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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Thursday, March 24, 2011 INCIDENTS Yosemite NP Headway Made In Recovering From Major Storm Yosemite continues to recover from this past weekend's winter storm and is bracing for the arrival of yet another storm. The following is an update on current park conditions: Power outages remain throughout the park with the potential for power restoration by Saturday. Pacific Gas & Electric is working on the main transmission line to El Portal and Yosemite Valley as well as the line that services Wawona. Tree clearing continues along secondary roads and in residential communities. CalTrans has been able to clear highways that access the park and reopened Highways 41 and 140 on Tuesday evening. Highway 120 is open as well. Rangers assisted stranded visitors at Glacier Point and Bridal Veil. Park roads are clear, but restricted to administrative traffic. Generator service has been restored to the Yosemite Medical Clinic. Generators are being operated by the park and concessionaire to protect infrastructure. Three warming locations have been identified for residents who do not have heat due to the power outage. Schools within Yosemite remain closed. Restoration of bus service is planned for Wednesday. The community of Yosemite West has lost its water. Mariposa County is working to restore water service. The park and Mariposa County are working together on a plan for the clearing and disposal of downed and stressed trees in the El Portal community. Two community meetings were held on Tuesday, providing current road, weather, power, and available services information. Also participating with park staff were Dan Jensen, president of Delaware North Parks & Resorts Yosemite, Inc., Doug Binneweis, Mariposa County sheriff, Jim Wilson, Mariposa County fire chief, and Aaron Rosander, superintendent of the Mariposa Unified School District. The park is assessing current storm damage and monitoring the forecasted weather. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning that will be in effect until 5 a.m. on Friday - a series of storms are entering the area that may produce heavy snowfall. Incident priorities yesterday were as follows: Continue distribution of information to internal and external sources-communities, employees, media Keep generator power up and running at the El Portal wastewater treatment plant Keep El Portal complex generator power up and running Maintain dispatch operations and backup power Continue liaison activities with PG&E, AT&T, the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office, and the California Highway Patrol Conduct storm damage assessments and develop package Provide information through the employee hotline (209-379-1186) Monitor the emerging weather forecast, which currently includes a winter storm watch for Wednesday thorough early Friday, with possible heavy snow and a 4,000 foot elevation snow level Being planning for reopening the park and restoration of services based upon current and available information. Assure safety mitigation through the safety officer and messaging about use of extension cords, generators, and exposure to carbon monoxide Conduct hazard tree abatement Support park administrative functions Establish an employee information location at the Comfort Inn in Mariposa for Wednesday and Thursday between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. so that employees can get information and connect to email and network files via VPN. [Charles Cuvelier, Chief Ranger] Blue Ridge Parkway Suicide Victim Found At Overlook Park dispatch received a report of a man “not breathing” at the Rockfish Valley overlook on the afternoon of March 19th. Blue Ridge and Shenandoah rangers responded along with Nelson and Augusta County deputies. While en route, they learned that the victim had suffered a gunshot wound to the head and that it appeared to be self-inflicted. The body of the 55-year-old Virginia man was taken to the medical examiner's office in Richmond for an autopsy. Blue Ridge rangers and NPS special agents are investigating. [Kurt Speers, Ridge District 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/): Point Reyes NS - Over the past three years, park VIP Richard James has packed out over three tons of litter from park beaches, most of it plastic. In order to emphasize how much trash is being dumped into the ocean, he created five “meta-bottles” of chicken wire and filled them with a year's worth of plastic bottles recovered from Point Reyes' beaches. Office of International Affairs - On March 21st, President Obama and Chilean President Sebastián Piñera met on bilateral relations between the two countries, including the new agreement twinning parks in Chile and Alaska. Photo. Office of Communications - The "Civil War Reporter," an engaging new feature on the National Park Service's website, offers daily dispatches from reporter Beglan O'Brien, a (fictional) Civil War era correspondent. Submerged Resource Center - The NPS Submerged Resources Center and the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society have announced that the 2011 NPS research intern is Naomi Blinick of Sunnyvale, California. 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). --- ### --- |