NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

INCIDENTS

Lake Mead NRA

Man Sentenced To Jail For Petroglyph Defacement

D.S., 21, of Bullhead City, Arizona, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $9,995 in restitution for defacing petroglyphs with paint balls in the Grapevine Canyon area of the park. Grapevine Canyon is considered one of the most sacred places by Colorado River Indian tribes, and the sentence followed a two-hour hearing in which members of six different Colorado River Indian tribes addressed the court. D.S., who pled guilty to a charge of unlawful defacement of an archeological resource, a felony violation of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, was also ordered to serve a year of supervised release and to perform 50 hours of community service. Grapevine Canyon lies within the park just west of Laughlin, Nevada. The area contains over 700 petroglyphs and numerous rock shelters, and is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. D.S. admitted that he passed signs at the entrance to the canyon saying that it contained cultural resources and that it was illegal to damage and deface them. He also admitted that he knew that the petroglyphs were important to Native Americans. D.S. used a fully automatic paint-ball gun and oil-based pellets to shoot at the petroglyphs. Approximately 38 areas containing petroglyphs were defaced, and hundreds of paint balls were scattered and recovered from the Canyon. A ranger investigated after receiving a report that people were in the canyon with spray paint. D.S. was with two other individuals, one of whom was a 12-year-old boy. Park staff, assisted by members of area tribes, removed the paint, but residue remains on the petroglyph panels. Colorado River tribes view the Grapevine Canyon area as sacred and believe it is the birthplace of many of their tribes. Archeologists believe that the area has been inhabited and used by humans for at least 1100 years. [Andrew S. Muñoz, Public Affairs Specialist]

White Sands NM

Two Lost Hikers Rescued Through Interagency SAR

Early on the morning of August 15th, rangers received a report of two hikers who had been lost within the sand dunes overnight. They had planned on camping overnight on Sunday, but became disoriented while returning to their backcountry camp site. The park and Alamo West Volunteer Search and Rescue began search operations under a unified command, with Holloman Air Force Base providing an HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UAV" unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to help with the search effort. With the help of the UAV, rangers were able to narrow the search area to within a quarter mile of where the lost hikers were eventually found. An Army air search and rescue unit out of White Sands Missile Range provided additional air support and spotted the lost hikers just after 11 a.m. The pair, who had been lost for over 12 hours, were found in the dune field more than eight miles from where they had left their car. Both were treated for dehydration and transported to Gerald Champion Hospital in Alamogordo. The park's military and community partners frequently provide critical air support for rescue operations, which greatly helps the success of rescue operations in the difficult terrain. [Joe Hughes, Acting Chief Ranger]

Grand Teton NP

Climber Rescued From North Ridge Of Grand Teton

Rangers rescued a 28-year-old climber just before dark last Friday after he became stranded near the top of the Grand Stand below the North Face of the Grand Teton. J.S. of Florence, Montana, and his climbing partner intended to climb the Black Ice Couloir on the northwest side of the Grand, but they couldn't find the entrance to the couloir and got off route. They ended up on the Grand Stand instead, a common route-finding mistake. Just before 5 p.m., the Teton Interagency Dispatch Center received notification from the county sheriff's office that a SPOT rescue locator had been activated somewhere on the Grand Teton. Rangers flew to the area by helicopter to assess the situation. A ranger inside the helicopter used a white board with the words “OK?” written on it to ask the climbers if they were all right. The climbers gave a thumbs down sign, so rangers responded by writing the word “rescue?” and the climbers gave a thumbs up, indicating they were in trouble and needed help. Based on the climbers' location, rangers flew to a landing zone on the west side of Teewinot Mountain. From there, one ranger was inserted via short-haul to J.S.'s location just after 8 p.m. Once on scene, the ranger prepared J.S. for a short-haul evacuation off the mountain to the Lupine Meadows rescue cache on the valley floor. J.S. was uninjured and released soon after landing. After rescuing J.S., the helicopter made one last flight to retrieve the other rangers from the landing zone on Teewinot. The ship landed back at Lupine Meadows at 8:47 p.m., just two minutes before it was required to stop flying due to darkness. This time is called “pumpkin hour” and is 30 minutes after official sunset. By the time rangers reached J.S., his climbing partner had begun to backtrack the route in hopes of reaching the Lower Saddle before it got too dark to continue. After realizing it was too dark to safely backtrack across the Valhalla Traverse, J.S.'s partner decided to spend the night on the mountain and begin his retreat again at first light on Saturday. The climbing partner reached the Lower Saddle of the Grand Teton early on Saturday morning. [Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, 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/):

San Antonio Missions NHP - Mission San José reopened on Friday, August 19th, after undergoing a year-long $2.2 million renovation by the Archdiocese of San Antonio through funds raised by the Las Misiones Capital Campaign.

Director's Office - A new initiative, entitled "A Call to Action: Preparing for a Second Century of Stewardship and Engagement," will be launched on Founders' Day on Thursday with a first-ever national employee town hall meeting. Download the “Call to Action” and submit your questions today.

Hot Springs NP - Leonard Lawson, 55, chief of facility management at Hot Springs National Park, passed away on August 19th after a brief and courageous battle with cancer. Photo.

* * * *

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).

--- ### ---