NPS Visitor and Resource Protection
The Morning Report
Monday, August 13, 2012


INCIDENTS

Grand Teton National Park (WY)
Five Boaters Rescued From Snake River

While conducting an afternoon scenic float trip on the Snake River last Friday afternoon, a Triangle X Ranch river guide rescued five boaters after their 12-foot Tributary raft hit a downed tree lodged in a channel near the historic Bar BC Ranch and flipped upside down. All five rafters were thrown into the fast-flowing water and ended up swimming until they could get to a riverbank and pull themselves from the current. Karen Pond was rowing her friend Mary Jo McNamee's boat when she struck the downed tree with its ‘root ball' facing upstream. The strong current flipped the raft upside down and temporarily trapped some of the boaters underneath before they were able to swim away from the craft and get downstream, away from the tree and its branches. Pond and her fellow rafters began their float trip on the Snake River at Deadman's Bar landing, about seven miles upstream of the accident. The Triangle X Ranch boatman called the Teton Interagency Dispatch Center to report the rafting accident and then helped the five women get aboard his raft and floated them with his onboard guests to the Moose landing, where rangers met them and determined that none needed medical care. River rangers expressed their appreciation for the help given by the Triangle X Ranch river guide. Park concessioners are often the first to arrive after a river accident occurs, and their ‘Good Samaritan' rescues can help boaters who may otherwise be stranded or in need of medical attention before rangers can reach a remote river location.
[Submitted by Jackie Skaggs, Public Affairs Officer]




Mount Rainier National Park (WA)
Boy Rescued Following Fall Into Canyon

On the afternoon of August 8th, a 13-year-old boy fell 40 feet into the narrow box canyon chasm below the popular viewpoint at Christine Falls. Miraculously, he suffered only a broken arm in the far. Rangers treated him at the scene, set up a technical high-angle raising system, lifted him out, and transported him to Morton General Hospital. Eighteen people were involved in the operation. The incident commander of this rescue was Stefan Lofgren.
[Submitted by R. Chuck Young, Chief Ranger]




Mount Rainier National Park (WA)
Climber Rescued From Mountain

An Alpine Ascents International concessions guide came upon a 48-year-old climber exhibiting symptoms of a myocardial infarction at about 8,000 feet on the Muir Snowfield on the afternoon of August 8th. Climbing rangers responded from Camp Muir, while a litter team was organized and ascended from Paradise.  He was packaged and moved via a ski patrol litter to a point where they were met by the litter team from Paradise.  The man was carried out to Paradise, where he was transferred to the care of the crew of an Airlift Northwest helicopter that had landed at a helispot just below Paradise. Eleven people were involved in the rescue operation. Climbing supervisor Brian Hasebe served as IC for this operation.
[Submitted by R. Chuck Young, Chief Ranger]




Chiricahua National Monument (AZ)
Update On July Flash Flood

On July 23rd, Bonita Creek experienced one of the largest flash floods to have occurred in the park in at least three decades, causing the closure of the Bonita Creek Campground. A storm dropped eight-tenths of an inch of rain on soils that had been saturated by several days of rain, producing six feet of floodwater. Bonita Creek is usually a dry wash, but this flash flood filled low water crossings and overtopped a foot bridge. Floodwater is known to have reached this height only twice in the past 30 years, including a 1993 flood in which a 2.8 inch rain event followed several days of lighter rains.  Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team hydrologists had predicted that such a flood would be approximately three times larger following the 2011 Horseshoe II Fire.  In anticipation of this increased flood risk, BAER implementation personnel had worked in collaboration with park staff to develop strategic closure plans for the campground. These closures prevented the entrapment of visitors and possible loss of property and injury. To view a video on Burned Area Emergency Response, visit an NPS-produced interactive case study at this link. Click on this link for more information on BAER.
[Submitted by Adam Springer]




FIRE MANAGEMENT

NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire/Incident Situation Highlights

National Fire Activity – Preparedness Level 4

NIFC is at PL 4. Fifty-nine uncontained large fires are burning nationwide, up from 47 last Friday. Twenty incident management teams are committed.

Fire Weather Forecast

Widely scattered thunderstorms will form over the central Great Basin and the southern and central Rockies. Temperatures will continue to rise in the West under high pressure aloft. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will move through the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes region. Cooler conditions will settle into the northern and central Plains, while mild conditions continue in the Northeast.

To see a NOAA map of today's critical fire weather areas, click on this link: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/fire_wx/fwdy1.html

Fire Summary (Five Day Trend)

Day

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Mon

Date

8/7

8/8

8/9

8/10

8/13

Initial Attack Fires

260

228

191

293

157

New Large Fires

16

15

13

8

4

Large Fires Contained

17

8

8

9

8

Uncontained Large Fires

44

49

56

47

59

National Resource Commitments (Five Day Trend)

Day

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Mon

Date

8/7

8/8

8/9

8/10

8/13

Area Command Teams

0

0

0

1

1

NIMO Teams

1

1

1

1

2

Type 1 Teams

1

3

4

4

6

Type 2 Teams

10

13

13

12

11

NPS Fire Summaries

No updates on National Park Service fires have been received since yesterday.


Details on these NPS fires have been extracted from current NIFC, InciWeb and other reports:

  • Reading Fire, Lassen Volcanic NP – The fire has now burned 19,150 acres and is 10% contained. It's being managed by Morcome's Type 2 team; a total of 1,193 firefighters and overhead are committed. Active fire behavior is reported, with single and group tree torching, long range spotting for up to a half mile, high intensity burning of heavy timber fuels and moderate rates of spread. Additional hiking trails from Snag Lake south to Juniper Lake and Horseshoe Lake were closed yesterday due to approaching fire. The Lassen Volcanic National Park Highway continues to be closed for seven miles from Manzanita Lake to Summit Lake. Summit Lake, Butte Lake, Lost Creek and Crags Campgrounds remain closed. Numerous trails remain closed in the park, including the PCT from Corral Meadows to the north boundary, Paradise Meadows, Terrace Lakes, Painted Dunes, Cinder Cone, Twin Lakes, Cluster Lakes, Butte Lake, Widow Lake, and trails west of Snag Lake. All USFS roads, trails, and the area south of Highway 44 and east of Highway 89 in the vicinity of Old Station remain closed. For more information, go to the team's InciWeb site (http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3112/ ) or the park's fire update web page (http://www.nps.gov/lavo/parkmgmt/current-fire-acitivity.htm).

For additional information on all fires, check the following National Park Service and NIFC web sites:

NIFC

NPS




PARKS AND PEOPLE

Mount Rainier National Park (WA)
Passing Of Ted Cox

Ted Cox, 70, a seasonal trails laborer at Camp Muir, passed away from complications related to an aggressive form of cancer on August 5th.

Ted's career at Mount Rainier was defined by meticulously taking care of the waste and water systems for Camp Muir, arguably one of the world's most difficult utility systems to maintain.  He did so with pride, dedication, and joy, which earned him the unofficial and affectionate title of "Mayor of Camp Muir." 

By performing his duties so well and with such disarming charm, climbing rangers were better able to focus on the pressing needs of public safety and resource protection. Each week in the late spring and summer, Ted began his work shift by hiking to the 10,000-foot-high camp, where we would reside for four days. On each trip, he would pack and haul heavy loads of supplies and materials; often he performed arduous and physically demanding tasks at high altitude, always an impressive feat. This is something that Ted did with gleeful pride up until his diagnosis this past June.

With a playful and light-hearted grin, Ted often said that maintaining the critical waste system at Camp Muir was his "life's work." He was serious about that, too, as he loved the mountain community and the unique personalities that he would meet day to day. 

Ted did more than just maintain a utility system, however; he also cared for the staff as a non-judgmental friend and confidant, and always kept the peace amongst a dynamic crew of equally dynamic personalities and situations. Ted was the person that rangers and guides could rely upon to help maintain cohesiveness and peace within the sometimes intense and stressful situations that can exist at 10,000 feet. 

Before Mount Rainier, Ted worked at Olympic National Park in the maintenance division and in the off-season lived in Sequim, Washington, and in Talkeetna, Alaska. He will be sorely missed by the guides, rangers, his friends, and the public who had the good fortune to meet Ted at Camp Muir or while hiking up or down from Paradise.

A memorial service will be planned in celebration of Ted's life, and information on the service will be announced shortly. 
[Submitted by R. Chuck Young, Chief Ranger]




Workforce Management
Marcia Schramm To Retire

Marcia Schramm, senior advisor to the workforce management associate director, is retiring on Friday, August 31st. 

Marcia began and is ending her career in the NPS.  Over the past six years, Marcia has been very active in leading many of the efforts associated with the HR transformation and most recently creating a Servicewide new employee orientation program which is part of "Call to Action" item number 35, "Welcome Aboard."  She has be a strong advocate for increasing the capacity, consulting skills, and the professionalism of the human occupation within the Service.  She also recently led a team to create tools to help new employees and supervisors during the onboarding process that will be rolled out in the next few weeks.

In 1979 Marcia began as a clerk-typist for the Denver Service Center, where she was introduced to and accepted her first position in human resources.  Marcia has spent most of her career in the HR field and has held a variety of HR positions in Minerals Management, the Internal Revenue Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the NPS, both in parks and the Washington Office. 

When she returned to the NPS in 1995, she served as human resources officer for Mojave National Preserve and Harpers Ferry Center, Servicewide training manager for administration, business practices, concessions and the specialty fields, and, most recently, as the senior advisor to the associate director for workforce management.  During her tenure, she was also very active in helping to develop and deliver the curriculum for the Compass II orientation program and in the first roll out of the Fundamentals program.  She even spent a summer detailed to the Fundamentals program at Albright as an instructor.

Marcia is excited to join her husband Dennis in retirement.  They have many plans to travel and spend time with their children and grandchildren, parents and siblings, as well as visit as many of the parks as they can in 2016 to celebrate the Centennial.

A retirement reception will be held from noon until 1:30 at the NPS office at 66 South Van Gordon in Lakewood, Colorado, on Thursday, August 30th.  An album is being put together to present to her during the reception, so if you have memories, pictures, or cards you want to have included, please email them to Donald_James@nps.gov or send them to Don James, NPS, 12795 W. Alameda Parkway, Lakewood, CO  80007.
[Submitted by Kate Richardson, Kate_Richardson@nps.gov, 202-329-4393]




Yosemite National Park (CA)
GS-0025-11 Supervisory Law Enforcement Wilderness Manager

The person selected will supervise a staff of from three to twelve employees carrying out all aspects of visitor and resource protection duties. She/he will oversee three complex and specialized resource protection operations – wilderness horse mounted patrol, climbing management, and the Nordic ski patrol and Badger Pass permit operations. 

For details, click on the announcement below. For more information, contact ranger Ed Dunlavey at 209-372-0501 or at ed_dunlavey@nps.gov.

It closes on August 20th.
 More Information...




Death Valley National Park (CA)
GS-0303-4 Visitor Use Assistants

Death Valley has issued an announcement for a visitor use assistant. Click on the link below for a copy. It closes on August 24th
 More Information...




Pacific West Region
GS-0341-11 Administrative Officer

Dates: 07/25/2012 - 08/07/2012

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument/Minidoka National Historic Site is seeking applicants for an administrative officer position. The closing date for the announcement has been extended to August 14th.

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, located on the Snake River Plain and the Snake River in south central Idaho, is 4,351 acres in size and is comprised of world-class paleontological resources. The Monument was established in 1988 to protect the outstanding vertebrate fossils dating to the Pliocene Epoch (3-4 million years ago). The Monument contains the Hagerman Horse Quarry, a National Natural Landmark recognized as one of the six most important fossil sites in the world regarding the fossil history of the horse. There are over 600 fossil sites within the park that are internationally known for their quantity, quality, and species diversity. The park also includes a portion of the Oregon Trail, being one of only three NPS units that contain a portion of the Oregon National Historic Trail.

Minidoka National Historic Site is comprised of 405 acres, including an 8-acre unit on Bainbridge Island, WA, added to the park in 2008. The purpose of the park is to provide opportunities for public education and interpretation of the internment and incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The national historic site protects and manages resources related to the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho and the Japanese-American Memorial at Bainbridge Island. The park works cooperatively with other state and local agencies, and organizations such as The Conservation Fund and Friends of Minidoka. Created in 2001, the park is entering a period of intense development to implement its General Management Plan, including rehabilitation of historic buildings, development of visitor facilities, and presentation of educational programming. Minidoka National Historic Site is approximately 40 miles from Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument Visitor Center. 

The person selected will be stationed at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument headquarters in Hagerman, Idaho.

Click on the link below for more information.

It closes on August 7th.
[Submitted by Wendy Janssen, Superintendent, wendy_janssen@nps.gov, (208) 843-4110]  More Information...




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NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site:

http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id;=8728&lv;=2&pgid;=3504

All reports should now be submitted via this automated system.