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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Thursday, July 26, 2012 INCIDENTS Chiricahua NM Bonita Canyon Campground Closed Due To Flooding The Bonita Canyon Campground has been closed until further notice due to flooding. Nearly an inch of rain fell during the evening hours of Monday, July 23rd, resulting in flooding of the area and forcing the closure of the campground and Bonita Canyon Drive, the only roadway in the park. Bonita Canyon Drive was cleared of debris and reopened yesterday, but, due to saturated soils and predictions for additional monsoonal rainfall, the campground will remain closed until further notice. The visitor center and all trails remain open. [Julena Campbell, Chief of Interpretation, Southeast Asia Group] North Cascades NP Search and Rescue Team Evacuates Fallen Mountaineer On Monday, July 16th, the park received notice of a HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPOT_Satellite_Messenger" SPOT beacon emergency alert from near the northern Picket Range. The beacon was registered to a man who had a week-long backcountry permit in the area for a party of two. Two rangers responded in the park's contracted search and rescue helicopter from HiLine Helicopters to investigate. The two climbers with the beacon were quickly found by the helicopter team, but at a location with no landing site nearby. The climbers clearly indicated over and over that they were okay, but seemed to gesture another message, at first difficult to understand. Gathering more information from the park's Wilderness Information Center, the SAR rangers eventually found that a party of six had a seriously injured climber in a nearby gully. This location also was not near a possible helicopter landing site. The two rangers and pilot found a staging site in the Access Creek basin and from there were able to insert a ranger into the accident site by helicopter. The ranger and patient were then short-hauled to the staging site. The patient was a 49-year-old man who had fallen an estimated 1200 feet across steep snow and rocks down a gully on Luna Peak's east flank. He suffered a head injury and extremity fractures. A medical helicopter from Airlift NW was brought in to fly him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he is expected to remain for another week. [Ken Hires] 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/): Alaska Regional Office - Katmai National Park and Preserve is one of the premier brown bear viewing areas in the world. The most recent bear survey documented over 2000 brown bears in the park and preserve. Through webcams, the park is now sharing this wonder with the world. Maggie Walker NHS - On Saturday, July 14th, Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site celebrated the graduation of students from its third annual Youth Summer Leadership Institute. Wilderness Stewardship - The Director's Wes Henry National Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Awards recognize outstanding contributions to wilderness preservation and stewardship. The 2011 recipients are Kyle Johnson and Death Valley National Park. Hagerman Fossil Beds NM - Twenty-one girls and boys, ages eight through thirteen, spent three days exploring the sciences of geology and paleontology at the park's Junior Ranger Paleo Camp last week. Office of Communications - Director Jarvis yesterday named Cameron (Cam) Sholly as the Service's associate director for visitor and resource protection. * * * * 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). --- ### --- |