NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Monday, March 2, 2009

INCIDENTS

Buffalo NR

Park Continues Recovery From Severe Ice Storm

The Type III incident management team (IMT) responsible for mitigating the hazards and repairing infrastructure damage from the January ice storm demobilized on Sunday. Most of the severely damaged trees and “hanger” limbs in the high visitor use frontcountry areas have been removed and 90% of the park's trails have been assessed and cleared of downed vegetation. Nearly all park facilities impacted by the storm are again open to public use and most of the fire lines in the prescribed fire burn units have been cleared. Some people will remain on scene to continue clearing and cleanup while the park's staff transitions to normal operations. Several trainees received incident command system experience under the Type III IMT. Personnel, equipment and support services were provided by Ozark, Natchez Trace, Hot Springs, Pea Ridge, Yosemite, Zion, Voyageurs, Wind Cave, Saguaro, Shenandoah's EICC, the Midwest Regional Office and the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. [Robert Maguire, Chief Ranger]

Mount Rainier NP

Search For Overdue Solo Camper Concludes Successfully

The search for an overdue solo camper in the Reflection Lakes area ended successfully on the morning of Thursday, February 26th, when searchers found her safe and sound at Mazama Ridge. The 46-year-old Federal Way woman had snowshoed in from the Narada Falls parking lot the previous Sunday, intending to winter camp for two nights and return on Tuesday. When her vehicle was seen in the parking lot on Tuesday and Wednesday, park staff began an investigation to determine if she was, indeed, overdue. This was confirmed by co-workers on Wednesday. In the three days since she began the trip on Sunday, the weather had changed from unseasonably mild to whiteout conditions with heavy snow. Over two feet of snow fell during this period. On Thursday morning, seven search parties, comprised of ranger staff and park staff from other divisions, skied and snowshoed out into the search area under the direction of IC Steve Klump. The woman was found within three hours, spotted as was getting out of her tent. She advised searchers that she had lost track of her location when the storm hit and decided the safest thing to do was to wait out the storm, a wait that would last two additional nights. [R. Chuck Young, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:

Servicewide - Nearly 200 applications for this year's Albright-Wirth grants were reviewed by field employees and managers, who selected 26 award recipients. Their names and summaries of their projects are provided.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7396" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7396

Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings and the status of legislation pertinent to the National Park Service. Three new park-related bills were introduced and another cleared the House.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7395" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7395

Isle Royale NP - Hal Hoenig, who retired from the park in 2006 after 37 years of service, passed away last Tuesday.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2255" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2255

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Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found at the following web site:

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363

Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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