NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

Assessment And Monitoring, SCAT Responses Continue

The Midwest IMT (Pontbriand) continues to manage the National Park Service response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill at Gulf Islands National Seashore. The Intermountain IMT (Mossman) is managing the South Florida incident. Assessment and monitoring continue, with shoreline cleanup assessment technique (SCAT) teams responding to reports of oil and/or oiled wildlife:

Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Having completed tier one baseline sampling in the Barataria Preserve, the park continues to monitor the NOAA surface oil forecast as well as actual movement of discharge products toward the Barataria Estuary. Although the preserve is buffered from the Gulf by miles of marsh and waterways, oil has now reached islands in Barataria Bay. Park staff continues to work with the IMT at Gulf Islands National Seashore to evaluate defensive actions being mobilized between the preserve and the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf Islands NS - Crews continued to monitor and assess sites for boom deployment and to assess dislodged and/or damaged booms. During an aerial flight late on Monday, the plane's crew spotted a 200 foot by 300 boot patch of emulsified oil, approximately twelve miles southwest of Horn Island. An emergency response unit was dispatched to this oil patch and a report is due later Tuesday. In the Florida District, 119 tar balls were recovered from Perdido Key on Monday, in addition to 28 pieces of debris/burned oil. Samples will be sent off for analysis to determine if they are related to the Deepwater Horizon spill. One tar ball was found on Horn Island.

South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, DeSoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - Baseline condition assessments continued yesterday at Everglades and Biscayne. Assessments are expected to continue throughout the week. Cultural resource assessments are also being performed concurrently at Biscayne. Entrix, BP's environmental consulting firm, continued conducting baseline sampling at Everglades, accompanied by an NPS advisor. Over the weekend, the US Coast Guard successfully coordinated a contracted cleanup of beaches at Dry Tortugas that had been impacted by tar balls last week. Park staff were on hand to act as resource advisors and helped oversee the effort. Subsequent surveys of the islands have thus far revealed no new occurrences of tar balls. Daily beach surveys are expected to continue at least through the end of the week. The South Florida IMT continues to coordinate response efforts with larger unified command centers in other areas of the affected region. The south Florida Type III team has appointed an NPS representative to remain actively engaged with command staff. The South Florida IMT conducted a briefing for the incoming Intermountain Region IMT. The team will operate from a newly established incident command post in Homestead. Local media interest is light. A communications center continues to be staffed by a team of information officers, and can be contacted at 305-224-4215, or via email at HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/mailtSouthFloridaNPS@gmail.com__"SouthFloridaNPS@gmail.com.

The archeologists from the Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC) embedded at the incident command post in Mobile have completed the pre-damage condition assessments for archeological sites at Gulf Islands and are providing support to the Fish and Wildlife Service by conducting site assessments in refuges that may be affected by the oil spill. To date, the team has completed 67 site assessments at Gulf Islands and nine on FWS lands. The team will continue to assess refuge archeological sites across the northern Gulf of Mexico between Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle. Additional archeological teams from SEAC are conducting assessments in the South Florida park units. Resource managers have drafted guidelines for site assessment and monitoring of clean-up efforts for archeological sites and cultural resources; these guidelines are currently under review.

For more information on the NPS, DOI and national oil spill responses and for a link to the BP online oil spill safety training needed by all incident staff, 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

Oil Spill Safety Training - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Conferences&id=1957" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Conferences&id=1957

[J. Michael Johnson, Lead Information Officer, Gulf Islands National Seashore Oil Spill Response]

Mammoth Cave NP

Flood Recovery Continues

Park staff continue to assess damages and make repairs, where possible, following the flood that hit the park on the first two days of May. The canoe launch and picnic area are now open at Dennison Ferry day use area, Joppa Ridge Road has reopened, and all cave tours are operating on their normal schedule and along traditional routes. Houchin Ferry remains closed. Houchin Ferry Road South is open, but only for access to the river. The pavilion picnic tables floated away and the campground is in disrepair. Houchin Ferry campground still needs a significant amount of work. Though park trails on both sides of Green River were impacted by the flood, Cedar Sink is the only trail in the park that is closed. Ugly Creek/Little Jordan Road suffered washout damage and is closed between Wilkerson Cemetery and Little Jordan Cemetery. [Vickie Carson, Public Affairs Officer]

Mount Rainier NP

Climbing Group Caught By Extreme Weather On Mountain

A group of climbers guided by one of the park's permitted concession guiding companies encountered sudden extreme weather conditions while descending from the summit of Mount Rainier on May 20th. Blizzard conditions with winds gusting to 110 mph made navigation and communications nearly impossible among all rope teams on the mountain. One client became moderately hypothermic and two guides suffered from frostbite on their hands. Guides from other companies who were in the area were summoned for assistance and all parties continued the descent. By midnight, all had been accounted for and had made it safely to shelter at the Camp Muir high camp. Rangers there assisted in warming and treating the individuals. By the next morning, the weather had improved, as had the condition of the individuals, and all parties descended back down to Paradise without incident. [R. Chuck Young, Chief Ranger]

Yosemite NP

Rock Climber Injured In Accident On El Capitan

Park dispatch received a call on the evening of May 20th regarding a climber who had fallen on a popular climbing route on El Capitan. The climber, a 48-year-old man from France, fell approximately 65 feet, sustained head and chest injuries, and was unconscious. A second party on the climbing route was able to provide basic emergency medical assistance until rangers arrived. The injured climber and his partner were on a popular climbing route on El Capitan called the Salathe Wall. This is one of the most famous and popular technical rock climbs in the world. In its entirety, the climbing route spans 3,500 feet in length. The accidental fall occurred on a prominent feature on the route known as the El Cap Spire, located about 1,600 feet above Yosemite Valley. Two rangers were airlifted to the location of the injured climber around 7 a.m. the next morning, and a team of twelve search and rescue personnel was airlifted to the summit of El Capitan to provide further assistance. Once rangers secured the climber, a California Highway Patrol helicopter assisted in hoisting him off the climbing route. He was then airlifted to Doctors Medical Center of Modesto. [Scott Gediman and Kari Cobb]

OTHER NEWS

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

Mount Rushmore NM - The park is in the process of creating a 3D digital laser scan of the sculpture and many more historic assets. The scanning data will be used to create a digital preservation record of the memorial and will also be used for other purposes, including interactive virtual tours and 3D modeling.

National Park Foundation - Last week, NPF and the NPS established a National Parks Disaster Recovery Fund to help national parks recover from future natural and manmade disasters. The fund was immediately activated to raise funds for Gulf parks that will need it both during spill operations and for subsequent monitoring.

Fire and Aviation Management - Directors Order 58, Structural Fire Management, is a key element of ensuring visitor and employee safety in the national parks. It is now available on line. Photo.

Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - NPS canine handler/ranger Julie Kovacs will retire her narcotics canine partner “Emma” this month. Along with her work in drug interdiction, "Emma" has also served as a SAR and avalanche search dog. 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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