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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Monday, July 16, 2007 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Chickasaw NRA Continued High Water Leads To More Closures Park staff continue to deal with the aftermath of heavy rains and flash flooding in the park. As of Friday afternoon, Lake of the Arbuckles was more than seven feet above normal and expected to keep rising. Traffic control continues at the Point Launch Ramp to keep swimmers in the parking lot separated from visitors launching boats. Many day use areas, unpaved roads, and approximately 35 campsites in the Buckhorn campgrounds are closed. In the Platt District, the day use areas east of Sycamore Crossing, including Little Niagara and Travertine Island, are still closed due to erosion and debris caused by flashing flooding that occurred on Tuesday, July 10th. Sycamore, Black Sulphur, and Rock Creek low water crossings will be closed as necessary. More closures may be necessary depending on the amount of rain that falls on the area - heavy thunderstorms were predicted for this past weekend. [Susie Staples, Public Information Officer] Gateway NRA Unified Command Employed In Preparing For Major Event Using an incident commander from the Midwest Region, the superintendent and staff of Gateway's Jamaica Bay Unit, together with the U.S. Park Police and the NY Police Department, employed a unified command system for the first time ever in order to prepare for and deal with a potentially dangerous and destructive public gathering within park boundaries. Members of the Guyanese-American community of New York City have gathered at Jacob Riis Park or Floyd Bennett Field for several years to celebrate Guyana's Independence Day. With crowds growing beyond the capacity of the park to provide a safe and healthy environment, Gateway officials attempted to manage the situation through a standard permit process last year. Event organizers did not abide by permit conditions which limited attendance to 1,500 participants due to safety concerns, though, and over 40,000 people subsequently jammed park roadways for the one-day event, putting attendees at risk and causing destruction of park resources. Negotiations failed to find a solution to the problem this year, so the unified command system was put in place to create a proactive incident action plan in the event the group gathered this year despite a permit being denied. Substantial outreach and a public relations campaign are also credited with averting a repeat of the previous illegal gathering. [Brian Feeney, Public Information Officer] 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: Lyndon B. Johnson NHP - Lady Bird Johnson arrived at her final resting place beneath a canopy of oak trees Sunday, beside the late President Lyndon Baines Johnson at the family's ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Pacific West Region - Charles “Chuck” H. Odegaard, retired regional director for Pacific Northwest Region, died in Seattle, Washington, on July 9th after complications from a stroke. He was 79. 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). --- ### --- |