Eastern Areas
Hurricane Recovery Operations Continue
The National Park Service incident management team overseeing Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts in New York and New Jersey completed its twelfth day of operations yesterday. Currently working with the team are 500 National Park Service employees from 117 parks and 40 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, with more staff continuing to arrive.
The following areas have reopened – St. Paul's Church, Sagamore Hill, Morristown, Edison, General Grant, Hamilton Grange, Federal Hall, African Burial Ground and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace. Work continued at other sites; today's status reports follow:
- Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island – A crane was employed to reset a fuel tank, a US Park Police boat and a storage trailer. Windows and doorways are being weatherized at both sites. The seawalls and walkways were assessed, as was the structural integrity of the visitor dock at Liberty Island. Debris removal continues on both islands. On Ellis, large pieces of debris were removed to facilitate access to buildings. Debris removal continues in park offices and concession-operated areas.
- Castle Clinton – Castle Clinton remains closed until further notice.
- Gateway – Trail and levee clearing is ongoing on East and West Trails in the Jamaica Bay Unit; resource advisors are working with crews on clearing other trails. Four loads of debris were removed from Frank Charles Park. Fencing and wall breaches have been repaired at Miller Field in the Staten Island Unit. Chipping has been completed at the Navy Lodge and debris were removed from along the North Carolina Road, within Fort Wadsworth (100 loads to date), and at Great Kills and Battery Weed. Assessments of park buildings, roadways and parking lots were conducted in the Sandy Hook Unit. Windows and doorways there are being boarded up, and crews are removing debris from park roads and buildings.
- Fire Island – The east end adjacent to Smith Point County Park was partly reopened for pedestrian access to the beach, but the adjacent wilderness area (Otis Pike) remains closed. Visitors may walk to the breach at Old Inlet, but entering the water is prohibited. The Wilderness Visitor Center will be staffed from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., but the site has no power, electricity or bathrooms. Breach and overwash assessments and hazardous material removal continued. Hand crews and heavy equipment were used to continue debris cleanup along the shoreline. Maintenance staff continued the restoration of the Lighthouse Annex. Damaged boardwalk is being removed; where possible, damaged boards will be reused and/or salvaged.
- Morristown – Fort Nonsense, the Washington Headquarters Museum and the Ford Mansion are open; Jockey Hollow, New Jersey Brigade and the Cross Estate remain closed. Archeologists and arborists completed air spade operations at Ford Mansion. Crews continued hazard tree removal on the Jockey Hollow and New Jersey Brigade trails, and work began on hazards on the New Jersey Brigade trails.
More information on the response can be found at these websites:
- Hurricane response and recovery – A webpage with current information on the NPS response to Hurricane Sandy.
- Resource needs shopping list – A ”shopping list” of incident management team positions that still need to be filled, updated daily.
- Hurricane Sandy relief fund – E&AA has set up a relief fund web page where you can make donations in support of employees who were affected by the storm.
- Uniform donations – Information on donating uniforms to employees can be found at this web page.
- Facebook – A Facebook page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.
- Twitter – A Twitter page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.
- Flickr – A Flickr page managed by the IMT with images of the response.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore (NC)
Suicide Victim Found After Extended Search
On Tuesday, October 23rd, rangers were advised to be on the lookout
for a missing and suicidal man from Virginia Beach. The 44-year-old man
was thought to have a 9mm Beretta handgun in his possession. Four days
later, on Saturday, October 27th, rangers closing ORV access ramps due
to the approach of Hurricane Sandy came upon a pickup truck matching the
description of the one the man was driving, but with nobody around.
County dispatch confirmed that this was the vehicle associated with the
missing man. Rangers Mark Krebs, Peter Malionek and Benjamin Brdlik
started a search of the area – beaches, campground, parking lots
and restrooms – in an effort to find him, but eventually had to
suspend the search due to darkness and deteriorating weather conditions.
The search for the man resumed after the storm passed. On Wednesday,
November 7th, park staff found a body in the dunes and brush.
Investigation confirmed that it was the man's body and that he'd died of
a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Beretta was recovered at the
scene.
[Submitted by David W. Carter, Hatteras District Ranger]
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Alaska Region
GS-0455/0462 Firefighters
Alaska Region has a number of openings in several fire disciplines, including fuels reduction, fire ecology, GIS, fire communication and education, and fire monitoring. There are openings at a half dozen parks.
Apply now for seasonal jobs at the links below:
- https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/330275200
- https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/330263300
They close on February 28th.
Death Valley National Park (CA)
GS-0303-6/7 Supervisory Visitor Use Assistant
Death Valley has issued announcements for a supervisory visitor use assistant.
Click on the links below for copies of the announcement with full details on duties and procedures for applying:
They close, respectively, on November 16th and 23rd.
Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River
Pat Connolly To Retire
After 19 years with the National Park Service, Pat Connolly, chief of maintenance at Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, will retire on November 30th.
Pat entered federal service in 1971 when he enlisted in the U.S Marine Corps and served for six years as a field radio operator assigned to Marine Air Group 16 in Santa Ana, California. He later enlisted in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and the U. S. Army Reserve, where he served an additional 27 years, retiring at the rank of major. His assignments in the Army included infantry platoon leader, company commander, various staff officer positions and tactics training officer for the Pennsylvania Army National Guard Military Academy.
Pat began his NPS career as a seasonal maintenance mechanic in 1993 at Steamtown National Historic Site. He assisted in the establishment of Steamtown NHS in July of 1998. Pat worked as the park electrician for seven years at Steamtown. His other assignments included maintenance foreman and chief of maintenance at Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.
Pat also served as a wildland firefighter and as a member of the incident recovery team for storm damaged parks. Pat was awarded the Upper Delaware Council's lifesaving award given in memory of NPS Ranger Robin M. Daniels for his participation in a highwater rescue during the historic April 29, 2007 flood.
Pat worked for the private sector for 19 years as an electrician and maintenance mechanic for Trane Manufacturing Company in Scranton. He has an associate degree in criminal justice from Lackawanna College, also in Scranton.
Pat has made many friends throughout his career with the National Park Service. He truly feels that the National Park Service became his extended family. Pat wants to thank everyone for helping him in so many ways during his career.
Pat and his wife Sandra will continue to live at their residence in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania. Pat and Sandy are planning to travel around the country visiting other national parks. He also plans on hunting, camping and fishing with their children and grandchildren.
[Submitted by Patrick Connolly, PConnolly@nps.gov, Patrick_Connolly@nps.gov, 570-729-7137]
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.