NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

INCIDENTS

Coronado NM

Flood Repairs Finally Completed

After four years and about $2 million, Coronado National Memorial has finally completed the repairs needed as a result of two major flooding events. In July 2006, the park received 13 inches of rain in a 24-hour period - considered by the Weather Service to be a 1000 year weather event. Significant debris flows brought thousands of tons of debris from the steep mountain sides down into the park's main drainage, taking out the only road through the park, overturning trees and fences, washing away shade structures and picnic tables, and closing the park to the public for several weeks. In July 2008, a similar but less substantial event caused a repeat to occur. That flood was categorized as a 500 year weather event. The park has now received extensive Federal Highways funds to clear and realign the main park channel, allowing for proper water flow during the summer monsoon rains. In addition, the entire park road was repaved and special low water crossings were installed where the new side drainage channels were created in the 2006 flood. Turnouts have been installed along the roadway for visitor and administrative use, the picnic area has been completely rehabilitated, and a new Coronado Cave trailhead has been created in order to keep the Cave Trail out of the main drainage and reduce future repair costs. Putting the park back together has been a tremendous collaborative effort and has included support from the Intermountain Region roads program and directorate, Federal Highways, a Saguaro trail crew, maintenance staff from Chiricahua and Fort Bowie and, of course, all of the staff and volunteers at Coronado. [Kym A. Hall, Superintendent, Southeast Arizona Group]

Grand Canyon NP

Park Resident Charged With Theft Of Funds From Nonprofit

In November, 2009, special agents with the NPS' Investigative Services Branch began an investigation into the theft of thousands of dollars from the Native American Education Committee (NAEC), a nonprofit group comprised of parents, guardians, and interested supporters of Native American students attending the Grand Canyon School located within the park. NAEC provides support to Native American students at Grand Canyon in the form of scholarships and other financial support, which allows them to pursue opportunities they might otherwise not be able to afford. It raises money for the scholarships through fundraising activities in Grand Canyon. On April 14th, NAEC's former treasurer was charged with three felony counts of theft and nine misdemeanor counts of theft. The defendant's initial appearance is scheduled for May 3rd. The prosecution is being handled by Shelia Philips, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona. [Robert W. Mullikin, Special Agent in Charge]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:

WASO Public Affairs - The 150th anniversary of the Pony Express was commemorated at a pair of events in Washington last week. The Pony Express National Historic Trail, administered by the NPS, keeps alive the memory of this 19th-century communication system while providing places for outdoor recreation.

National Parks Institute - A group of NPS managers will be attending an 11-day intensive management seminar on leadership, innovation and organization renewal from April 27th to May 7th.

Mount Rushmore NM - Mount Rushmore conducted a disaster response training exercise on Thursday, April 8th, in cooperation with local partner agencies. Mount Rushmore and the National Guard used this experience to learn how the agencies can better prepare for disaster situations. Photo.

Cabrillo NM - Linda Cramer retired on April 2nd after 30 years and 10 days with the National Park Service and National Marine Sanctuaries programs. 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/notify" http://inside.nps.gov/notify

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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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