NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, May 7, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

NPS IMT's, Personnel Continue Oil Spill Preparations

Approximately 80 National Park Service personnel continue responding to the oil spill created by the sinking of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon on April 20th. Ongoing work with the USCG and other agencies includes planning for wildlife reconnaissance and recovery and shoreline cleanup and assessment; conducting surveys, sampling, and flyovers to document baseline conditions; mobilizing resource experts to direct USCG and responsible party contractors during cleanup and recovery; and providing guidance and prioritization for protection measures such as boom placement in sensitive areas. Eight national parks are responding to the oil spill - Padre Island, Jean Lafitte, Gulf Islands, Big Cypress, Biscayne, DeSoto, Dry Tortugas, and Everglades:

Padre Island NS - The park's baseline assessment involves the installation of photo points every two miles along its seventy miles of beach. Most of these points are now installed and located by GPS. This weekend, park staff and volunteers will begin photographing and weighing samples collected by seine-netting in the surf at each photo point. Park staff are currently completing logistical requirements for this process by establishing preservation methods for water samples and building equipment such as field tables for draining and photographing seine-netted samples.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P - A Type III organization has been established in the park to work toward the following objectives: potentially conduct a current-condition resource pre-assessment; integrate and coordinate all operations and planning with the Unified Incident Management Teams (IMT's); support and coordinate with the UC IMT and the Natural Resource Damage Assessment within NPS lands if needed; maintain visitor services and normal park operations; and maintain financial accountability for expenditures.

Gulf Islands NS - All beaches and park sites remain open and operational. No closures are in place. Yesterday morning, park and IMT staff met with Interior Secretary Salazar for a briefing at the Mobile incident command post. Projections show there is a potential for oil to impact the Mississippi islands over the weekend, but the heaviest concentrations are expected to remain well south of the park during that time period. Contractors placed additional booming around more sensitive areas of the islands. SCAT teams with embedded NPS staff conducted overflights and waterborne surveys to check for oil, but found none on park shorelines. NPS employees have begun going through hazardous material safety training to allow them to guide cleanup activities safely. Training will continue for the next several days until all NPS employees on the incident are appropriately trained. Removal of the tanks found on Horn Island is still slated for Saturday. Air quality testing was conducted in the Mississippi district on Thursday by DOI industrial hygienists. A media tour of West Ship Island will be conducted by park staff today to educate the public about resources at risk in the park.

South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, DeSoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - The resource assessment branch of the south Florida national parks' Type III IMT continues to make progress on pre-condition assessment planning for all five NPS units. Final pre-impact condition assessment plans for each of the five parks are expected to be completed today. Pre-impact sampling of water, sediment and tissue is anticipated to begin early next week at DeSoto, followed by Dry Tortugas and Everglades at a date yet to be determined. Local media interest is currently low. A public information team has updated each park's website to include a page specific to the incident. Everglades' information can be accessed at HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/ever_" http://www.nps.gov/ever. A communications center has been set up and additional public information officers have been ordered. Information officers can be contacted at 305-741-4342, or by email at HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/mailtSouthFloridaNPS@gmail.com__" SouthFloridaNPS@gmail.com.

For more information on the NPS, DOI and national oil spill responses, please see the following:

NPS Oil Spill Response - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm" http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm

DOI Oil Spill Response - HYPERLINK "http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm" http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm

National Oil Spill Response - HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com" http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

[Rudy Evenson, Lead Information Officer, Gulf Islands National Seashore Oil Spill Response]

San Antonio Missions NHP

Refinery Fire Extinguished, Hazmat Monitoring Underway

On Wednesday morning, an explosion rocked the AGE Refinery located between Mission San José and Mission San Juan, forcing the closing of Mission San Juan and Mission Espada. The refinery fire was successfully extinguished early on Wednesday evening. The San Juan acequia, a Spanish colonial era irrigation ditch system, is situated immediately adjacent to the refinery. Hazmat teams deployed booms around the refinery to supplement the refinery's spill containment system. The park is working with the City of San Antonio, the San Antonio River Authority, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to get soil and water tests conducted on the acequia and the San Antonio River for possible contamination. [Al Remley]

Bandelier NM

Missing Woman Found After Multi-Agency Search

On the morning of Saturday, April 24th, a 27-year-old woman from Santa Fe who was the subject of a missing persons report was found alive, suffering some signs of exposure, in an area along Escobas Mesa. Rangers Dennis Milligan and Kevin Stillman found the woman, who told them that she'd gotten lost and had been in the backcountry for approximately 46 hours with no food or water during a period of high winds and nighttime temps hovering around freezing. The first indication that she was missing occurred the previous Thursday afternoon when ranger Dennis Milligan called in a query on her unattended vehicle along New Mexico Highway 4 near Ponderosa Campground. When the vehicle was seen there again the next morning, a second query returned a missing persons report. A hasty search was immediately conducted on park land, but no sign of her was found. Because the area where the car was located is in the jurisdiction of the Los Alamos police and that the state of New Mexico has jurisdiction on search and rescue operations, Los Alamos PD was brought in. By Friday evening, the department had provided a mobile command unit and begun a full investigation. A full incident command team was mobilized and additional agencies became involved, including the Los Alamos Police Department, New Mexico State Police, Santa Fe Search and Rescue and two teams from the Mountain Canine Corps. The search was conducted until approximately 2:30 a.m. on Saturday. When it was resumed in the daylight hours, more search teams and logistical support from around the region arrived to assist, including Athalaya Search and Rescue, Taos Search and Rescue, Sandia Search Dogs, Los Alamos Fire Brigade, the Civil Air Patrol, Los Alamos County Fire Department, Los Alamos Amateur Radio Club, Los Alamos Emergency Management, and the Interagency Wildfire Team. New Mexico State Police provided helicopter support. Milligan and Stillman located the woman after only an hour of searching in the area where they suspected the terrain would lead her. The State Police helicopter involved in the search flew her out of the backcountry, concluding a 26-hour search. The woman was transported to the Los Alamos medical center for further treatment. She spent two nights in the hospital receiving treatment for hypothermia and dehydration before being released. [Tom Betts, Chief Ranger]

Colonial NHP

Man Succumbs To Wounds From Self-Inflicted Gunshot

On the morning of May 1st, park dispatch received a call from York County dispatch regarding an elderly man with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to his abdomen in the area of Yorktown National Cemetery parking lot. York County deputies and fire and life safety personnel arrived on scene minutes after the dispatched report and found a conscious elderly man suffering from a gunshot injury to his abdomen area. He was transported to a local trauma hospital for surgery, but later succumbed to his injuries. Preliminary investigation indicates that the death was a suicide. Ranger Steven Williams and York County Sheriff's Department investigators are jointly investigating the incident. Toxicology and autopsy results are pending. [James M. Perry, Acting Public Affairs Officer]

OTHER NEWS

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

NPS Centennial - The seventh in the George Wright Society's series of essays on the National Park Service's centennial is now out - an article by William Tweed entitled “An Idea in Trouble: Thoughts about the Future of Traditional National Parks in the United States.”

Operational Leadership - The Washington Office of NPS Operational Leadership needs your success stories -- they could save lives. Information is provided on how to submit such stories.

National Capital Region - Federal, county, and local agencies and private organizations have cooperatively joined forces to renew their efforts at focusing public attention on and getting the message out about the dangers of the Potomac River Gorge, where six people drowned last year. Photo.

Servicewide Training Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses offered by the NPS and its partners across the nation. There are no new additions to the calendar this week.

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

* * * *

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).

--- ### ---