NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Monday, March 28, 2011

INCIDENTS

Pacific Coastline Parks

Tsunami Recovery Operations Continue In Two Parks

Damage assessments are still underway at the two parks in Hawaii most impacted by the March 11th tsunami - Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau NHP and Kaloko Honokōhau NHP. Parts of both parks remain closed. Here's a status report:

Pu‘uhonua o Hōnaunau NHP - Initial assessments by park cultural resource staff members and archaeologists on detail through the Cultural Resources Emergency Response Team (CRERT) have identified nine management units that were impacted by the March 11th tsunami. Several sites and features have sustained damage, including collapsed, breached, and bulging walls, eroding cultural deposits, and washed out sections of trail. About 80% of the sand and fill material present in the Royal Grounds area of the park was either removed or displaced by the tsunami surges. Initial damage assessments of four of the park's management units have been completed to date. Park archaeologists and CRERT members are surveying the high visitor use areas of the park and are working to clear other sections of the park so that they can be reopened. The Royal Grounds, Pu‘uhonua, and Paumoa coastal areas all remain closed due to on-going damage assessments. The park's picnic area and the historic 1871 Trail which traverses the length of the park are open to the public. The park would like to express its gratitude to Dr. David Louter, PWR chief of cultural resources, and other key regional and national staff who have supported the park's emergency operations.

Kaloko Honokōhau NHP - The majority of the park has been reopened to public access. The coastal trail remains closed with approximately 5150 cubic feet of damage at two separate sections along the trail. Damage to these sections includes collapse of retaining walls, disturbance of masonry walls, and complete removal of the tread to surrounding areas. The Kaloko Fishpond wall sustained damage from the tsunami at seven separate points, including damage to the capping on top of the wall, collapse of the edge of the wall, and severe erosion of the sand bank on the pond side of the wall. Approximately 2,310 cubic feet of the wall was damaged and about 6,300 cubic feet of the sand bank was disturbed. The Kaloko picnic area sustained damage in at least four different areas with approximately 525 cubic feet of damage to portions of the west wall of the main enclosure and removal of sand in approximately 19,425 square feet of area within and west of the main enclosure. The Kaloko road and picnic area have been assessed, cleaned of debris and opened to the public.

[Kathy Billings, Superintendent]

Yosemite NP

Power Restored To Park

Electrical power was restored to Yosemite on Saturday. The park had been without electrical power since Sunday, March 20th, after a severe winter storm affected the area. The winter storm dropped several feet of new snow on Yosemite over the last week, causing snowy and icy conditions on the roadways, downed trees on the roadways, landslides, and damage to the electrical power lines throughout the park and surrounding communities. All roads into Yosemite are open, including park entrances on Highways 120, 140, and 41. All park services were fully operating by this past weekend except for the Yosemite Valley campgrounds, which will open back up to the public today. Bus service to Yosemite via the Highway 140 corridor on the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System resumed its normal schedule yesterday - current schedules can be found at HYPERLINK "http://www.yarts.com/" http://www.yarts.com/. For 24-hour road conditions in Yosemite, please call 209-372-0200. Road conditions outside of the park can be found by calling 1-800-427-7623. [Scott Gediman, Kari Cobb]

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/):

National Capital Region - The annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which draws over a million visitors to Washington and the National Mall's Tidal Basin area each year, began this past Saturday and will continue through this coming Sunday.

Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings and the status of legislation pertinent to the NPS. There was little NPS-related activity in Congress last week and little is projected for coming weeks save for a budget request hearing this Wednesday.

Glen Canyon NRA - Hunter Bailey has been selected as the chief ranger for Glen Canyon and Rainbow Bridge. Photo.

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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).

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