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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Thursday, October 11, 2007 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Grand Canyon NP Four-Year-Old Dies From Injuries Sustained In Fall A four-year-old girl fell about 450 feet from the canyon rim west of Mather Point just after 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The girl's father scrambled down the cliff to his daughter and began CPR on her, but she was pronounced dead shortly after rescue crews arrived on scene. The South Entrance Road along Mather Point was closed for a short time while a long-haul operation was conducted to remove the body from the canyon. The father was then extricated via a short-haul operation due to an ankle injury sustained while scrambling down to his daughter. The girl's body was flown to the South Rim helibase, then turned over to the Coconino County medical examiner. Rangers are conducting an investigation. [Maureen Oltrogge, Public Affairs Officer] Glen Canyon NRA Search In Progress For Missing Three-Year-Old On Monday, October 8th, rangers Jennifer VanDragt and Chris Valdez responded to a report of a missing three-year-old girl at the Bullfrog Subdistrict marina slips. The girl and her four-year-old brother had been chasing each other around the houseboat at the time of her disappearance. Neither was wearing a lifejacket. VanDragt and Valdez arrived within ten minutes of her estimated time of disappearance. Park staff, concession employees, and visitors all searched for the girl, but without success. Additional personnel were called in, including the park's dive team, two search dog units from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, a Utah State Parks ranger, and a county deputy. The park's underwater recovery team, led by Pat Horning, Kean Mihata and Jordan Barthold, was hampered by poor visibility in its first attempt to locate the child. The depth is estimated at 110 feet in the area where she disappeared. Both dogs made hits on the water surface area near the dock and the handlers believe that little girl is in the water at that location. The search continues. The IC is Chris Valdez. [Lindy Mihata, Acting Chief Ranger] Yellowstone NP Bear Attack Prompts Second Temporary Area Closure A section of the park west of the town of Gardiner, Montana, has been temporarily closed for the second time this fall to address bear-human safety concerns. A man was mauled by a grizzly sow with three cubs Saturday morning while bow hunting for elk with friends in the Beattie Gulch area, north of the park's boundary. The closed section of Yellowstone begins where Reese Creek meets the park's northern boundary west of the Yellowstone River. The closure continues southwest along the park boundary until turning due south to Electric Peak. From Electric Peak, the southern boundary of the closed area follows the Montana/Wyoming state line east back to Reese Creek. Reese Creek forms the eastern boundary of this temporarily closed area. The temporary closure of this section of the park coincides with an emergency closure of an adjacent area of the Gallatin National Forest that was issued this past weekend. This same area of the park and the forest was closed from September 14th through September 18th after another bow hunter was mauled by a bear. Hikers and backcountry users are encouraged to check with staff at the Albright Visitor Center or the Backcountry Office in Mammoth Hot Springs before planning any trips into this section of the park. Updated information is also available by calling 307-344-2160 during business hours. More information on the emergency closure of the adjacent area of the Gallatin National Forest is available by contacting the Gardiner Ranger District at 406-848-7375. [Public Affairs] Gauley River NRA Young But Experienced Kayaker Dies On Gauley River An experienced kayaking student participating in a training program with the World Class Kayaking Academy of Missoula, Montana, drowned on the upper Gauley River on Friday, October 5th. The 17-year-old student from Missoula was paddling with a group of 11 kayakers from the school. At a point approximately a half mile above Sweets Falls, the group took an aggressive line through a series of rapids. The student attempted to navigate through a water chute by Thumbnail Rock, but his boat became jammed in the rocks and he was caught underwater. Members of the group, private boaters, and commercial raft guides at the scene tried to rescue the entrapped boy. Two classmates were sent downriver, where they met up with a commercial outfitter at Sweets Fall who had a radio. Volunteer rescue teams and National Park Service rangers responded to the remote section of the river and set up a recovery system utilizing a series ropes and pulleys. It took the professional rescuers over two hours to free the kayak and recover the boy's body, which was then transported by raft downriver to an ambulance and turned over to the county medical examiner. The World Class Kayak Academy is a preparatory high school for students striving to become competitive kayakers. They were on a tour of Eastern rivers, including the upper Youghiogheny River in Maryland and Green River in North Carolina. The class is scheduled to paddle the Zambia and other rivers in Africa this fall. The upper Gauley River is rated class 4-5+ and is known as one of the top ten whitewater rivers in the world. A follow-up investigation is being completed by rangers in cooperation with West Virginia Department of Natural Resources officers. [Gary Hartley, 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/). * Servicewide - Global climate change is here and the National Park Service is stepping up efforts to deal with its impacts. A full-time climate change coordinator has been hired and the Natural Resource Program Center is beginning to explore ways to expand the agency's capacity to respond to these impacts. * WASO - Lindi Harvey has been named the new deputy director for support services in the Washington Office. She will move into her nrew position in mid-October. * NCR - United States Park Police SWAT officer Timothy McMorrow and horse-mounted officer Janet Kim ran in the 23rd annual Army Ten-Miler foot race on Sunday, October 7th. * * * * * 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). --- ### --- |