NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, October 9, 2009

INCIDENTS

National Park of American Samoa

Update On Recovery From Tsunami

Tsunami recovery efforts by National Park of American Samoa crews continue in several partner villages. Some staff who have been assisting the villages with cleanup since the day the tsunami hit will return to work next week. The park marine resource crew assessed submerged resources near Tutuila Island on Wednesday, finding no damage to park coral reefs. Manu'a Island natural resource assessments are scheduled for next week. Specialists continue recovery and treatment of cultural resources. Critical incident stress management debriefings are complete although the peer support team will continue interacting with staff. The Western Incident Management Team (IC Ziemann) is beginning to transition operations back to the park. The team is setting up resources for long-term incident management. The park is working with GSA to locate temporary visitor contact facilities and office space. Park maintenance staff will rebuild the maintenance facility next week. [Patti Wold, Information Officer, Western IMT]

Great Smoky Mountains NP

Man Killed, Wife Injured In Foothills Parkway Accident

T.J., 50, of Maryville, Tennessee, was driving on Foothills Parkway with his wife, Mary, on the evening of October 7th when he failed to negotiate a curve about a mile from the parkway's intersection with U.S. 321. The vehicle left the roadway, rolled down an embankment, and landed on its top, collapsing the roof on the driver's side. Mary Rogers called 911 from the scene. Rangers responded along with personnel from Blount County Fire Department, Blount County Sheriff's Department, and Blount County Rural Metro. Emergency personnel extricated both T.J. from the vehicle. She suffered no life-threatening injuries, but he did not survive. Alcohol may have been a factor. [Nancy Gray, Public Affairs Officer]

OTHER NEWS

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

Harry S Truman NHS - The Truman Home, centerpiece of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, will be closed to public tours beginning Monday, October 19th, so that building systems can be upgraded. The closure is expected to last through the spring of 2010.

Fire and Aviation Management - A beta test of Twitter began in June at nearly 30 parks. As the beta test comes to a close, initial surveys indicate that the test has produced some impressive results and parks are enthusiastic to continue its use.

Wind Cave NP - Air quality specialists from around the nation met recently at Wind Cave National Park as part of an annual meeting to share information about protecting visibility in Class I areas.

President's Park - Jennifer Feeney, park ranger at President's Park, is retiring on October 9th following 22 years of federal service. Photo.

Rocky Mountain NP - Dave Larsen is leaving for Canyonlands National Park after 25 years at Rocky Mountain National Park. He's accepted a position with the facility management work group in the Island in the Sky District. Photo.

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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