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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Tuesday, November 6, 2012 (Revised) Note: This report is being retransmitted to include a late arriving report from the incident management team overseeing the hurricane response in the New York City area. INCIDENTS Eastern Areas Initial Hurricane Damage Reports Received The National Park Service incident management team overseeing the response to Hurricane Sandy yesterday completed its second day of operation from its command center operation at HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/gate/historyculture/fort-wadsworth.htm" Fort Wadsworth, part of Gateway National Recreation Area. Specialized support crews are continuing their work supporting employee emergency needs, conducting damage assessments, and removing debris in the affected areas. At present, 253 National Park Service employees from 38 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia are working with the team, with more staff continuing to arrive. National park sites assigned to this team are widespread and include all of national parks in the New York Harbor area - the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Governors Island, African Burial Ground, Castle Clinton, Federal Hall, Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, General Grant, Hamilton Grange, St. Paul's Church, and Gateway. The team is also supporting parks on Long Island and in New Jersey, including Sagamore Hill, Fire Island, Morristown, and Thomas Edison. Preliminary damage assessments and response to critical needs of the parks continue. The response is being framed by the need to work safely and provide support for all NPS employees in the affected areas. Yesterday, a meteorologist arrived on site to forecast the nor'easter predicted for Wednesday night. In preparation for the storm, field operations are developing an inclement weather contingency plan. The following actions were also undertaken: National Parks of New York Harbor Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island - Facility assessment teams continued assessment of the islands' structures. Structural engineers traveled by U.S. Park Police boat to access the bridge to Ellis Island. Crews continued clearing debris and trash. The island is not open to the public due to safety concerns. Governors Island - Assessment teams and resource advisors have been assessing the area. Extensive damage to park electronics was reported. The park remains closed until further notice. Grant's Tomb, Hamilton Grange and St. Paul's - The Natchez Trace Parkway saw team removed debris from Hamilton Grange and St. Paul's. A 70 foot tree was removed from the area of seven headstones; four of the headstones were damaged, while the remaining three were not. The stones date back to between 1790 and 1820. Plans are being made for their restoration. St. Paul's is open to the public. Staff will return to Hamilton Grange on Wednesday for a trial run and if successful it will open on Thursday. Federal Hall and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace - The sites have no assessed damage, but remain closed due to lack of power. Castle Clinton and African Burial Ground - The parks have no power, phone or internet service, but damage is minimal. Gateway National Recreation Area Jamaica Bay Unit - Crews are working on acquiring HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conex_box" Conex boxes, identifying locations to place roll off dumpsters for debris collection, and identifying and securing an open pit well. Staten Island Unit - Teams worked to remove debris and placed 24 pallets of sandbags to secure breeches in the northwest, northeast and southwest areas of Battery Weed. Maintenance workers assessed Building 6 and the historic hangar in Miller Park and found that work will be needed. Sandy Hook Unit - FMSS teams have continued assessment of damage at Sandy Hook; detailed assessments will follow. Traffic on the road to the Sandy Hook Unit has increased. Crews are starting to weatherize for winter months ahead. Public health specialists have assessed the wastewater treatment plant and crews began pumping it dry so repairs could begin. Fire Island National Seashore and Sagamore Hill National Historic Site Plumbers and electricians began to winterize and secure homes. Water service wells currently are running on generators; getting power to them is a priority. Police patrols have been increased and five four-person teams of tree cutters arrived and are clearing trees and brush. Beach areas and overwashes continue to be assessed. Morristown National Historical Park Approximately 500 hazardous trees have been identified and prioritized for removal, and cleanup continued. There is no power to the area. The park will be closed until further notice. Edison National Historical Park The Northeast Region arborist team continued to take down hazard trees. Power was briefly restored, but then lost. The park is closed until further notice. Social media remain active. Nearly 16,200 people have accessed the Facebook site to date. The Twitter site continues to re-tweet incoming information from the parks and other agencies. As one of the member agencies of the National Interagency Fire Center, the National Park Service is also involved in NIFC hurricane recovery operations. As of yesterday, eleven incident management teams had been committed to the recovery - three HYPERLINK "http://www.nifc.gov/nimo/nimo_summary.htm" NIMO teams, two Type 1 teams, and six Type 2 teams. They are variously engaged in managing staging areas or emergency operations centers, clearing roads, or otherwise providing support in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Fifteen NPS employees were committed to this effort. More information on the Hurricane Sandy response can be found at these websites: Hurricane response and recovery - A HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=1168&lv=3" webpage with current information on the NPS response to Hurricane Sandy. Resource needs shopping list - A HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/documents/SHOPPING%20LIST%2011-5.pdf" listing of incident management team positions that still need to be filled, updated daily. NPS Superstorm Sandy Response - A HYPERLINK "https://www.facebook.com/HurricaneResponseNPS" Facebook page managed by the IMT with updates on the response. SandyResponseNPS - A HYPERLINK "http://mobile.twitter.com/NPS_Sandy?" Twitter page managed by the IMT with updates on the response. [Linda Friar, Incident Information Officer] Blue Ridge Parkway Two Arrested For Mining Minerals In September of 2011, rangers discovered an area just below the parkway near the Mt. Mitchell area where recent digging into an old gem mine was apparent. The area was monitored as digging continued. On October 13th and 14th, two men were found in the site and were arrested for digging and removing HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyanite" kyanite from the pits. Both said that they had visited and dug at the site before, as well as sites on adjacent Forest Service property. A joint investigation is underway with the USFS to identify other individuals who are mining the sites. [Tim Francis, Pisgah District Ranger] Shenandoah NP Rangers Make Six Ginseng Poaching Cases Between Thursday, September 20th, and Saturday, October 6th, protection rangers detected and apprehended six separate groups involved in the illegal digging and taking of ginseng plants from the park. Eleven people were issued multiple mandatory citations and three others were arrested. One of those arrested is a commercial dealer in Virginia. A total of 185 plants were seized. A warrant was served to retrieve information off a GPS unit that the dealer possessed at the time of arrest. ISB is assisting in the investigation. Ranger Stu Curtin is the case officer. [Jennifer Flynn, Deputy Superintendent] 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/): Minute Man NHP - On Saturday, October 27th, the park celebrated the completion of the restoration of Barrett Farm and the transfer of its ownership to the NPS. The farm is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the country's most important Revolutionary War landmarks. Office of Communications - A compelling video featuring Dan Hottle from Yellowstone National Park is part of the National Park Service's Veterans Day commemoration. Pictured Rocks NL - Chris Case, the facility manager at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, will retire on December 1st after a 38 year career with the National Park Service. * * * * 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). --- ### --- |