NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

INCIDENTS

Pacific West/Intermountain Regions

Follow-up On ARPA/NAGPRA/Wildlife Conviction

Over 1,400 Native American artifacts from two separate investigations were returned to four tribes in the Pacific Northwest on Thursday September 24th. The return was the result of two covert investigations that were conducted by the NPS, Bureau of Indian Affairs, FBI, US Fish & Wildlife Service, the Department of Energy and two United States Attorney's Offices (Spokane and Los Angeles). The investigations involved the sale of artifacts that had been taken from three NPS units and four Indian reservations (click on the link below for the original report, which appeared in this publication on January 2nd). The return ceremony took place at the federal courthouse in Spokane, Washington, and was attended by 18 tribal representatives from three tribes, three local television stations, three print media reporters, and others. The chief of the Criminal Section of the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington made opening remarks. He was followed by the Northwest regional director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Stanley Speaks, and Lake Roosevelt NRA superintendent Debbie Bird. Four tribal leaders from the Colville Confederated Tribes, Nez Perce Tribe and Spokane Tribe then spoke. After the ceremony, Bird gave members of the investigative team certificates for having won the 2008 Pacific West Region Cultural Resource Project through Partnerships Award. [Todd Swain, Special Agent]

HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/headline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=4334" http://classicinside.nps.gov/headline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=4334

Glen Canyon NRA

Hiker Falls To Death From Cliff

Park dispatch received a call last Saturday reporting that a hiker in the Escalante arm of Lake Powell had fallen from a cliff to the water below. Two rangers responded by boat from Dangling Rope Marina. They contacted the person who'd made the call, then made a quick search of the area where the accident had occurred and found the body of 49-year-old R.H. of Missouri in the Escalante River about two miles upstream from the mouth of Explorer Canyon. R.H. was day hiking with a friend when he attempted to cross a talus slope at the edge of the cliff. He lost his footing, fell into shallow water and mud 70 feet below, and sustained a traumatic and fatal head injury. R.H. had been visiting the area with four friends and had gone on several day hikes during his trip. [Laurie Axelsen, Dangling Rope District Ranger]

Yosemite NP

Rangers Assist In Response To Fatal Fall

On September 20th, the Mono County Sheriff's Department's search and rescue coordinator asked for mutual aid assistance for a seriously injured and unconscious man who'd fallen 300 feet down an ice field on the north side of Matterhorn Peak. The northern aspect of Matterhorn Peak lies in the Hoover Wilderness, just outside the park's boundary. The park's contract helicopter and helicopter rescue team were committed to the incident. Rangers Chris Bellino, Jeff Webb, and Matt Stark were picked up by the helicopter at Ahwahnee Meadow in Yosemite Valley. The helicopter did not have either short-haul or heli-rappel capability on this particular day, which meant that the rescue climbers had to be dropped off 1000 feet below the man's location. Stark and Webb climbed the 1000 feet just as night was falling. Upon arriving, Stark determined that he'd succumbed to his injuries, presumably right after the fall. Park personnel bivouacked at the 10,800-foot elevation and assisted the Mono County Sheriff's Department with the extrication of the man's body the following morning. [Keith Lober, Emergency Medical Services Program Manager]

OTHER NEWS

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

America's Best Idea - The third episode of Ken Burns' “The National Parks: America's Best Idea,” entitled “The Empire Of Grandeur,” will appear on PBS this evening.

Natural Sounds Program - Earlier this month, a federal judge in Colorado indefinitely blocked any drilling in a wildlife refuge next to the Great Sand Dunes. Among the reasons he noted in his ruling was the impact on natural quiet. The parks ranks as one of the quietest locations ever monitored by the NPS Natural Sounds Program.

Learning and Development Division - The Albright-Wirth Grant program is recruiting interested employees who would like to serve as 2010 Albright-Wirth Grant Panel peer and management reviewers/evaluators.

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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