NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Thursday, January 28, 2010
INCIDENTS
Denali NP&P
Conviction For Illegal Hunting
On September 16, 2008, park pilot Colin Milone and ranger John Leonard were conducting a poaching patrol in a park airplane on the south side of the Alaska Range near the confluence of the Kanikula and Tokositna Rivers - a location that is over two miles inside the park boundary. They spotted a Piper Supercub airplane parked on an unimproved gravel bar and an empty raft pulled up on the opposite shore of the Tokositna. Deteriorating weather conditions forced them to return to the airport in Talkeetna. Suspecting that illegal hunting activity was taking place, Leonard requested the park's contract helicopter, which is stationed in the park's North District. The helicopter flew to Talkeetna with rangers Dan Fangen-Gritis and Scott Pariseau, picked up Leonard, and subsequently landed adjacent to the parked Supercub. The rangers soon contacted two hunters in the field, 56-year-old D.T.H. and 29-year-old J.P.B., both of Anchorage. Each was in possession of a hunting rifle and handgun, but had not yet taken an animal. In taped confessions in the field, both men admitted that they were there hunting moose, but denied knowing they were in the park. The US Attorney's Office in Anchorage filed an information last fall charging D.T.H. and J.P.B. with illegal hunting under 36 CFR. On January 21st, pursuant to a plea agreement, D.T.H. pled guilty in federal court. He was fined $1,000, payable to the park's wildlife protection fund, placed on a year's probation, and lost his hunting privileges for a year. Arraignment for J.P.B. is pending. AUSA Steven Skrocki prosecuted the case on behalf of the NPS. [Peter Armington, Chief Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:
Mammoth Cave NP - The Radon Tee - a special t-shirt created for Cancer Survivors Against Radon - visited Mammoth Cave National Park this month, an early stop on its trek across the U.S. to raise awareness of radon-induced cancer.
Risk Management Division - The two highest awards bestowed by the National Park Service for outstanding public and employee safety achievement - the Andrew Clark Hecht Public Safety Achievement Award and the Director's Safety and Health Achievement Award - have been presented this year as both group and individual awards.
Chief Information Officer - The Web Content Services Team is hosting a servicewide call on Friday to provide an update on NPS web activities.
Natural Resource Stewardship and Science - Craig Shafer retired on December 31st with more than 43 years of federal service. Photo.
To see these and other stories posted on InsideNPS (or NPS Digest, its public version), click on one or the other of the following links (please note that not all stories in the former appear in the latter):
NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index
Non-NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/
NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504
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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).
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