NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
BLACKBERRY EDITION
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
INCIDENTS
Gulf Coast Areas
Update on Hurricane Recovery Operations
Reports on recovery operations from both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita have been consolidated into just one report.
Jean Lafitte NHP&P/New Orleans Jazz NHP
The Eastern IMT (Gordon Wissinger, IC) is charged with both assisting the employees of the two parks and with overseeing the overall NPS response to the hurricane.
Employee Assistance Branch - EAP has identified seventeen National Park Service families qualified to apply for mobile homes. Several remain undecided. Two families have indicated their interest in receiving these homes. Mary Beth Wester transitioned in as the new lead for the EA Branch. The Employee Assistance Center is located at the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux (985-448-1471). Peer support groups are also located at the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center and at the Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette (337-232-0789).
Resources and Facilities Branch - Debris removal continues at Barataria and Chalmette. The chipping crew is still working at Barataria. Ventilation crews are continuing the drying operations at Chalmette and 419 Decatur. The FMSS team completed its assessment and has provided the final report to the operations branch.
Law Enforcement Branch - LE continued to escort personnel and staff into affected areas. This branch is currently acquiring equipment and parts for airboat operations to travel into the hunting camps. These camps are within the boundaries of Barataria Preserve. Rangers will be checking for any persons who may have been stranded there during or after the storm, and are also making a hazard recon to determine conditions prior to allowing this year's hunting season.
Gulf Islands NS
A second Eastern IMT (Rick Brown, IC) returned to the park and transitioned with the Western IMT (Denny Ziemann, IC) on Saturday, October 1st.
Major progress continues to be made in Hurricane Katrina recovery work in the mainland section of the park (Davis Bayou Unit). With all roads and most public use areas cleared of fallen trees, crews have been concentrating on fine tuning clean-up efforts. Clean-up work on the islands is scheduled to resume today, when rough sea conditions are expected to subside.
Stabilization work on the visitor center is nearing completion; the visitor center has been gutted and is currently being dried out. The boardwalk behind the visitor center was severely damaged and the skiff house totally destroyed during the hurricane. A barge will be used to remove 300 feet of the damaged section of boardwalk. To ensure natural resource protection, the remaining 150 feet will be dismantled by hand.
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Electrical and water hookup work is continuing in the campground. A total of 49 of the 52 RV sites are now ready for occupancy, with 20 of these reserved for Coast Guard personnel and 21 reserved for FEMA trailers to house families displaced by the hurricane. Two new RV sites, complete with electrical, sewer and water hookups, have been constructed on Boat Launch Road and are ready for occupancy by park staff.
Law enforcement personnel continue to provide protection operations on the mainland and boat operations to the islands (for protection and operational support).
Employee Assistance continues to work with employees to expedite comp claims, FEMA assistance and support from E&AA.
Big Thicket NP
The Central IMT (Eddie Lopez, IC) is charged with assisting the parks and employees affected by Hurricane Rita, primarily Big Thicket NP, and with supporting communities around the park.
Following the fury of Hurricane Rita, acting superintendent Mike George made the difficult decision to close Big Thicket NP due to the many fallen trees, obstructed trails, and downed power lines. Rangers posted ‘area closed' signs throughout the park, hoping that the signs would keep visitors out of harm's way. Enforcing the closure presented a particular problem, as the park has more perimeter boundary than Yellowstone. A complication to the closure is that hunting is a main recreational activity in the park. Hunting season for white tail deer, squirrel, dove, rabbit, wild feral hogs and waterfowl opened on October 1st.
Currently, the staff's focus is on emergency operations and cleaning up the park. The destruction caused by the hurricane is not the only issue confronting park personnel. Many people have been illegally dumping their trash into the park's rivers and forests. Many trash companies are not making regular rounds, so people are dumping their garbage into the nearby forests and rivers, contaminating the water.
The NPS Central Incident Management Team has released some people and is planning to leave by the end of the week. Operations include patrols in seven counties, providing employee assistance, and documenting incident actions and long term planning.
Additional Information
A web site has been established as a repository for official documents related to hurricane recovery operations: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1.
[Betsy Haynes, Deputy IO, IMT, JELA/JAZZ; Dorene Ruffing, IO, IMT, GUIS; Al Nash, IO, IMT, BITH]
Glacier NP
Theft of Government Vehicles
On September 28th, backcountry personnel returning to Belly River Trailhead reported that their crew-cab pickup and 20-foot-long horse trailer were missing. The vehicles had last been seen at 3:30 p.m. on the 27th. In addition, the personal vehicle of a backcountry ranger had been broken into and the steering column cracked during an apparent attempted theft. Since Belly River Trailhead is only 100 yards from the Canada-US border at Chief Mountain, the investigating ranger contacted US and Canadian customs and discovered that two other vehicles had been stolen the previous day in Canada, then abandoned in succession, with the second vehicle pushed off the shoulder of the road just three-quarters of a mile from the border. The incidents are assumed to be related, and RCMP agents and NPS officers are cooperating on the investigation. Later on the 28th, a cell phone which had been in the stolen truck was found near Helena, Montana, and on the evening of the 29th the trailer was recovered by Glacier County officers near Browning, Montana. The truck, a white 2004 Ford 350 crew-cab with Interior plates I-410875, remains missing. Anyone with information should contact Kathy Krisko at 406-732-7726 or 7734. [Kathy Krisko, Chief Mountain Subdistrict Ranger]
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Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
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Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
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