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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Friday, November 9, 2007 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS San Francisco Bay Area Parks Major Oil Spill Causes Beach And Area Closures An outbound container ship, the Cosco Busan, struck a pier of the San Francisco Bay Bridge around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 7th, and spilled about 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the bay. Between 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., oil came ashore on Alcatraz Island and several park beaches. To protect the health and safety of visitors and staff, the park instituted emergency temporary closures at Fort Point, Crissy Field Beach, China Beach, Baker Beach, Rodeo Beach, Black Sand Beach and Kirby Cove Beach. Warning signs and barricades were posted to prevent vehicle and pedestrian access. US Park Police officers were assigned to fixed posts at several of the closures. On Thursday, the Tennessee Valley Beach and Horseshoe Cove Beach at Fort Baker were added to the list. At the same time, San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park instituted emergency temporary closures at Aquatic Park, halting the activities of swimming clubs there. Municipal Pier was also closed. Although no oil contamination has yet been reported at Point Reyes National Seashore, that park has joined Golden Gate and San Francisco Maritime in coordinating cleanup and response efforts with the unified command led by the Coast Guard, California Fish and Game, and a contract incident management team retained by the ship's owner. The spill's greatest impact at Golden Gate NRA so far has been at Rodeo Beach, where several contract cleanup crews were joined yesterday by the Marine Mammal Center, a park partner, in rescuing oiled wildlife and cleaning the beach. Alcatraz Island remained open to visitors, but some areas of the island were temporarily closed to visitors due to oil contamination. Golden Gate's Type 3 IMT is managing the NPS response to the incident, coordinating its efforts with the unified command led by the Coast Guard. This is the largest oil spill in the San Francisco Bay since the Cape Mohegan incident in 1996. [Rudy Evenson, PIO] Grand Canyon NP Memorial Service Set For Eric York Park wildlife biologist Eric York was found deceased at his residence in Grand Canyon National Park on November 2nd. A celebration of his life will be held in the park next Thursday. Eric's work at Grand Canyon focused primarily on monitoring the ways in which mountain lions use the park and surrounding lands, including the ways in which the lions interact with humans and how human infrastructure affects them. In addition to his work at Grand Canyon, Eric made many significant contributions to wildlife research and conservation. He specialized in carnivore studies, particularly focusing on cat species, and was a leader in research capture methods and techniques. His research lead him to many areas around the world, including Maine, Alaska, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Southern California, Pakistan, Nepal and Chile, where he earned the respect of colleagues and worked tirelessly to conserve wildlife. Eric held a bachelors from the University of Maine-Orono and a masters degree in wildlife biology from the University of Massachusetts. He was an integral member of the National Park Service and Grand Canyon communities and will be missed dearly by friends and colleagues from around the world. A celebration of Eric's life will be held at Grand Canyon National Park on Thursday, November 15th. The ceremony will be held on the South Rim of Grand Canyon at Yaki Point beginning at 5:00 p.m. and including sunset. The park will provide transportation from the parking lot at park headquarters to Yaki Point beginning at 4:30 p.m. The ceremony will be casual and will be conducted on the rim regardless of weather. If you have questions about the ceremony, please contact Linda Jalbert at 928-638-7909. Eric's family will also hold a service in Shelburne, Massachusetts, at the Shelburne Congregational Church on Saturday, November 10th at 1:00 p.m. The family is requesting no formal attire and instead expect to see people dressed in Carhart's or something similar. Cards, letters and condolences may be sent to Eric's parents, T.Y. and L.Y. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Eric's name to one of three organizations: The Grand Canyon Association, attn: Brad Wallis, P.O Box 399, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023, HYPERLINK "http://www.grandcanyon.org" www.grandcanyon.org Felidae Conservation Fund, 14 Cove Road, Belvedere, CA 94920, HYPERLINK "http://www.felidaefund.org" www.felidaefund.org The Wildlands Fund, Division of Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife, attn: Julie, 1 Rabbit Hill Rd. Westboro, MA. 01581 [Robin Martin] Buffalo NR Two Plead Guilty In Wildland Arson Case On November 24, 2006, rangers responded to a 911 report of a wildfire in the park west of the community of Gilbert in the Middle Buffalo District. Rangers and volunteer firefighters from Gilbert VFD found a wildfire burning near Back of Beyond Cave and contained it with the aid of park fire personnel before it crossed the park boundary and burned toward nearby private homes. The community of Gilbert has been identified as an at-risk community for wildfire and is a close partner in fire suppression and management activities with the National Park Service. Volunteers reported hearing gunfire in the immediate area. Rangers searched the area and provided direct protection to firefighters, but were not able to locate a source of the gunfire. After a cause and determination and intense week-long investigation, rangers identified two male suspects who subsequently confessed to setting the fire along with four other fires the previous evening and morning. Each was charged with hunting and closure violations under 36 CFR and with leaving a fire unattended and unextinguished under 18 USC 1856. Both pled guilty to the CFR violations; one man was acquitted of the fire-related charge, but the second pled guilty and was ordered to pay the NPS $4,235.56, required to serve five years' probation, and banned from the park for two years. The judge also ordered him to pay Gilbert VFD $574.52 in restitution. During the sentencing, the judge noted the severity of this issue and even compared it with the fires in southern California. The local community, park staff, and US Attorney's Office were instrumental in the success of this prosecution. This represented one of 39 arson fires investigated in the park in 2006. [Robert L. Still, Special Agent] OTHER NEWS The following stories (among others) can be read on InsideNPS (internal) or NPS Digest (external): Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne on Thursday showed the national news media through a new Department of Interior Museum exhibition of remembrance items visitors have left behind at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial over the past 25 years. HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=5970" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=5970 Servicewide - News story: “At a Congressional hearing last week, climate experts said that climate change will increase and intensify wildfires in years to come. Since 1986, the fire season in the West has lengthened by 78 days, or from 20% to 30%, and will likely increase again by that amount over coming decades.” HYPERLINK "http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/11/02/news/wyoming/45200c7dfe51eda0872573860080d8f6.txt" http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/11/02/news/wyoming/45200c7dfe51eda0872573860080d8f6.txt Training Calendar - A listing of upcoming training courses offered by both the NPS and its partners across the nation. Added today are courses on the fundamentals of special park uses at NCTC and in Albuquerque and two advanced law enforcement control tactics instructor training courses - one at Lake Mead, the other in South Carolina. HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Conferences&id=775" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Conferences&id=775
* * * * * 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). --- ### --- |