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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Monday, August 27, 2012 INCIDENTS Southeast Region Tropical Storm Isaac Arrives In Southeast Tropical Storm Isaac has moved into the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to become a hurricane shortly. Landfall is expected along the Louisiana-Mississippi coastline on Wednesday. Since last week and through this past weekend, Southeast Region has held daily hurricane planning teleconferences with forty or more participants, including all affected and potentially affected parks, key central office staff from WASO, SERO and NERO, the Eastern Incident Management Team, meteorologists and other principals. All necessary preparations have been made and actions taken. Here's how things stood as of late Sunday night: Gulf Islands NS - The park's Mississippi islands were closed at sunset on Saturday and protection rangers spent yesterday checking the areas to assure nobody was still out there. The Florida islands were closed yesterday at 6 p.m. Preparations on the mainland will be completed this morning and will be followed by employee checkout. Dry Tortugas NP - The park was closed on Saturday. All licensed commercial transport to the park, including ferry boat and seaplane services, was suspended, as were all visitor services in the park. Everglades NP - The park, including the Gulf Coast Visitor Center, Shark Valley Visitor Center, East Everglades, Flamingo and the main park road, were closed to visitors on Friday evening. All licensed commercial services and visitor services in the park were suspended until the storm's passage. De Soto NM - The park is operating under ICS. All facilities were secured by late Saturday. The park is closed and employees have been released. Big Cypress NP - Temporary closures were put into effect on Saturday. Effective at noon that day, all licensed commercial services and visitors services and recreational access to the backcountry were suspended until the storm's passage. Biscayne NP - The park was closed over the weekend. Because Isaac has moved past South Florida and is no longer a threat to the park, it will reopen this morning. The incident commander has reported that the park has not sustained any damage as a result of the heavy rains and strong winds that Isaac brought over the weekend. The Eastern IMT remains on standby to report to any park or parks needing assistance after the storm's passage. [Compiled from IMT and park reports] Denali NP&P Grizzly Bear Attacks And Kills Backpacker R.W., 49, of San Diego, was killed by a grizzly bear on Friday while on a solo backpacking trip in the park. R.W. had been in the Denali backcountry for three nights when he was killed. He may have recently hiked in other areas of Alaska prior to coming to the park, but it is not known at this time if he had previous backcountry experience in Denali. On Saturday afternoon, state troopers assisting rangers and park wildlife biologists shot and killed a bear that was defending the kill site along the Toklat River as the recovery team attempted to reach R.W.'s remains. The bear killed was a large male bear. After determining the area was safe, a team of five rangers moved in to complete the field investigation. R.W.'s remains were removed Saturday evening and will be sent to the medical examiner in Anchorage. The body of the dead bear was necropsied Saturday evening. The results of the necropsy, combined with the photographs taken by the victim prior to the attack, confirm that this was the animal that killed R.W. On Friday afternoon, three day hikers discovered an abandoned backpack and evidence of a violent struggle along the Toklat River approximately three miles south of the Toklat River rest area and immediately notified the park. Rangers launched a helicopter and an airplane from park headquarters that evening. At least one grizzly bear was still at the site, although there may have been multiple bears. The bear(s) moved away when the helicopter approached and landed. Two rangers on board the helicopter got out and confirmed the location of the victim's remains. After a short time a bear returned to the cache site while the rangers were investigating the scene, forcing the rangers to retreat to the gravel bar. The bear then began to circle around them. Rangers fired two rifle shots at it, but the bear was not hit. The rangers were able to leave by helicopter as darkness was setting in. Evidence indicates that the attack occurred near the river's open braided gravel bar and that the bear subsequently dragged the remains to a more secluded, brushy cache site. An emergency closure has been put in place prohibiting all backcountry hiking and camping in that backcountry unit and those adjacent to it until further notice. Although no park visitors were sighted or known to be in the immediate vicinity of the incident, park staff contacted three parties in adjacent areas and flew them via helicopter to the Toklat River rest area. This incident is the first known bear mauling fatality recorded in Denali. All backpackers in the park receive mandatory ‘Bear Aware' training prior to receiving a backcountry permit, including a 30-minute safety video and a safety briefing from the backcountry ranger staff. Backpackers are also required to carry a HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/bearsafety.htm" bear resistant food container. More details on this fatal incident will be released as the investigation continues. [Kris Fister, Public Affairs Officer] Glacier Bay NP&P Tour Boat Evacuated After Hitting Rock In Bay On the morning of August 19th, the tour boat Baranoff Wind struck a rock while travelling in the upper west arm of Glacier Bay National Park, causing the vessel to begin taking on water in its engine compartment. There were 84 passengers on board at the time, including one NPS interpretive ranger and five crew members. The Holland America cruise ship Volendam was nearby and provided immediate assistance by evacuating stranded passengers. Rangers were on scene shortly after the incident occurred and provided EMS care. US Coast Guard Air Station Sitka responded with an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and provided a dewatering pump. Injuries were minor and only one patient and his companion asked to be transported via NPS vessel rather than continue on the trip in the cruise ship. No pollution was released into the water and the vessel was towed to Sitka for repairs. The National Park Service is working with the USCG on the accident investigation. [Gus Martinez, Bay District Ranger] Yellowstone NP One Killed, Eight Injured In Head-On Collision A two vehicle head-on collision was reported to park dispatch via a 911 call last Monday afternoon. The accident occurred on the Grand Loop Road between Lake Village and Grant Village, about two miles north of Pumice Point. Initial responding emergency units, primarily from Lake, Grant and Old Faithful, quickly extinguished a small fire in one vehicle and then began treatment of nine injured people. ICS was established and nine NPS ambulances and three NPS fire engines were dispatched in addition to more law enforcement and traffic control personnel. A hand line and extrication tools were also sent. A total of 22 EMS professionals (both ALS and BLS) and nine firefighters were eventually on scene. The three victims identified as most critical were taken to the Lake Clinic and then flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. Two of three who were not in critical condition were taken by ambulances to Old Faithful Clinic, with the third transported to West Park Hospital in Cody. The remaining three victims were assessed and treated on scene and then released. One of the visitors taken to Idaho Falls subsequently succumbed to her injuries. A total of 44 NPS employees, including an additional ambulance from Grand Teton NP, responded to this accident; dispatch, maintenance, interpretation and resource management employees also assisted. The IC was Klint Powell, Lake backcountry ranger. The accident remains under investigation. [Bonnie Schwartz, Deputy 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/): Office of Communications - Director Jarvis last Friday received a report from a prestigious panel of scientists who spent the last 12 months studying resource management in national parks. That report, entitled “Revisiting Leopold: Resource Stewardship in the National Parks,” is now available online. Office of Cultural Resources - The Office of Cultural Resources has reorganized, with the new structure in place as of August 12th. Links are provided to both the memorandum announcing details of the new structure and to a new organizational flow chart. Outer Banks Group - Barclay Trimble has been selected as the next superintendent for the Outer Banks Group - Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Wright Brothers National Memorial and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. * * * * The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). --- ### --- |