NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, November 30, 2012

INCIDENTS

Eastern Areas

Recovery Operations Reach Four Week Mark On Sunday

Hurricane Sandy came ashore in the New York-New Jersey area a month ago yesterday and NPS incident management teams have been engaged in recovery operations at area parks for almost as long - four weeks as of this Sunday. A total of 467 NPS employees are currently committed to the operation. Today's update follows:

Statue of Liberty - A contractor began repairing the fuel, electrical, and domestic water systems while crews continued winterizing buildings.

Ellis Island - The main immigration building is once again heated. Cleanup of the administrative building and work on the maintenance shop continued.

Gateway - Reports have been received on the following areas:

Fort Tilden - Road and trail clearing and sand redistribution continued.

Riis Park - Road and trail clearing and sand redistribution continued.

Great Kills - Sand redistribution continued.

Miller Field - Sand redistribution continued.

Fort Wadsworth - Debris removal continued at Seabee Park.

Sandy Hook - Crews continued removing debris piles from road sides and beach plazas, building and placing shutters on exposed windows and doors, assessing boilers and developing a scope of work for an oil burner repair contract, surveying for unexploded ordinances on beach, working on water systems and sewage pump stations, removing debris from building basements, and assessing and repairing electrical systems. A contractor in on site removing tree debris, asphalt, and damaged appliances.

Fire Island - Crews continued removing the boardwalk in the wilderness area, restoring the garage in Patchogue, and conducting breach and overwash assessments.

More information on the 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://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=1168&id=10935" ”shopping list” HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/documents/SHOPPING%20LIST%2011-5.pdf" of incident management team positions that still need to be filled, updated daily.

Hurricane Sandy relief fund - E&AA has set up a HYPERLINK "http://www.eparks.com/_" relief fund web page where you can make donations in support of employees who were affected by the storm.

Facebook - A HYPERLINK "https://www.facebook.com/HurricaneResponseNPS" Facebook page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.

Twitter - A HYPERLINK "http://mobile.twitter.com/NPS_Sandy?" Twitter page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.

Flickr - A HYPERLINK "http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandyresponsenps/sets/72157631954446291/" Flickr page managed by the IMT with images of the response.

Wilson's Creek NB

Man Confesses To ARPA Violation In Park

On November 6th, C.H. of Springfield, Missouri, signed a pretrial diversion agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office in which he admitted to disturbing an archaeological site within Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, a violation of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. C.H. agreed to pay $5,351 to reimburse the government's costs of restoration and repair and perform 60 hours of community service. On February 27, 2011, C.H. and a friend were canoeing Wilson Creek looking for archaeological artifacts when C.H. saw a bone sticking out of a recently eroded embankment. He proceeded to dig into the embankment and removed additional bones. Ten days later, C.H., hoping to remain anonymous, used an intermediary to return the bones to the National Park Service. C.H. was subsequently identified and located by a team of NPS special agents and a Wilson's Creek ranger. During the interview, C.H. confessed to removing the human remains. NPS archeologist Dr. Caven Clark performed the archaeological damage assessment for the case. During his excavation of the skeletal remains left behind by C.H., Clark discovered artifacts consistent with those used by Civil War mounted troops. Additional evidence uncovered by Clark indicated that the skeletal remains were most likely those of a Confederate soldier who was hastily and respectfully buried after dying during the August 10, 1861 battle. [Investigative Services Branch]

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/):

Kalaupapa NHP - The park celebrated the four-phase stabilization, rehabilitation and refurbishing of Paschoal Hall, a social center for the Kalaupapa settlement, with a rededication ceremony held in late October.

Washington Office - Deputy Director Mickey Fearn started critical conversations about equity and underserved populations in the conservation movement at several summits and conferences in the Pacific Northwest in late October.

Wilderness Stewardship - Members of the park's wilderness planning staff were presented with the Director's Wes Henry Wilderness Stewardship Award on November 5th.

Visitor and Resource Protection - Charles Cuvelier has been named the chief of the National Park Service's Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services.

Biscayne NP - Superintendent Mark Lewis will be hanging up his flat hat on November 30th with over 35 years of federal service, all with the National Park Service.

Servicewide Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation, plus online training. The following have been added to this week's calendar - special park use training courses at NCTC and in Albuquerque, a class on NAGPRA in Florida, and a new FLETC offering.

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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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