NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

INCIDENTS

C&O Canal NHP

Two Rescued From Within Closed Area

The park has an ongoing construction project in the Big Slackwater area that involves the reconstruction of the towpath along the Potomac River. This two-mile section of towpath was destroyed by a storm in 1996, resulting in it being closed to visitor use since that date, and last year received ARRA funds for its reconstruction. On the evening of April 14th, two bicyclists, a father and his 15-year-old son, were on their return trip upstream on the towpath and decided it was safer to enter the closed section than to take the designated detour on the rural roads. They trespassed through three closed signs and a barricade to enter this area. While walking their bikes on this precarious route, the father slipped and fell into the river. He then swam out to a construction barge, where he became stranded while his son was stranded on the edge of the shore. He called 911 on his cell phone to be rescued. Rangers and local fire and rescue personnel responded to the incident. The two were rescued by boat and the father received an educational charge to obey closure signs. [Brad Clawson, 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/):

National Capital Region - National Capital Region has created an interpretive media team to support parks involved in the Civil War sesquicentennial by providing trained personnel who can help parks employ Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and other social media to improve their outreach to a broader audience.

Recreation Fee Program - TEL training will be held tomorrow for the interagency pass program and free annual pass for military personnel. This course will provide updates, information, and new standard operating procedures for several types of passes.

Prince William FP - On April 1st, over a hundred local military families gathered in the park to join the “Celebration of the Military Child Outdoors.” The event aimed to highlight the need to bring military kids into the great outdoors to relieve stress and bring families back together post-deployment.

Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - Lisa Kreeger-Norman has been selected as the new national victim assistance program manager for the National Park Service.

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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 the Assistant Director for Information Resources 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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