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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Wednesday, April 9, 2014 INCIDENTS Yosemite NP Large Rockfall Closes Park Trail A rockfall in the Hetch Hetchy area of the park has closed the trail to Rancheria Falls east of Wapama Falls. At approximately 1:30 p.m. on March 31st, a large rockfall occurred from the cliff east of Wapama Falls above the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. No visitors were injured, but the trail was closed just east of the Wapama Creek footbridges for safety purposes and because of boulders preventing access beyond Wapama Falls. Roughly 16,000 tons (5,500 cubic meters) of rock fell from a source about 500 feet (150 meters) above the base of the cliff. Rock debris hit the slope below the cliff, breaking into numerous boulders, crushing trees, and creating a small dust cloud. Boulders completely covered the slope and many more tumbled into the reservoir. A section of the trail about 400 feet long was destroyed in the main impact area. Hikers can still access Wapama Falls starting from O'Shaughnessy Dam. The trail to Rancheria Falls just after Wapama Falls will be closed until further notice. The park is working to reopen the trail at a later date. [David Miyako, Public Affairs Officer] Lake Mead NRA Rangers Rescue Several People From Lake Mead The last weekend in March was a very busy one for rangers at Lake Mead: On Saturday, March 29th, weather forecasts called for temperatures near 80 degrees with winds gusting to 40 mph within the Lake Mead area, but lake water temperatures remained below 60 degrees at the surface. Based upon the weather forecast and the cool water temperatures, rangers conducted marine patrols focusing on boaters who might have been unprepared for the conditions. During those patrols, they were involved in several incidents that resulted in lives saved: On one patrol, rangers encountered a small 10-foot inflatable raft far from the swimming area near Boulder Beach. The occupants appeared to be in distress and were being pushed further offshore by the strong winds. When contacted, they told rangers that they had planned to stay within 50 yards of shore but were soon taken further out into the lake. They had no means of communication, food, water or life jackets. All three were brought to the beach safely by the patrol vessel. Shortly after this call, rangers saw an unoccupied personal watercraft (PWC) floating on the north side of the Boulder Islands. As they began searching for people in the water, they came upon occupants of another nearby vessel waving their arms. At the same time, the Lake Mead Interagency Communications Center received a call from the people on the vessel stating that a man had been in the water for over an hour and that they were unable pull him on board. Rangers found the man in the water, wearing a life jacket. He was conscious but confused and unable to move his arms or legs. They brought him on board their vessel and took him to a waiting NPS ambulance that transported him to an area hospital. He said that he was operating the PWC when he fell off and was unable to get back on. After 30 minutes in the water, he was unable to hold onto the PWC and after approximately 45 minutes in the water, the Good Samaritan vessel came by and called 911. While bringing the PWC operator to shore, rangers saw two stand-up paddle boards near the Boulder Islands with two juveniles on each board. Only two of the four were wearing life jackets and all were exhausted from paddling. They were assisted back to a nearby marina. Their parents were located at a marina restaurant having dinner. The parents did not know that the juveniles had taken the boards out. INCLUDEPICTURE "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#label/002+-+Incident/1453d0eaa2a42acd " \* MERGEFORMATINET Despite the warm air temperatures in the Lake Mead area, the lake is still very cold. Rangers are urging visitors to exercise caution when boating in these types of conditions, as any time spent in the water will quickly result in hypothermia. Research shows that any unexpected immersion will result in an immediate shock to the system that can take at least a minute to recover from. After that, people in the water have approximately ten minutes of purposeful movement and will be suffering from severe hypothermia within an hour. Rangers are also reminding visitors to wear lifejackets whenever they are out on the lake and to check the weather forecast prior to coming to the park. [Mark Hnat, Mead District Ranger] OTHER NEWS The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers): Rocky Mountain NP - A Girl Scout Brownie Troop in nearby Loveland has donated 20% of the profits from the 2,200 boxes of Girl Scout cookies they sold this year to the park's search and rescue team. They also held a luncheon for the team in honor of their dedicated service. National Capital Region - Seniors from an urban ecology class at a local charter school got to explore a national park in their backyard this winter along with staff from National Capital Region's Network Inventory & Monitoring program. United States Park Police - Officers are joining in this week's nationwide Department of Transportation campaign to combat texting while driving. Intermountain Region - Glen Canyon NRA hosted 24 interpreters and seven instructors at Intermountain Region's fifth interpretation and education local registered coach course during a week in mid-March. Northeast Region - Kevin Taylor, structural fire coordinator at Petersburg National Battlefield, has been recognized for his superior accomplishments in structural fire prevention and preparedness. To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites: NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/ 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). --- ### --- |