Lee Taylor, a park spokeswoman. One of the hikers fell from the log into the creek, Taylor said. The second hiker jumped into the water to attempt a rescue. Searchers in a helicopter spotted both bodies downstream from the Ipsut Creek Campground, a primitive backcountry site where the hiking party spent Sunday night, Taylor said. Twelve members of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department's swift-water rescue team recovered one body from the near-freezing water Monday afternoon, she said. Taylor said the hikers were Washington residents in their 40s. The accident occurred in an area that was devastated by the torrential rains that tore through the park in November, Taylor said. In the flooding that followed, both Ipsut Creek and the nearby Carbon River changed courses. "It's a new stretch of river," Taylor said. "And the area where they were is exactly where the road used to be." The Park Service has estimated that at least $36 million in damage was done to the park. Washed-out roads and downed bridges account for much of that damage. The Carbon River Road, a gravel route in the park's northwest corner, has been consumed by the Carbon River, said Elizabeth Lunney, executive director of the Washington Trails Association. Now, she said, the area where the hikers died Monday is accessible only by a debris-covered footpath. Taylor said stream crossings will be the biggest safety concern as the hiking season approaches. Bridges are out at several popular hiking destinations in the park, including Comet Creek and Grove of the Patriarchs. [Levi Pulkkinen, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Haleakala NP

Rangers Respond To Bike Accident With Serious Injuries

Park dispatch received a call just after 7 a.m. on March 15th reporting a seriously injured bike rider on Crater Road at the 8,500-foot level. Rangers responded and were on scene in ten minutes. A 44-year-old female rider with a commercially led bicycle tour made it through the apex of a turn, but then crossed the center line and crashed into rocks. Tour leaders immediately called for assistance and began first aid. Rangers assessed the patient, determined that her injuries were serious, and called for an ambulance. She sustained major head trauma in the accident even though she was wearing a helmet. Ambulance personnel subsequently called for an air evacuation, and a helicopter landed at Hosmer Grove at the 7,000-foot level. The woman was driven there, loaded on board and flown to a hospital. Her condition was not known at the time of the report. The investigation continues. [Dominic Cardea, Public Affairs Officer]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories can be read on either the InsideNPS web site (if you are within the National Park Service) or at the InsideNPS public ‘news digest' site (if you are outside of the NPS). The web sites appear below:

Regulations Program - Revisions to 36 CFR Part 3, the regulations that govern the National Park Service's boating and water use activities, have been completed will be published in the Federal Register today.

Harpers Ferry Center - The March edition of HFC OnMedia has been posted to the web.

Fire and Aviation Management - The March edition of the Structural Fire Newsletter has been posted to the web.

George Washington Birthplace NM - Interpretation and education supervisory ranger John Frye has announced his retirement following 32 years of service to the National Park Service and the American people.

US Forest Service - Shane Wyrsch, a USDA Forest Service law enforcement officer serving the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, was killed in an auto accident while returning home from a meeting on March 19th.

Training Calendar - This week's listing adds two one-day courses at NIFC on dealing with line of duty deaths, an I-Suite training course in SERO, ARPA training in Spokane, three offerings of a course on equipment operator safety for supervisors (at YELL, HAFE and WHIS), two TEL Station classes, and an advanced CISM workshop in WASO.

Events Calendar - Today's listing of upcoming NPS and NPS-related events across the nation. Added this week is a living history weekend at Shiloh in April.

For more information, go to InsideNPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) or NPS Digest ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/).

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov, 570-426-2430).

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