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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Tuesday, February 1, 2011 INCIDENTS Rocky Mountain NP Rangers Rescue Woman Seriously Injured In Fall A long and challenging rescue came to an end around 11:30 p.m. last Saturday when rescuers carried an injured woman out of the backcountry to a waiting ambulance. R.S., a 20-year-old student from Massachusetts who is attending the University of Colorado in Boulder, suffered a serious fall earlier that morning. She was in a party of five who left the Longs Peak Trailhead at 4 a. m. with the goal of climbing 13,191-foot Mount Meeker. Around 8 a.m., members of the party put on their crampons to start across a steep icy slope above Peacock Pool in the Chasm Lake area just east of Longs Peak. R.S. fell and slid 200 feet down the slope, incurring multiple injuries. Her party activated a SPOT satellite GPS messenger device, alerting the International Emergency Coordination Center in Texas. The park received a call from the center shortly thereafter and rangers were sent to the trailhead to hike into Chasm Lake. Around 10 a.m., they came upon two members of the party, who confirmed the location and nature of the accident. Additional personnel responded as rangers continued to the accident scene, arriving around noon. They treated R.S., who remained alert and stable throughout the rescue. Personnel from the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group in Boulder and Larimer Country Search and Rescue and a paramedic from Estes Park Medical Center soon arrived to assist. Rescuers began the arduous task of raising her 200 feet and carefully moving her toward Chasm Junction, arriving there around 5:20 p.m. A total of 22 rescuers then carried R.S. roughly three miles to the Longs Peak Trailhead. R.S. was taken by ambulance to Estes Park Medical Center. [Larry Frederick, Chief of Interpretation and Education] Golden Gate NRA Closure Violation Leads To Significant Drug Arrest, Seizure Ranger Justin Webster was preparing to close the Muir Beach parking lot late on the afternoon of January 13th when he noted that a vehicle was still parked in the lot. Webster hiked out to the beach and came upon a man, later identified as J.B. of Gurley, Alabama, smoking what appeared to be marijuana in a pipe. Webster called for backup and waited until ranger Ryan Wright arrived on scene. While interviewing J.B., another man, D.P. of Trussville, Alabama, came up from the beach. The two men were escorted off the beach and back to their vehicle. Wright detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from all compartments of the vehicle. A search was conducted, resulting in the seizure of 84.2 grams of hashish, 35.1 grams of marijuana, and 20 pounds of marijuana in a plastic bag. Additional items found included a vacuum sealer, food sealer bags, packaging tape, butane gas, razor blades, PVC pipe, and cellular phones. The men were arrested and taken to the Marin County jail. The Marin County Task Force and NPS special agent Matt Ehmann were notified. During the course of the investigation it was determined that both men were involved in the manufacture and sale of hashish. They were held on state charges on $500,000 bail. Federal charges are pending and the investigation continues. [Kim Coast, Acting Chief Ranger] Golden Gate NRA Body Recovered In The Surf At Marin Headlands The body of A.H.M., 39, was discovered on January 22nd in the surf near Black Sands Beach by visitors hiking in the area. Rangers and USPP officers responded. The relatives of the man had reported him missing the day before. It appears that A.H.M. had been fishing in the high surf in a remote area along the coast and may have been hit by waves that knocked him into the water. The body was removed by a California Highway Patrol helicopter. USPP detectives and the Marin County coroner are investigating. [Kim Coast, Acting Chief 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/): Martin Luther King, Jr. NHS - On January 15th, the park celebrated the 25th anniversary of the national holiday observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday with a special park sponsored event entitled “The Relevancy of the King Legacy in the 21st Century: A Conversation with Dr. Clayborne Carson” in the Ebenezer Baptist Church Horizon Sanctuary. Vicksburg NMP - At least two and probably dozens of unmarked and unidentified graves have been found in Vicksburg National Military Cemetery. Archeologists and investigators are working to gather more information and determine who was buried in these graves. National Capital Region - Tara D. Morrison has been selected as the new superintendent of Rock Creek Park in the District of Columbia. She begins her new assignment on March 31st. Midwest Region - Wendy Ross, currently a management assistant at Glacier National Park, has been named the new superintendent for Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. Photo. * * * * Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of Communications and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). --- ### --- |