NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

INCIDENTS

Grand Teton NP

Rangers Conduct Simultaneous Rescues In Garnet Canyon

Rangers conducted two rescues in Garnet Canyon on the afternoon of Saturday, August 6th. The first incident was reported to the Jenny Lake Ranger Station at 11 a.m. that morning. R.M., 70, of Birmingham, Alabama, was hiking down a snowfield near Spaulding Falls in Garnet Canyon when he slipped, fell and tumbled into piles of rocks. Two hikers in the area at the time helped R.M. descend to the Meadows area of Garnet Canyon, where rangers eventually met the party. One hiker descended the canyon to get cell phone service and placed an emergency call directly to the ranger station. R.M. was part of a private party that intended to summit the Grand on Saturday. After spending Friday night at the Lower Saddle, R.M. and his son decided not to attempt the climb but hike out instead. An EMT and emergency room nurse, who were in the area encountered R.M. and provided initial medical care until rangers arrived on scene at 11:45 a.m. Rangers determined R.M.'s injuries to be severe enough that he would not be able to safely hike out of the canyon, so requested that the Teton interagency contract helicopter fly him from a landing zone in the Meadows to the rescue cache at Lupine Meadows. He was met there by a park ambulance and transported to St. John's Medical Center in Jackson for further treatment. R.M. did not have a helmet, ice axe, or crampons during his mountain trek. While on scene with R.M., rangers were notified just before 1 p.m. of another individual who needed medical assistance. H.H., 34, of Rexburg, Idaho, had intended to summit the Grand with her party on Saturday, but started feeling ill and began a retreat from the base of the headwall of the Lower Saddle. H.H. was descending on her own when the ER nurse who had assisted R.M. encountered her and directed H.H. to stop and wait for help. Given the nature of H.H.'s illness, rangers decided to stabilize her and assist her in hiking down to the Meadows in Garnet Canyon where she was also met by the interagency helicopter and flown inside the ship to Lupine Meadows. [Jackie Skaggs, Public Affairs Specialist]

Lake Mead NRA

Two Drown In Separate Weekend Incidents

On the evening of Friday, August 5th, rangers learned that a man had disappeared while swimming in a cove in The Narrows. A search was begun that night and continued the next day. His body was found Saturday morning near the shoreline in about two feet of water, just east of The Narrows. The man and a friend had been boating and were heading back to shore when they decided to check out the cove. The man reportedly jumped into the water to swim and soon began screaming that he was drowning. His friend threw a rope to him, but the man was unable to grab it and disappeared. According to the man's friend, he was intoxicated and not wearing a lifejacket. A day later, on Sunday, August 7th, rangers received another report of a man who disappeared while swimming, this time on Lake Mohave. Within minutes of entering the water in Arizona Bay, the 20-year-old told a friend that he couldn't breathe, then went under. He wasn't wearing a life jacket. Efforts to find him have so far been unsuccessful. The water ranges from 80 to 100 feet deep in the area. [Andrew S. Muñoz, Public Affairs Specialist]

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/):

Grand Canyon NP - This summer, two dozen underserved middle school students from Tucson are hiking and camping in Grand Canyon through a program called Parks in Focus that's sponsored jointly by the park and the Tucson-based Udall Foundation.

National Park Foundation - The National Park Foundation has is seeking applications for its next round of park impact grants. Applications for these small grants are due by September 16th.

Fire and Aviation Management - The Branch of Structural Fire has posted the summer edition of its newsletter. A link is provided.

Human Resources Operations Center - Susan Shortino, an employee with the National Park Service for almost five years, died on July 27th after a long battle with cancer. 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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