NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
INCIDENTS
Gulf Coast Parks
Parks Continue Preparations For Oil From Gulf Spill
Preparations continue at parks along the Gulf of Mexico for the possible arrival of the oil plume from the sunken oil rig Deepwater Horizon. This update covers oil spill response activities for the following parks - Padre Island, Jean Lafitte, Gulf Islands, and the South Florida parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, DeSoto, Dry Tortugas, and Everglades).
Padre Islands NS - The park is currently planning its precondition assessment, which will include photo points and soil and water sampling. The survey is expected to begin on Wednesday, May 5th, and conclude Friday, May 7th.
Jean Lafitte NHP&P - The park is gearing up for its precondition assessment.
Gulf Islands NS - No park closures are currently in place. Current models indicate that the oil will not reach Gulf Islands before Thursday and possibly for some time after that. The NPS Western Incident Management Team (Denny Ziemann, IC) is currently coordinating the National Park Service response to the oil spill. On Sunday afternoon, volunteers worked on several beaches in the park, including Opal Beach, Fort Pickens, and Perdido Key, to “pre-clean” beaches and remove litter in anticipation of oil coming onshore. As of Monday, May 3rd, NPS resource advisors were being embedded in the four shoreline cleanup and assessment teams (SCAT) responsible for the barrier islands in the Mississippi and Florida districts of the park. NPS specialists are also being integrated with the natural resources damage assessment group to review aerial photography and other data, as well as the reconnaissance and recovery teams that will be responding to reports of oiled and injured wildlife.
South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, DeSoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - Park and resource managers from the South Florida NPS units met Monday with regional and WASO staff to organize a unified response to potential impacts from the Mississippi Canyon incident. During the meeting, park staff drafted an organizational structure for a Type III unified command structure supporting five park units, identified incident priorities, and drafted a joint delegation of authority for approval by all park superintendents. Rick Anderson, Everglades National Park, has been identified as the incident commander. Following guidance provided by regional and WASO resource management and incident personnel, park resource management teams are finalizing a pre-impact assessment strategy for implementation in all five south Florida units. It is currently anticipated that draft assessment plans for each park will be presented Tuesday afternoon, with follow-up discussions scheduled for Wednesday. Park and incident management staff are scheduled to meet with USCG personnel on Tuesday morning at Key West to discuss possible response efforts within the Key West Sector. It is anticipated that representatives from NOAA, FWC, USFWS, and Monroe County will also be present.
[Rudy Evenson, IO, Western Incident Management Team; Larry Perez, IO, South Florida Parks Incident Management Team]
Mammoth Cave NP
Two Arrested On Narcotics, Weapons Charges
On April 18th, interpretive rangers reported that five visitors on a guided cave tour had repeatedly left the designated cave trails, had touched and/or removed cave features, and were acting disorderly. Ranger Josh Clemons and FTEP trainee Jake Olson contacted them and found that two had cave rocks in their possession. All five were detained and escorted to their vehicle, which was in the visitor center parking lot. The rangers saw drug paraphernalia and a rifle barrel sticking out of a backpack in plain view in the bed of the truck. A search of the truck led to the recovery of an ounce of marijuana, two vials containing a white/yellow powder that tested positive for cocaine, more drug paraphernalia, two handguns (one with a suppressor), and two assault rifles. All the firearms were loaded and ready to fire. The owner of the truck was identified as N.J. of Mississippi. He was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user or addicted to a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and a violation of the CFR regulation on preservation of natural resources. C.W., who rangers were unable to identify at the scene, was also arrested and charged with the latter. The three other members of the group were identified and released after the field investigation. On April 21st, N.J. and C.W. appeared in federal district court. C.W. testified that he was a habitual user of marijuana and that he possessed/used marijuana and cocaine just prior to his arrest and also possessed a loaded firearm. The judge entered a $25,000 bond on C.W. N.J. was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond pending trial. [Brian Sacia, Park Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:
Biscayne NP - After 24 straight hours of exploration and documentation, the Biscayne BioBlitz provided a snapshot of the many land and water species that live within the park. Led by more than 200 scientists from around the country, thousands of amateur explorers, families and schoolchildren from south Florida conducted an inventory of the flora and fauna of one of the nation's largest marine national parks.
Wilderness Stewardship - The 2009 Wes Henry National Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Awards have been announced. Photo.
Hawaii Volcanoes NP - Hawai‘i Volcanoes' eruption duty rangers and their supervisor have received the 2009 Andrew Clark Hecht Public Safety Achievement Award, the highest award bestowed by the National Park Service for outstanding achievement in public and employee safety. Photo.
Midwest Region - Ruben Andrade will assume his new post as superintendent at Minuteman Missile NHS on May 23rd.
NPS Alumni - Gerry Reynolds has announced his retirement from federal service. He worked for the National Park Service between 1975 and 2003. 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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