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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Thursday, August 9, 2007 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Sequoia-Kings Canyon NPs Shots Fired During Major Marijuana Eradication Operation On Tuesday, August 7th, park rangers raided a large marijuana operation within the boundaries of Sequoia National Park. They removed 5,432 marijuana plants with an estimated value of $14 million dollars, and will continue to remove plants and collect evidence for the investigation. During the operation, gunshots were heard from the site. NPS personnel, working with officers from the Tulare County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol, closed the Mineral King Road to vehicular traffic for the safety of the public while investigating the source. Residents in the effected area were notified of the situation and were escorted from the area at their discretion. Until further notice, traffic needing access to Mineral King Valley and private residences will be escorted several times a day by park rangers. Arrangements must be made ahead of time through park dispatch by calling 1-559-565-3195. Also participating in this operation were rangers from Yosemite, members of the Pacific West Region special events tactical team, NPS special agents, and personnel from US Customs and Border Protection, the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, and the California Highway Patrol. The plantation contained several varieties of marijuana plants, including strains that had been genetically altered. These new hybrid plants have only three leaves and take less time to mature, allowing growers a chance to plant more than one crop in a season. In addition, the plants are shorter (less than three feet), which makes detection more difficult. It's estimated that several acres of designated wilderness have been impacted by this highly invasive and destructive marijuana growing operation. Anyone caught with connections to this or any other marijuana growing operation on federal lands faces federal charges. Operation Weed Free seeks to deny ground to illegal marijuana growers within the two parks. The investigation into such activities will continue. Information about illegal activities can be reported anonymously or in person by calling 1-888-NPS-CRIME (888-677-2746). [Alexandra Picavet, Public Affairs Officer] Golden Gate NRA Rescue Of Seriously Injured Hiker Rangers and Park Police officers were notified of a serious injury to a hiker in the Marin Headlands around 9:30 p.m. on Friday, August 3rd. The caller reported that the person he'd been hiking with had fallen about 10 feet and struck his head on the concrete of a military coastal defense battery. He also said that he didn't know their location. Rangers and officers began scouring the areas of the Headlands with coastal batteries in an effort to find them. While they did so, the dispatcher worked with the caller to try to nail down their location. The hikers were found at Battery Mendel about 20 minutes after the call came in. While Presidio paramedics and fire personnel responded, ranger Matthew Harrison, who was first on scene, began administering first aid to the 22-year-old hiker. Paramedics provided advanced care and took the man to Marin General Hospital, where he remains in critical condition. [Kim Coast, Operations Supervisor] Great Smoky Mountains NP Three Badly Injured In Single-Vehicle Accident Park dispatch learned of a serious accident on Newfound Gap Road south of Sugarlands Visitor Center on the afternoon of August 7th. Rangers arrived on scene about 10 minutes later and found that a 1998 Ford Expedition had gone off the road and hit a tree and that two of the occupants were trapped inside. A family of four - K.H., 53, his wife S.H., 50, and their sons S., 18, and R. - 13 - had been heading northbound on the highway when the Expedition, driven by the father, drifted off the right side of the road and down a ten-foot bank, then hit the tree. Four ambulances and two rescue units from Gatlinburg arrived just minutes after the rangers. Rescue personnel cut the sides off the vehicle to free S.H. and R., who were trapped in the wreck. They were judged to be in sufficiently serious condition to warrant medevac flights to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Two helicopters flew to the park, landed in the VC parking lot, picked them up, and flew them to the hospital. S. was taken by ambulance to Ft. Sanders Sevier Medical Center. Newfound Gap Road was closed for about three hours while the Expedition was removed and rangers conducted an investigation. [Bob Miller, Management Assistant] 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: Gateway NRA - On July 25th, 222 outstanding female competitors representing 32 lifeguard services from Cape Cod to Nags Head took part in the 23rd National Park Service All-Women Lifeguard Tournament, held at the park's Sandy Hook Unit. Natural Resource Program Center - A new strain of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a serious emerging disease of fresh and saltwater fish, has been found in fish in Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, inland lakes in New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and coastal areas of eastern Canada. WASO - Rick Potts became the new chief of Conservation and Outdoor Recreation on August 5th. Potts has more than 30 years of experience working with wilderness stewardship and resource management issues. 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 support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov, 570-686-3828). --- ### --- |