NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

INCIDENTS

Buffalo NR

Hiker Found After Being Lost For Six Days

On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 26th, park dispatch received a phone call from a woman who reported that her aunt and uncle had gone hiking in the Mill Creek area outside St. Joe on Saturday, five days earlier, but that only her uncle had returned. The creek is a tributary of the Buffalo River and part of it flows through the park. An interagency investigation was begun and the man was brought in for an interview. Based on his description of where he thought he and his sister had been hiking, interviewers assigned high probabilities of area (POAs) to corridors of Mill Creek outside the park boundaries and focused their initial search efforts there. Teams searched for the remainder of Wednesday's daylight hours and into the evening, but suspended searching a few hours after dark. The next morning, teams resumed searching and ranger Justin Gibbs reported to the incident as the NPS liaison. Gibbs coordinated a resource order for a search helicopter, made recommendations to the IC regarding search team tactics, search area delineation, clue awareness, volunteer management, expansion of the mission's ICS structure and media relations. In addition to the helicopter, the IC utilized ground searchers on foot, on horseback, and in 4WD vehicles and ATVs. Just before noon, one of the ATV teams reported that they had found the woman alive about two miles upstream of St. Joe in the Mill Creek drainage. They reported that she was exhausted, dehydrated, hypothermic, and had sustained multiple cuts, bruises and insect bites, but was otherwise in fair condition. A deputy picked her up via 4WD vehicle and transported her to a waiting ambulance from North Arkansas Regional Medical Center, which took her to a nearby hospital. She remained there for several days recovering from her six-day/five-night ordeal. She told investigators that she “just got lost” and that she ate hazel nuts and drank creek water for the duration of her unscheduled bivouac. Over 100 people from ten agencies and numerous civilian volunteers responded to this incident, and both the incident commander and the Searcy County Sheriff reported that the cooperation from the NPS liaisons was indispensable to the success of the mission. The park intends to host “Introduction to Search Operations and Search Management” classes in the near future and invite local sheriff's office employees to attend. [Kevin Moses, Middle Buffalo District Ranger/SAR Coordinator]

Rocky Mountain NP

Woman Dies In Fall While Hiking In Park

A 50-year-old Colorado woman took a 40- to 50-foot fall while hiking with a family member on the north side of Deer Mountain on the afternoon of Saturday, September 29th. Rangers reached her just after 8 p.m. that evening and determined that she did not survive the fall. Her body was found in steep, rocky terrain about three miles from the Deer Mountain trailhead. The body was flown out the following afternoon and turned over to the county coroner. [Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Officer]

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/):

Golden Gate NRA - On October 1st, a 16-inch naval rifle that once loomed over the surrender deck of the U.S.S. Missouri as World War II ended was saved from the blowtorch and delivered to Fort Cronkhite for display at historic Battery Townsley, one of the park's outstanding collection of seacoast fortifications that line the scenic hills on both sides of the Golden Gate.

Whiskeytown NRA - Whiskeytown hosted its second annual Harvest Fest on September 22nd. The free public event drew a crowd of 850 to the Tower House Historic District to explore and enjoy the 150-year-old fruit orchards of gold mining pioneers Charles Camden and Levi Tower.

Southeast Region - The compelling story of American Latino heritage in the United States from the early 19th century to today is the focus of Eastern National's new publication, American Latinos and the Making of the United States.

Office of the Comptroller - David Harrington, deputy comptroller and budget officer for the National Park Service, has retired after 36 of Federal service.

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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).

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