NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Monday, January 25, 2010

INCIDENTS

Yellowstone NP

Series Of Minor Earthquakes Continues In Park

A series of micro to moderate earthquakes continues to shake some visitors and residents in and near Yellowstone National Park.The activity is centered in the northwest corner of the Yellowstone Caldera, in the backcountry roughly half-way between Old Faithful and the community of West Yellowstone, Montana. As of 9 a.m. MST Friday, January 22nd, 1,033 earthquakes had been recorded since the swarm began occurring on Sunday afternoon, January 17th. Ten of the earthquakes have been magnitude 3.0 or greater, with a 3.8 magnitude earthquake recorded late Wednesday evening. The larger quakes have been felt by people in Old Faithful, West Yellowstone, Canyon, Mammoth Hot Springs, Grant Village, Madison, and Gardiner. No damage or injuries have been reported. Scientists are confident that the current earthquake activity is due to the shifting and changing pressures in the earth's crust, and not to any change or increase in volcanic activity in Yellowstone. The park is using this occasion to reinforce earthquake preparedness and to remind both employees and visitors how the unique and active geologic nature of the park has resulted in the creation of the world's largest collection of geysers, hot springs, and other hydrothermal features. Yellowstone averages about 1,600 earthquakes a year, and recorded 1,652 earthquakes in 2009. The park has experienced 80 earthquake swarms in the last 15 years. The last swarm of 133 very small earthquakes occurred in mid October 2009 near Heart Lake, in the south-central portion of the park. This earthquake activity is being monitored around-the-clock by staff of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, a cooperative effort of the National Park Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the University of Utah. Generally, earthquakes less than magnitude 3.0 are not felt by people. It typically takes an earthquake of magnitude 4.0 or greater to cause structural damage, and a magnitude 6.5 earthquake to cause the surface of the ground to rupture. A continually updated map and list of earthquakes in Yellowstone is available online at

HYPERLINK "http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/Yellowstone.html" http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/Yellowstone.html. More information on the Yellowstone volcano and the park's geothermal systems can be found on the Greater Yellowstone Science Learning Center web site HYPERLINK "http://www.greateryellowstonescience.org" http://www.greateryellowstonescience.org. [Public Affairs, Yellowstone]

Gila Cliff Dwelling NM

Cliff Dwellings Temporarily Closed Due To Flooding

Heavy runoff in the Gila River forced the closure of New Mexico Highway 15 between the Gila Visitor Center and the trailhead for the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument on the morning of January 22nd - the third time this has happened in the past two years. The temporary north approach to the West Fork Bridge washed away, forcing closures of Lower Scorpion Campground, Upper Scorpion Campground, TJ Corral, Woody's Corral and the trailhead to the cliff dwellings until further notice. Due to current and expected high water levels, crossing the West Fork of the Gila River by foot to access the Cliff Dwellings is unsafe and the trail to the dwellings will remain closed until the bridge can be reopened. All trails in the area are snowpacked and icy. Gila Visitor Center remains open, but anyone considering visiting the area should use extreme caution as all highways in the area are snowpacked and icy. Continued rain and snow have caused numerous mud and rock slides along Highway 15 and many road dips are running with water which is freezing to black ice at night. Travel at present is not advised and no estimated date for reopening the bridge by New Mexico Department of Transportation crews will be available until crews can visit the site on Tuesday, January 26th. [Steve Riley, Superintendent]

OTHER NEWS

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

National Park of American Samoa - Nearly $10,000 in disaster relief funds have been donated by NPS colleagues, retirees, and other caring individuals across the U.S. mainland, Hawaii, and Alaska for the benefit of National Park of American Samoa employees who were adversely affected by the recent tsunami. Photo.

Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings and the status of legislation pertinent to the National Park Service.

Chief Information Officer - The NPS Library Program has announced the replacement of ProCite v.5 with EndNote x3 as the desktop application for maintaining local library catalogs.

Southeast Region - Southeast Region is pleased to announce that Robert C. Jett has joined the regional office as the regional risk manager. Jett is coming from the Department of Homeland Security in Laguna Nigel, California. 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/

NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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