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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Friday, May 2, 2014 INCIDENTS Natchez Trace Parkway Recovery Underway From Spring Storm Impacts The park is recovering quickly from the damage caused by high winds and rain associated with the big storm that moved through the region earlier this week. A tornado also struck Tupelo, Mississippi, on Monday, with an impact zone approximately five miles south of park headquarters. Here's a summary of the park's status as of yesterday morning: Power had been restored to park headquarters and employees were reporting to work. Internet and email service had been restored, but phone service was still out. If you're trying to contact the park, call cell phones or use email. Park facilities and infrastructure were found to be undamaged. Damage to the parkway was determined to be minimal. Several trees were down, but only a few landed on the road. Park maintenance crews cleared all of those within a few hours of the passing of the storm front. A pickup truck struck a tree that came down on the parkway near Thomastown, Mississippi, sometime in the early hours of April 29th. The driver of the vehicle, a 53-year-old Alabama man, was pronounced dead at the scene. One employee's home was damaged. Co-workers helped him shore up the structure and it is now watertight. To see a Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal slide show of damage in the Tupelo area, click on HYPERLINK "http://djournal.com/news/photo-gallery-aerial-view-tupelo-tornado- damage/" this link. [From report by Dale Wilkerson, Administrative Officer] Southeast Arizona Group Visitor Cited For Collecting Cave Crystals On April 26th, two rangers were patrolling the Coronado Cave at Coronado National Monument when they heard clinking sounds coming from the great room towards the rear of the cave. The rangers contacted three people in a group, one who was carrying a small metal hoe. The person with the hoe said he had been attempting to collect cave crystals and said he had one of them in his pocket. He showed rangers an area he had been chipping at on the cave wall. He received a citation for possessing, defacing, and removing a cave formation [36 CFR 2.1(a)(1)iv]. Rangers are working closely with park resource management to document the damage and create a restoration plan. [Chief Rangers Office] 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): National Interagency Fire Center - The National Interagency Fire Center yesterday released an updated significant wildland fire potential forecast for the months of May through August. Submerged Resources Center - The NPS Submerged Resources Center and Ocean and Coastal Resources Branch have announced the publication of a Junior Ranger Underwater Explorer booklet. Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Mark Abshire has been selected as the facility operations manager for Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve and New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. Little River Canyon NP - Half of the park's permanent employees participated in the annual Scale Back Alabama weight loss contest designed to encourage Alabamians to get healthy and to have fun while doing it. Weekly Training Calendar - Added to this week's listing - three TEL station retirement training broadcasts and two new FLETC offerings. 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). --- ### --- |