NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, September 17, 2009

INCIDENTS

Biscayne NP

Fisherman Cited For Illegal Taking Of Several Species

On August 8th, ranger Evan Pickford stopped a boat in the Safety Valve area of the park to conduct a creel check. The boat's operator was identified as B.D. of Miami, who said that he was coming back from the Bahamas. During the creel inspection, Pickford found that B.D. had a number of illegally harvested lobsters (wrung tails), 23 illegally taken snappers, and 14 queen conchs in his possession. All takes and possession of queen conchs in Florida and adjacent federal are prohibited. In a follow-up investigation, the ranger determined that B.D. had also exceeded the possession limits for all three species in Bahamian waters. He was issued mandatory violation notices; Lacey Act and felony charges are also being considered against him. One of the many challenges for rangers working in Biscayne is dealing with people coming from another country (the Bahamas more than others) with prohibited species which - like the queen conch - are not prohibited where they were harvested. [Didier Carod, Chief Ranger]

Biscayne NP

Man Drowns While Attempting To Swim To Drifting Boat

A.G. of Miami was snorkeling with two friends near Fowey Rocks on September 13th when a violent afternoon storm came through the area. Their vessel's anchor broke loose in the storm, so all three attempted to swim to the drifting boat. A.G. was unable to catch up and went under. Responding protection rangers and Coast Guard and local emergency personnel found A.G. floating in the ocean several hundred yards from the boat. Efforts to revive him proved fruitless. [Didier Carod, Chief Ranger]

Great Smoky Mountains NP

Rangers Successfully Intercede In Attempted Suicide

Field training ranger Ellen Paxton and trainee Sarah Cowell contacted what appeared to be an out of bounds camper at the Upper Overlook on the Gatlinburg Bypass around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 13th. As the rangers approached the vehicle, they heard loud music coming from within and saw a woman who appeared to be unconscious in the driver's seat. A handgun was also observed underneath her right thigh. The woman was removed from the vehicle at gunpoint without incident. She was able to tell rangers that she had come to the park to kill herself by taking 20 sleeping pills. Gatlinburg EMS responded and took her to Ft. Sanders Sevier Medical Center for further evaluation. Ranger Michael Garner also responded and followed-up with interviews at the hospital. She is expected to be in the hospital under evaluation for at least a week. [Bobby Fleming Supervisory Park Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

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

International - The second annual World Parks Day will take place this coming Saturday, September 19th. World Parks Day is an opportunity to celebrate parks and green spaces worldwide.

Office of Tourism - A meeting was held earlier this month to develop a marketing plan and a set of principle ideas for use during CW 150, the upcoming sesquicentennial of the Civil War.

US Park Police - On August 28th, the Park Police held their ninth annual charity golf tournament honoring members of the force who had cancer and lost that fight. All money raised during the event - a total of $150,000 over the past nine years - goes to Johns Hopkins Cancer Research Hospital.

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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