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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Monday, November 3, 2014 INCIDENTS Hawaii Volcanoes NP New Road Under Construction Due To Lava Flow A lava flow emerging from Kilauea Volcano's Pu ̔u ̔Ō ̔ō vent, located 11 miles northeast of the park, is slowly advancing towards the town of Pāhoa and threatens to cover the community's two main access routes. To sustain access in and out of Pāhoa, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is working in cooperation with the State of Hawaii, Hawaii County, and the Federal Highways Administration to construct an emergency access route between Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and Kalapana along the park's historic Chain of Craters Kalapana Road. Opened in 1965, Chain of Craters Kalapana Road is located in an active lava flow area. Since its construction, the road has been covered by three separate flow events, causing the road to be closed for 37 of its 49 year existence. The most recent lava flow event began in 1989 and covered a 5.5-mile stretch of the road. Lava continued to flow across the road through 2013, covering the road to a depth of up to 150 feet. In September of 2014, the trajectory of a lava flow from the Pu 'u ̔Ō ̔ō vent shifted to the northeast for the first time in 30 years and towards the town of Pāhoa. Working in conjunction with Pacific West Regional Office and the Service's Environmental Quality Division, the park completed emergency compliance in accordance with DOI procedures for emergency actions to construct an evacuation route for the lower Puna area. On October 24th, crews began rough grading a route along the road's historic alignment. To expedite completion of the road within the next 30 to 45 days, crews are working from both sides of the closed area at Hōlei Sea Arch and Kalapana. Impacted residents will be able to access this route only after lava has blocked the existing access routes and the Chain of Craters Kalapana Road is safe for vehicle travel. The road will remain open to local residents and for uses to sustain the community until another long term viable route is established by the state or county. Once the road is no longer needed as an emergency access route, it will be converted into a hiking trail. For more information, including photos, maps and web cam images, click on the link below. HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/lava2.htm" http://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/lava2.htm [Rainey McKenna] 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): Vicksburg NMP - After an absence of nearly 150 years, the Black Horse Cavalry -- formally known as the 3rd U.S. Colored Cavalry -- once again rode the streets of Vicksburg last week. Today's Almanac - Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and eastern Pacific is expected to bring heavy rain to Texas and Oklahoma late today and to Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri tomorrow. Biological Resource Management Division - The National Park Service Call to Action Scaling Up team and additional NPS staff participated in the National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation last week in Washington, DC. Richmond NBP - The Richmond Battlefields Association transferred 18 acres it acquired at the Cold Harbor Battlefield to the National Park Service in a ceremony held this past Saturday. Natural Resource Stewardship and Science - A memorandum calling for natural resource FY 2015 technical assistance requests has been issued. Submission of requests to WASO in STAR are due no later than December 15th. Office of Communications - Neil Mulholland will be stepping down as president and CEO for the National Park Foundation, bringing to a close his five-year tenure with the Service's official charity. US Park Police - Six officers from the United States Park Police Horse Mounted Patrol in Washington participated in the 31st annual North American Police Equestrian Championships in September. Youth Programs Division - Last month, members of the the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps of Colorado headed north to Moose, Wyoming, to work on a ten-day project at Grand Teton National Park. 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). --- ### --- |