NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, August 19, 2011

INCIDENTS

Grand Teton NP

Rangers Rescue Ultralight Pilot Following Crash Landing

Rangers rescued the pilot of an ultralight aircraft on Tuesday night after he crashed his single seat aircraft between Spearhead Peak and Fox Creek Pass in the southern portion of the Teton Range. J.M., 57, of Louisville, Kentucky, sustained only minor injuries during his crash landing. After the accident, J.M. activated a locator beacon that sent an emergency signal to the Teton County sheriff's office in Idaho. That office routed a 911 call to dispatchers in Teton County in Wyoming, who then transferred the call to the Teton Interagency Dispatch Center in Moose at 7 p.m. J.M. began his flight from the Driggs, Idaho, airport and crashed just on the boundary between Grand Teton National Park and Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Due to the accident location - involving several federal, county and state jurisdictions - Teton County Search and Rescue staff coordinated with the park's emergency responders to initiate the rescue. Because of the late hour, combined with the availability of a Teton interagency contract helicopter and park rescue staff, rangers took the lead on organizing and conducting the rescue operation from the Lupine Meadows rescue cache. Two rangers flew aboard the helicopter and quickly spotted J.M. in an open area near Fox Creek Pass just north of Spearhead Peak. Because the terrain was broad and open, the helicopter was able to set down near J.M. He was flown out to an ambulance that took him to St. John's Medical Center for treatment. Rangers were able to mobilize, perform and complete the rescue operation by 8:45 p.m., just before the official time when air operations must cease due to darkness - often called the “pumpkin hour.” [Jackie Skaggs, Public Affairs Specialist]

New River Gorge NR

Three Cited In Bath Salts Drug Case

On the afternoon of August 1st, rangers received report of a naked woman on a remote bank of the New River. She'd flagged down a passing party of private boaters, saying that she was being chased by someone. In short order, rangers were able to make contact and she told them she and two others had snorted “ HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylenedioxypyrovalerone" bath salts” the previous night. She also told rangers her friends were in the woods and that their car was parked somewhere in the area - but she was not really sure where. With the aid of a West Virginia Department of Forestry bloodhound, the woman's vehicle was soon located. It was found wrecked and stuck on a remote dirt road. As the search progressed, another woman and a man, both naked, soon emerged from the woods asking for help; both were under the influence of bath salts. All three of the people had spent most of the night wandering in the woods and were dehydrated and suffered from numerous cuts and insect bites. They were all transported to a local hospital by ambulance for treatment. Investigation revealed that the trio had driven to a remote part of the park the previous day and set up a “camp” by the roadside near Dowdy Creek. After ingesting the bath salts, they stripped naked due to the heat and then became separated from one another, wandering around in the woods until discovered by rangers. Rangers issued citations to the trio at the hospital. This is the second known bath salts incident handled by rangers during the summer. In both cases, subjects hallucinated and became paranoid under the influence of the drug, wrecked their vehicles, and were taken from their accident scenes by EMS. Ranger CW Mitchem was IC for the incident and is the case ranger. [Jeff West, 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/):

Joshua Tree NP - Months in planning, Joshua Tree National Park's 75th birthday celebration took place on August 10th amid near perfect summer weather conditions.

Park Facility Management Division - The winners of the "My Green Parks" video contest have been selected. A list is provided along with a link to a web page where you can see some of the winning videos.

Northeast Region - Rolf Diamant, the first superintendent of Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller, and Nora Mitchell, director of the Conservation Study Institute located there, will be retiring in September.

Natural Resource Stewardship and Science - Dr. Herbert C. Frost, Associate Director of the Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, has received DOI's Meritorious Service Award. Photo.

Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation, plus online training. Added to this week's calendar is a motorboat operator instructor certification course at Glen Canyon.

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced 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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