NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

INCIDENTS

Olympic NP

Storm Causes Multiple Road Closures

A strong storm brought high winds and heavy rain and snow to the Washington coast and northwest interior of the state last week, knocking out power and causing road and area closures. A number of roads were soon closed on the west side of the park so that trees could be removed and damage could be assessed:

Hoh Road - The Hoh Road was closed at the park boundary.

Quinault Valley Roads - The North Shore Road was closed due to downed trees and electrical lines, and the Graves Creek and the North Fork Roads were closed while awaiting assessments. There was also no electrical service along the north shore of Lake Quinault.

Lower Queets Road - The road was closed due to water on the roadway.

Hurricane Ridge Road - The Hurricane Ridge Road was closed due to snow. Park crews worked on clearing two slides.

As of yesterday, most of the roads had been cleared and reopened - Hoh, Sol Duc, North Shore and South Shore Quinault Roads, North Fork Road, Lower Queets Road. But the Graves Creek and Upper Queets Roads remained closed. It continues to be very wet and very snowy at higher elevations. There are 15-foot drifts in the Hurricane Ridge parking lot - nearly unheard of for this early in the season. For current road information, people should call the Olympic National Park recorded road and weather information line at 360-565-3131. [Barb Maynes, Public Affairs Officer]

OTHER NEWS

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

Fort Raleigh NHS - The First Colony Foundation and the National Park Service have completed this year's archaeological research dig in the park. Among the discoveries was a trench that may have been associated with a palisaded enclosure.

Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - Nominations are now being sought for the 16th annual regional Harry Yount awards for excellence in the art of rangering.

Clemson University - Peggy O'Dell, regional director for National Capital Region, received the Fran P. Mainella Award during Clemson University's annual George B. Hartzog Jr. Environmental Awards program on November 11th. 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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