NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, September 9, 2010

INCIDENTS

Capitol Reef NP

Canyoneer Rescued From Pandora's Box

On Monday, September 6th, rangers rescued a canyoneer who was unable to complete his planned route due to an inability to make it through a narrow slot in a rock formation. The man and his partner, both from Salt Lake City, had descended into Pandora's Box Canyon the previous day. Pandora's Box is considered to be one of the more difficult canyons to negotiate on the Colorado Plateau because of the extremely narrow slots throughout the canyon. After completing numerous rappels and negotiating several slots, the man, who was quite fit but weighed around 230 pounds, found that he couldn't pass through a particularly tight section. In an attempt to exit the canyon, the two men scrambled out a lateral canyon, only to find that they couldn't go any further. They decided that the more slender man would continue on and complete the canyon while the larger man stayed behind and awaited assistance. The former completed the slots, descended the 150-foot exit rappel, hiked nine miles to his bike, pedaled four miles to his car, then contacted rangers early on Monday morning. The rangers requested assistance from the Utah State Patrol, which dispatched a helicopter that landed near the stranded man. Members of the county SAR team helped him reach the ship. Neither of the canyoneers was injured. [Scott Brown, Chief Ranger]

Delaware Water Gap NRA

Fire Destroys Two Unoccupied Structures

Two unoccupied buildings in the park's New Jersey District were destroyed by fire early yesterday morning. Just after 10 a.m., a visitor called the park's 24-hour emergency communications center and reported seeing flames and smoke along the river on the New Jersey side of the park. Firefighters from the National Park Service and from Blairstown Fire Department arrived on the scene a half hour later and found the smoldering remains of two structures, a barn and a house. The structures were located just south of Turtle Beach, near the historic Coppermine Inn on Old Mine Road. Rangers and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are conducting an investigation into the cause. Neither the Turtle Beach facility nor the Coppermine Inn was damaged and Turtle Beach remains open to the public. [Kathleen Sandt, Park Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

Fire and Aviation Management - The structural fire strategic plan provides Servicewide policy, standards, operational procedures, and accountability to assist the agency in preserving its many historic and non-historic structures.

Park History Division - NPS historian Harry Butowsky recently made available online a collection of historic park brochure covers and brochures dating as far back as the first years of the National Park Service.

Office of Public Affairs - ‘The outstanding leadership and work of eight individuals in the field of natural resources stewardship and science have been recognized with the annual Director's Awards for Natural Resources.

Office of Public Affairs - Director Jarvis this week named Dr. Leigh Welling to direct the new Climate Change Response Program.

Alaska Region - Randy Y. Larson has been named superintendent of Sitka National Historical Park. The appointment will be effective September 26th

NPS incident submission standards can be found online at the HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" serious incident notification web page.

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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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