NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, April 23, 2009

INCIDENTS

Stones River NB

Tornado Recovery Operations Continue

Members of the Type 3 IMT (Wayne Elliott, IC) continue to clear downed limbs, remove hazard trees and snags, and otherwise return the park to normal operating condition. Crews from Great Smoky Mountains, Natchez Trace, and Big South Fork continued chipping operations on the tour road on Tuesday. Members of the Natchez Trace fire module cleared down trees on the boundary trail along with park staff. Blustery winds were a factor on Tuesday, but drying conditions prevailed and all crews made excellent progress. The boundary trail is now open for administrative use. There was one near miss incident involving a chainsaw that's being investigated by the safety team. The crew member was wearing full personal protective equipment and as was therefore not injured. A rental track hoe has arrived and will be used to remove large trees from the cotton field trail, supported by a dump truck and operator from Mammoth Cave and a chipper and operator from Fort Donelson. Joe McGrogan, deputy director of Fentress County Emergency Management Agency near Big South Fork, is on scene to see how a Type 3 organization operates. Portions of the park - including the tour road, the Hazen Brigade Monument and the boundary trail - remain closed to the public. The visitor center, national cemetery, the quarter-mile Pioneer Brigade trail, the McFadden Farm unit, Fortress Rosecrans, Redoubt Brannan, and the generals' headquarters sites remain open. [Gib Backlund, Chief of Operations]

OTHER NEWS

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

Department of the Interior - From the Statue of Liberty and Independence Hall to Yellowstone and Death Valley, the National Park Service will undertake more than 750 Recover and Reinvestment Act projects at parks across the country to create jobs, restore and protect our nation's parks, and preserve our history and heritage for future generations.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7592" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7592

NPS Law Enforcement Training Center - The Supreme Court has revised search incident to arrest rules for vehicles. Law enforcement staff need to take notice.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7593" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7593

Carlsbad Caverns NP - Peggy Justice, retired personnel officer for Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks from 1960 to 1995, died on April 19th following a long battle with cancer.
HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2313" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2313

Pacific West Region - Barbara Alberti, an 18-year veteran of the National Park Service, is the newly appointed superintendent at War in the Pacific National Historical Park on Guam and American Memorial Park on Saipan.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2314" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2314

* * * * *

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).

--- ### ---