NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT


Friday, September 27, 2013



INCIDENTS


Big Bend NP

Man Dies During Hike On Park Trail


Park dispatch received a report of a man having a heart attack on the Window Trail in the Chisos Mountains on September 24th. Unfortunately, the exact location could not be determined, so a full EMS/SAR response was launched involving both rangers and Border Patrol agents.


Approximately an hour later, the body of a 57-year-old Texas man was found near the highest point of the Oak Springs Trail. Two rangers on scene began CPR, but terminated resuscitation efforts after about 25 minutes.


The man and a hiking partner had been hiking the Window and Oak Springs trails when he began feeling nauseous, sat down and soon stopped breathing. His partner hiked out to the Oak Springs trailhead and informed another party member, who drove to the Panther Junction Visitor Center and notified the park.


[Rick Roberts, West District Ranger]


Blue Ridge Parkway

Four Convicted Of Illegal Galax Harvesting


On Monday, September 9th, rangers arrested four people for possession of approximately 37,500 HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galax" galax leaves near the Victor Fields area of the parkway.  


On Wednesday, all four pleaded guilty in federal court. Each was sentenced to a $2,500 fine and three 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/):


Intermountain Region - Management of the ongoing response to the flood at Rocky Mountain National Park has been facilitated by the recent attendance of many park employees at an ICS command and general staff training course.


Death Valley NP - A celebration of the life of Chuck Caha, who died while grading a section of backcountry road in the park last week, will be held tomorrow in Pahrump, Nevada.


Park NAGPRA - The Park NAGPRA program presented its first-ever NAGPRA training session in Hawaii earlier this month. The workshop was requested by Hawaiian parks and took place at Kaloko-Honokohau NHP.


Office of Communications - A painterly landscape of Fort Hancock in Gateway's Sandy Hook Unit was the top entry in the 2013 National Historic Landmark photo contest.


Intermountain Region - Melissa Trenchik has been selected as the new chief of the region's environmental quality division and regional environmental coordinator. She will assume her new duties on October 21st. 


Servicewide Training Calendar - One course has been added to this week's calendar, a law enforcement instructor training class at FLETC in December


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The Morning Report is 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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