NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Friday, October 15, 2010
INCIDENTS
Glen Canyon NRA
Celebration Of Rangers' Lives Held At Glen Canyon
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Over 500 friends, family, and co-workers gathered together yesterday to celebrate the lives of Chief Ranger Brent McGinn and Dangling Rope District Ranger Laurie Axelsen. The two Glen Canyon NRA rangers lost their lives in a private plane crash in the Dixie National Forest on October 8th.
The celebration took place at the Lake Powell Resort overlooking Lake Powell. Some of Brent and Laurie's favorite music played in the background while friends and family gathered in their honor. Cheto Olais, the Intermountain Region's law enforcement specialist, began the celebration with the Pledge of Allegiance as a tribute to Brent's tradition of beginning meetings and other events in the same way. Speakers recounted fond memories and stories of experiences shared with Brent and Laurie. The theme for the day seemed to be captured by several speakers who quoted the lyrics of a Jimmy Buffet song, “Breathe in, breathe out, move on”.
“It's been a difficult week for all of us and the reality of losing two wonderful people is just starting to sink in,” said Acting Superintendent Kym Hall. “When today is done and we return to our lives and jobs and routines, the reality will be even starker. When each of us thinks about how our time on earth comes to an end, maybe we can hope that we are with friends or loved ones, that we are in the middle of doing something that truly brings us joy and that we are remembered for all the wonderful and lasting contributions we made to our families and to our jobs. That is how Brent and Laurie ended their time with us…”
The families were then presented with their flat hats and a plaque with a glass law enforcement badge and arrowhead along with an American flag. The celebration ended with the “last call” from dispatch and a helicopter flyover.
Friends and family gathered at the fire station to continue reminiscing. Members of the NPS family traveled from as far away as Alaska and Boston to participate in the celebration. Their impact on the local community was evidenced by the diverse representation of federal, state, and local agencies and members of the local community.
Biographies and the celebration program are posted on their memorial websites. Please continue to share your condolences, photos, and stories online at:
Brent McGinn Memorial Website - HYPERLINK "http://www.sympathytree.com/brentmcginnnps/" http://www.sympathytree.com/brentmcginnnps/
Laurie Axelsen Memorial Website - HYPERLINK "http://www.sympathytree.com/laurieaxelsennps/" http://www.sympathytree.com/laurieaxelsennps/
In lieu of flowers, donations are being accepted through Glen Canyon Natural History Association to establish a Seasonal Law Enforcement Ranger Academy scholarship. Please make checks out to Glen Canyon Natural History Association and note McGinn-Axelsen Scholarship on the memo line. Please mail checks to Glen Canyon Natural History Association, Attn: McGinn-Axelsen Scholarship, P.O. Box 1835, Page, AZ 86040 or call (credit card only): (877) GLEN-CYN. The Western Incident Management Team worked with Glen Canyon NRA staff on the celebration. [Michelle Fidler, Acting Management Assistant, and Patti Wold, Western IMT PIO]
Gulf Coast Parks
Sand Cleanup And Subsurface Sampling Continue
With guidance provided by Department of the Interior resource advisors from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service, and as part of the ongoing federal oversight of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response, hundreds of workers are cleaning oil from beaches in both the Florida and Mississippi districts of Gulf Islands National Seashore:
Florida District - Cleanup crews in the Fort Pickens area are operating large sifting machines called “Sand Sharks” on both day and night shifts. Workers also removed oiled debris in the Opal Beach/Santa Rosa area and Johnson Beach/Perdido Key. Between August 20th and October 13th, more than 311 tons of oiled debris were removed from these areas of the park. More than 300 workers, including 16 resource advisors, are currently assigned to the Florida district cleanup. In addition to surface cleanup, SCAT (shoreline cleanup assessment technique) teams are also conducting tests to determine how much oil is buried below the surface. Subsurface sampling is conducted using an auger powered by a small tractor. Teams have dug hundreds of pits up to 1.5 meters deep in order to determine how much oil remains embedded within the sand below the surface while archaeologists assess the sampling areas to prevent damage to buried artifacts or buildings. The pits were augered along transects spaced 150 meters apart, where between five to six sample sites (holes) were established from the wrack line near the water's edge to just below the dune ridge and vegetation line. Gulf Islands National Seashore personnel, in close coordination with the interagency command, are currently reviewing the results of recent subsurface sampling in order to outline long-term shoreline treatments.
Mississippi District - Crews continue to remove up to six
tons of oiled debris daily from Horn Island. Each day, six resource
advisors are monitoring 150 workers who clean up oiled debris along the
barrier island's south shore, while another crew of nine contract
workers and two resource advisors operate four Beach Tech sand sifting
machines. Cleanup operations also continued on Petit Bois, West Ship,
East Ship, and Cat Islands, with another 150 workers and 11 resource
advisors divided among those sites. Between August 20th and October
13th, more than 465 tons of oiled debris have been removed from these
areas of the park.
Planning is underway for subsurface profiling of embedded oil for all shoreline areas on the Gulf of Mexico side of each of the Mississippi barrier islands. Federal scientists continue working together to determine best practices to address the challenging questions associated with the cleanup.
For more information on current operations, click on the NPS, DOI and national oil spill response pages:
HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doctype/2931/53023/" Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response
HYPERLINK "http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm" DOI Oil Spill Response
HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm" NPS Oil Spill Response
HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/" National Oil Spill Response
HYPERLINK "http://www.restorethegulf.gov/" Restore The Gulf
HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Conferences&id=1957" Oil Spill Safety Training
HYPERLINK "http://www.geoplatform.gov/gulfresponse/" GeoPlatform
HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=1006&id=9336" NPS ICS 209 Incident Status Summaries
HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/documents/NPS%20-%20Public%20Health%20Notice%20SIGNAGE%206-26-10.pdf" Gulf Islands Public Health Precautions Notice
HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/archive/features/oilspillresponse/OilSpillSafety/index.htm" Public Health Service Oil Spill Safety Video
HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/archive/features/oilspillresponse/" Oil Spill Media Page
[Terry Morris and Dave Reynolds, Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response]
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/):
Piscataway Park - The National Park Service, the Alice Ferguson Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came together on Tuesday to celebrate the nearly completed restoration of 2,800 feet of the Potomac River shoreline in Piscataway Park. Photo.
Cultural Resources - The winner of this year's National Historic Landmark photo contest has been selected. Photo.
NPS Alumni - Great Smoky Mountains National Park's tenth superintendent, Merrill D. (Dave) Beal, 84, passed away on September 21st at his home in Eugene, Oregon. Photo.
Servicewide Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation. Added to this week's calendar is a class on asset management at Santa Monica Mountains in February.
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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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