NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, May 17, 2013

INCIDENTS

Blue Ridge Parkway

Man Convicted Of Galax Poaching

Last fall, rangers on several occasions saw a silver Toyota Camry in areas along the parkway known for illegal HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galax" galax harvesting. An inspection of the vehicle led to the discovery of twist ties and other items used in galax harvesting. On November 17th, rangers saw the same vehicle on the parkway and contacted the driver. He was found to have 4,140 galax leaves in his possession. The man also had been cited previously for commercially harvesting galax by the US Forest Service. On April 30th, he pleaded guilty to possession of galax and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. [Tim Francis, Pisgah District 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/):

Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Division - National Trails Day, which will take place on Saturday, June 1st, provides an opportunity to hike, bike, paddle, or ride on a favorite trail. Last year, the National Park Service had the largest participation of federal agencies for National Trails Day events. Links are provided for further information and registration of your event.

Park Facility Management Division - The 2012 Accessibility Achievement Awards, conferred earlier this year, have been announced. The awards, designed to recognize exemplary efforts in making parks more accessible, were presented in three categories.

Independence NHP - King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, visiting the area on the 375th anniversary of the arrival of Swedish and Finnish colonists to present-day Wilmington, were welcomed to Independence NHP last Friday.

Cultural Resources - The John L. Cotter Award for Excellence in National Park Service Archeology Committee is pleased to announce the recipients of its project and career achievement awards. 

Upcoming Training Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses, webinars and online training offered by the National Park Service and related agencies. There are no new additions this week.  Listings of regular training offerings will resume with next week's calendar.

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Guidance on incident notification can be found under the “Hot Topics” heading on InsideNPS or at HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504.

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@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).

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