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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Friday, September 7, 2007 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Rocky Mountain NP Missing Couple Found After Lengthy Search A major, inter-agency search for a couple who failed to return from a hiking trip in the park last weekend came to a happy conclusion yesterday morning when they were spotted by a Civil Air Patrol searcher who'd seen smoke coming from a cliff on the other side of the Big South trailhead. T.J., 56, and M.J., 49, were found to be tired but in good health and able to walk out of the area with the assistance of SAR personnel. The J.'s were dropped off at the Chapin Pass trailhead on Fall River Road in the northern portion of the park last Saturday. They had a backcountry permit to stay at the Flatiron backcountry campsite near Hague Creek that night. On Sunday, their plan was to hike north via the Cache la Poudre River trail and Big South trail out to the Big South trailhead, but did not show up as planned. A search was begun earlier in the week. The J.'s told authorities that they took a wrong turn and decided to stay put at the location where they were found once they determined that they were lost. Their greatest concern was that they were unable to notify their family and friends to let them know they were okay. They said that they survived on mushrooms and berries after using everything in their backpacks. [Kyle Patterson, Rocky Mountain NP; Kathy Messick, Larimer County Sheriff's Office] Mid-Atlantic Parks Coastal Areas Eyeing Possible Tropical Disturbance A non-tropical low midway between the Bahamas and Bermuda has the potential to cause some problems for parks in the Carolinas by early next week. A large trough to its west has kept the low from developing, but will likely weaken over the weekend and open a window of opportunity for it to develop and move back toward the coast. Several parks have accordingly begun making preparations:
Cape Hatteras NS - The park's emergency management team has determined the park to be in Condition #3 in accordance with its emergency operations plan. A meeting was held yesterday which was attended by personnel from all of the park's districts and from Fort Raleigh NHS and Wright Brothers NM. Initial preparations were begun, including measures to protect museum artifacts and the acquisition of plastic to cover the replicas at Wright Brothers. Fee reservations for the campground are being offered on a day-by-day basis with no long term reservations being offered. Cape Lookout NS - The park has begun initial preparations, with maintenance personnel engaging in cleanup operations and securing equipment. Moores Creek NB - Park staff have begun securing equipment. [Jeff Brice, NPS Assistant Coordinator, Southern Area Coordination Center] Arches NP Pursuit, Attempted Assault On Rangers Rangers Karen McKinlay-Jones and Will See were returning from a SAR incident in separate patrol vehicles around 11:30 p.m. on August 27th when they encountered a vehicle traveling into the park at a high rate of speed. An attempt to stop the vehicle five miles into the park was unsuccessful. As the rangers pursued, the driver - later identified as K.T., 36, of Bradenton, Florida - turned around and headed back towards the entrance. The rangers were unable to catch up, so requested assistance from the Grand County Sheriff's Department. While searching a turnout for the vehicle, See had to take evasive action to avoid having his cruiser struck as K.T. hastily left the overlook. McKinlay-Jones and a county deputy attempted to stop the vehicle at the park entrance. K.T. headed directly toward the parked patrol vehicles, swerving away at the last second as he left the park. County deputies and Moab city officers stopped him just outside the park by using a moving roadblock. At their request, the two rangers assisted with the arrest. The county will be prosecuting the case. K.T. has been charged with excessive speed, fleeing, attempted aggravated assault and operating a vehicle with faulty equipment. [Denny Ziemann, Chief Ranger] Buffalo NSR Injured Climber Rescued From USFS Wilderness Area On the afternoon of August 25th, a 20-year-old woman was rappelling off a 100-foot bluff near Hawksbill Craig, also known as Whitaker Point, in the Forest Service's Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area. On the way down the bluff, she apparently struck a tree branch, causing her to let go of her brake hand. She did not have a belay system in place and fell approximately 30 feet before landing. Bystanders and members of her group began to assist with her injuries while another bystander hiked out in order to call for help. The Newton County Sheriff's Office received the report and asked the park's SAR team to respond. ALS ambulance, volunteer fire department, and medevac helicopter personnel arrived first and immediately began hiking toward her location. Due to the steep, rugged and remote terrain, there was no radio communication with the responders hiking to her. NPS and USFS staff began arriving shortly thereafter and a unified command post was set up at the Hawksbill Craig trailhead. By the time NPS and USFS staff hiked to her reported location, she had been stabilized by EMS personnel and carried on a backboard up a break in the bluff line that did not require technical extrication. At the top of the bluff, she was placed in a wheeled litter provided by NPS responders and wheeled approximately three-quarters of a mile to the waiting ambulance. She was then transported to the medevac helicopter staged in a nearby hayfield and airlifted to Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Her injuries were reported to include two fractured vertebrae and both pelvis and femur fractures. [Lee Buschkowsky, Upper District Ranger] Point Reyes NS Drowning, Possible Suicide On August 25th, a visitor reported seeing the body of a man in his 40s in the surf at Sculptured Beach, a backcountry area along the Pacific Ocean coast. Rangers responded and found the body floating off the shore. With the assistance of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office helicopter, the body was retrieved and turned over to the coroner. The man had wrist and ankle weights on and his backpack contained a large rock, leading the rangers to believe this was a suicide. The investigation to identify the person is continuing as a joint effort between rangers and the Marin County Coroner's Office. [Colin Smith, Chief Ranger] 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 are, respectively, HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/ and ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/). * Grand Canyon - In late August, the superintendents of Grand Canyon National Park and China's Yuntaishan World Geopark signed a sister park arrangement in a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. * Civil War Sites - Civil War park superintendents from Southeast Region and Midwest Region met on August 30th and 31st in Nashville to continue crafting an action plan for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which will take place between 2011 and 2015. * Intermountain Region - Alden Miller, a 13-year veteran of the National Park Service, has been named superintendent for the recently established Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site near Eads, Colorado. * * * * * 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 ( Bill_Halainen@nps.gov, 570-686-3828). --- ### --- |