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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Thursday, July 5, 2007 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Lake Roosevelt NRA Aggressive Cougar Destroyed On Sunday, July 1st, the park received a report from Lincoln County dispatch of a cougar stalking children in a cove on the Spokane arm of the lake. District ranger Chris Rugel and ranger Adam Kelsey responded by vessel and met two Lincoln County deputies who were already on scene at the Ponderosa boat-in campground. The rangers interviewed the family members, who reported hearing a cougar “screaming” just above their primitive campsite on a steep embankment during the previous two nights. One of them described a loud rustling noise in the large willow bush just behind their tent that night. At approximately 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, the mother was with her six-year-old son about 30 yards up the draw from the campsite when she heard something in the bushes and saw a large cougar in a “crouched position.” She said that the cougar stared at her, then looked towards her son, who was five feet from the cougar. She started yelling for her husband and waving her arms at the cougar. As the others from the site approached, the cougar ran off up the hillside. Around noon, family members again sighted a cougar while packing up to leave the campsite. Shortly thereafter, their eight-year-old daughter came running down to the beach, screaming. The cougar leaped off the hillside and chased her a short distance until halting when family members came running to the girl's rescue. The cougar ran off after the father threw a large stick at it. The campground and surrounding beaches were closed to camping. A Washington state wildlife officer went up the hillside to the east of the campsite to try and locate the cougar. Kelsey and chief ranger Margaret Goodro hiked up the steep embankment to the west and came to a flat meadow that overlooked the draw coming up from the campsite. They found cougar tracks at the edge of the hill, and Goodro heard a noise in the grass directly behind her. When she turned, she saw a cougar crouched in the grass six to eight feet from them. Both rangers fired their weapons at the cougar, killing it. The cougar was found to be an underweight juvenile female, about a year-and-a-half old. The cougar was released to Washington State Fish and Wildlife to perform a necropsy. The campground and surrounding beaches were reopened. [Margaret Goodro, Chief Ranger] Chickasaw NRA Rising Lake Causes Closures South-central Oklahoma has received a significant amount of rain over the past two months, so the Corp of Engineers is not authorizing any release of water from Lake of the Arbuckles until conditions downstream improve. On Tuesday, July 3rd, Lake of the Arbuckles was nine feet above normal, four feet from flood stage. Many day use areas, unpaved roads, two of the four launch ramps, and approximately 50 campsites in Buckhorn and the Point Campgrounds are closed. The Guy Sandy, Central, Cold Springs, and Rock Creek Campgrounds have not been impacted by flooding. Rock and Travertine Creeks are running fast and full but not overflowing. More closures may be necessary depending on the water level. [Susie Staples, Public Information Officer] Zion NP Injured Hiker Rescued From The Subway On Monday, July 2nd, rangers rescued D.W., 45, of St. George, Utah, who'd injured her ankle the previous day in the Subway (the Left Fork of North Creek). Rangers were contacted by members of a group hiking out of the Subway Sunday evening. They reported that a woman in their party had sustained a ground-level fall near the last rappel in the canyon and was suffering from a severely sprained or possibly broken ankle. Rangers arrived at the scene at approximately 8:30 p.m. and found that D.W.'s ankle injury prevented her from hiking out. Due to the time of day and the nature of the incident, it was decided to attempt a helicopter evacuation on Monday, since a technical rescue would require a larger number of people and increase danger to the team. Two park rangers/medics spent the night with D.W. in the Subway. Early on Monday morning, a helicopter from Grand Canyon National Park was called in to perform the short haul operation to extract her. D.W. was successfully airlifted from the Subway at 10:30 a.m., then transferred to the park ambulance and taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George. [David Eaker, Public Affairs Officer] Haleakala NP Man's Body Recovered From Mountain Rangers discovered a body on a rock outcrop 500 feet below Leleiwi overlook at the crater rim at 8,800 feet on June 27th. Firefighters from Maui Fire Department's Rescue 10 from Kahului responded and rappeled down an extremely steep scree slope to recover the body. MFD's Air-One helicopter then short-hauled the body to the overlook. Positive identification and cause of death are pending completion of an autopsy. Preliminary investigation suggests the victim is a 46-year-old man from New York, whose abandoned rental car was towed from the overlook the day before the body was found. Foul play is not suspected. Ranger Mike Ing is IC. [Mike Ing] OTHER NEWS The following stories (among others) 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: Glacier NP - On the evening of Sunday, July 1st, the entire length of Going-to-the-Sun Road reopened following months of snow plowing, debris removal and concerted efforts to repair storm damage inflicted by a storm last November. Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings and the status of legislation pertinent to the National Park Service. Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - A new Harry Yount Park Ranger Award plaque has been developed for regional honorees. Arches NP - Ranger Gary Salamacha passed away peacefully at home on the evening of July 2nd following a courageous battle against stomach cancer. To see the above articles, 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/). For NPS incident reporting standards, go to HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363 * * * * * 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). --- ### --- |