NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, June 11, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

Unexploded Ordnance Discovered During Oil Cleanup

The men and women of the National Park Service continue to be an integral part of the national federal response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. All NPS units along the Gulf remain open and are conducting regular park operations.

Gulf Islands NS - There was continued oiling at Perdido Key yesterday, most of it west of the park boundary. Over 140 people were engaged in cleaning up the oil. During the course of the clean-up there, undetonated military ordinance was found on the shore. A Naval EOD team (explosive ordnance disposal) was called, and the shell was detonated. Booms were removed from the beaches at the western end of Ft. Pickens and the eastern end of Perdido Key as they were deemed ineffective due to tidal and wave action. This action also may help protect potential turtle nesting sites. Crews totaling 40 people were at Ft. Pickens cleaning up light oiling, and another 40 people were deployed to Navarre Beach to clean up light oiling there. Surveillance for oiling continues throughout all park areas on a daily basis.

South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, Desoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - An early warning system to monitor for oil has been put into operation by the Coast Guard in coordination with BP and the Department of Interior. The crew on a vessel patrolling waters northwest of Dry Tortugas identified oil approximately 247 miles from the park. This ship continues to monitor the situation.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P - No new developments.

Padre Island NS - Baseline photos along the gulf side of the island will be complete on Monday of next week. Park personnel are establishing a few data points on the Laguna Madre shoreline at the southern end of the park and taking pictures of conditions near Mansfield Pass. This would be the most likely point where oil would enter the Laguna Madre from the gulf. On June 9th, 14 Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests were found in the park. This total ties with the largest number found in the park on a single day, the previous occurrence being May 19th. With the tagging of a female Kemp's ridley turtle yesterday, five transmitters have been deployed to date on adult turtles after they nested in the park. Based on satellite tracking data, two of the females are potentially headed towards the oil spill. One is currently offshore near the Texas/Mexico border; the other is offshore from western Louisiana.

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 sites:

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

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

HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/" National Oil Spill Response

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

[Mindi Rambo, Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response]

Buffalo NR

Injured Hiker Rescued Via Litter Lowering Over Waterfall

On Monday, May 31st, dispatch received a report that a 16-year-old boy had fallen from the top of the first tier of the three-tier Eden Falls. Dispatchers alerted personnel from BUFFSAR and several cooperating SAR organizations, including Mt. Sherman VFD, Krooked Kreek VFD, Compton VFD, Newton County SAR, and North Arkansas Regional Medical Center ambulance. Responders located the teenager just over a mile up the Eden Falls Trail at the base of the initial 20-foot drop. He was conscious but unable to move his legs and complaining of pain in the back of his head, lower back, and right hand. He was also hypothermic due to his lying in the creek, unable to move, for over an hour. Life Line Air Ambulance was summoned from St. Johns Hospital in Springfield and arrived at a nearby landing zone within minutes. Its flight medic and flight nurse hiked to the scene and took over primary patient care. Rescuers packaged the boy for a high angle litter lowering operation and lowered him directly over the rim of the second and third tiers of Eden Falls to a trail below. Additional rescuers attached a wheel to the litter and conducted a carryout to a waiting ambulance at the trailhead. He was transferred to the helicopter and flown to the trauma center at St. Johns. Follow-up investigation revealed that he had fractured the disc in his L-5 vertebra and will have to remain in a body cast for six weeks. This incident provided another opportunity for BUFFSAR to work side-by-side with members of neighboring SAR organizations, which continue to contribute consistently to the park's SAR missions. Ranger Billy Bell served as ops chief and Upper Buffalo District Ranger Lee Buschkowsky served as incident commander. [Kevin Moses, Middle Buffalo District Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

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

Southeast Region - May was a month of remembrance at Andersonville NHP. Among the events occurring last month were ceremonies honoring seven Native Americans who died in the prison there during the Civil War and the traditional observance held on Memorial Day.

Gateway NRA - Barry Sullivan, superintendent of Gateway National Recreation Area, has announced his retirement after a 34-year career with the National Park Service. Photo.

Dinosaur NM - Long-time maintenance employee Robert B. Page passed away after a prolonged battle with cancer on June 10th. Photo.

Servicewide Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation. Added to this week's listing are the following - a satellite broadcast on cost sharing, an acquisition/finance committee meeting at NCTC, the 2010 Appalachian Wilderness Medicine Conference in Maryland, a class on producing NPS publications at Zion, listings for the next seven months of the newly-instituted monthly Servicewide contracting conference calls, a course on natural and cultural resource law for superintendents in Northeast Region, ARPA training in California, and three different offerings at Albright - a photovoltaics workshop, a class on resource protection and law, and a conference on the fundamentals of creating and managing digital collections.

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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