NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Friday, September 11, 2009
NOTICE
President Obama has directed that all flags be flown at half staff today - Patriot Day - from sunrise until sunset.
INCIDENTS
Cape Cod NS
Great White Sharks Being Monitored In Park Waters
The great white sharks that appeared off Cape Cod in past weeks and caused a flurry of media attention have not yet had any substantial impact on park operations. Shark experts from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries tagged two great white sharks in waters within the seashore on Tuesday, September 8th, bringing the total to five sharks tagged within the week. They then ran out of tags. The great white sharks were the first in the Atlantic Ocean with electronic satellite technology, according to the state biologists. Although observations have been reported over the years, multiple sightings over the last several weeks brought added attention to the area. The sharks have been primarily in waters at the southern end of the outer beach near Chatham. A state spotter pilot observed a great white within 50 feet of surfers just off North Beach near the Chatham Harbor channel and the barrier beach within the seashore. Such observations have resulted in several town beaches being closed to swimming over the Labor Day weekend. A sighting near swimming beaches in Orleans, just north of Chatham, resulted in a brief closure. The sharks have come to the area due to the large number of gray seals in the local waters. Local officials have suggested surfers reconsider wearing the normal black wet suits, which make them resemble seals, and stay away from any concentration of seals. National seashore swimming areas have not been affected. [Bob Grant, Chief Ranger]
Denali NP&P
Injured Hiker Attracts Rescuers With Wildfire
During the late afternoon hours of September 5th, the park's dispatch center received a report of a fire in the Sanctuary River drainage about 10 miles south of the park road. Coincidentally, the park's contract helicopter was in the air at the time, extracting backcountry rangers from a moose-hunting patrol on the park's north boundary. Rangers Dan Fangen-Gritis and Matt Smith diverted the ship to the reported fire location. Smoke from the fire was readily visible. As the helicopter descended for a landing, the rangers saw a man on the ground waving at them with one arm. They contacted R.F., a 39-year-old resident of Toronto, Canada. R.F. had taken a 20-foot fall the previous evening, lost most of his equipment, and sustained fractures to his upper arm and lower spine. He continued hiking out about 10 miles, but failed to attract attention from passing airplanes. As his strength and condition deteriorated, he started a fire on a bench of dwarf birch above the river. R.F. was stabilized and evacuated and subsequently transported by air ambulance to Fairbanks. Members of the park's fire management team controlled the four-acre fire with about 40 water bucket drops. Ranger Jaime Smith was the incident commander. [Pete Armington, Chief Ranger]
Glacier NP
Motorcyclist Killed When Bike Goes Off Sun Road
Rangers are investigating a motorcycle accident that resulted in the death of a 51-year-old man from Okotoks, Alberta, Canada. Park rangers are still gathering details regarding the accident, which happened on the Going-to-the-Sun Road between Rising Sun and Sun Point around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday. A group of about 27 motorcyclists were traveling eastbound towards St. Mary when one of the riders apparently lost control of his bike and went over the edge of the road about a half mile west of Wild Goose Island overlook. Investigating rangers estimate that the motorcyclist fell about 30 feet. He had expired by the time rangers arrived on scene. [Amy Vanderbilt and Wade Muehlhof]
Blue Ridge Parkway
Four-Year-Old Dies Of Accident Injuries
On the evening of Saturday, September 5th, rangers were notified of a serious accident with severe injuries near the Little Switzerland area at Milepost 333.7 of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Gillespie Gap rangers found that a four-year-old girl had suffered severe facial and head trauma in the accident. She was transported to a landing zone and transferred to an air ambulance for a flight to Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. Investigation revealed that the accident involved a single passenger car with a local family of three traveling along the parkway. The driver had gone off the road and the vehicle hit several large trees before coming to rest a short distance further on. Investigation revealed that that girl had not been properly restrained. She died of her injuries two days later. There were about 17 vehicle accidents on the parkway over the holiday weekend, but this was the only fatality. [Steve Stinnett, Chief Ranger]
St. Croix NSR
Suicide Victim Recovered From St. Croix River
The St. Croix County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call late on the morning of August 31st from a man who said that someone had jumped into the river from the 180-foot-high Arcola High Bridge. Responding deputies found a vehicle parked at the Arcola trailhead and a suicide note and personal items on the railroad bridge. Over the next several hours, searchers found clothing items in the river but no body. Search efforts resumed the next morning. Rangers, Washington and St. Croix County deputies, and Minnesota and Wisconsin game wardens employed side-scan sonar, divers, and dragging in an effort to find the man, but without luck. The search effort continued through the remainder of the week. Shortly after noon on Saturday, September 5th, ranger Dave White was searching the shoreline south of the High Bridge when he was flagged down by some campers who reported an object in the water. The ranger confirmed the object was the body of an adult male, secured the area, and notified the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The body was released to the Washington County medical examiner. An autopsy is scheduled. [Scott Carrigan, St. Croix District Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:
National Parks of New York Harbor - On September 11, 2001, hundreds of National Park Service personnel in New York City who protect and tell the stories of our nation's rich heritage suddenly became part of one of the most tragic days in our nation's history. Their recollections and reflections on that day's events are being collected in an oral history documentation project.
Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Division - Join the National Trails System and nominate a trail to be designated as a National Recreation Trail. Applications are being accepted until November 1st. Photo.
Northeast Region - Joe DiBello has been selected as the first superintendent of the newly-authorized Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail.
Upcoming Training Calendar - A listing of upcoming training courses offered by the NPS and its partners across the nation. Added to this week's listing are two equipment operatory safety courses (one at Hawaii Volcanoes and the other at San Antonio Missions) and an intermediate carpentry skills course in California.
To see these and other stories posted on InsideNPS (or NPS Digest, its public version), click on one or the other of the following links (please note that not all stories in the former appear in the latter): NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index ; non-NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/
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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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