NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, April 22, 2010

INCIDENTS

Glacier NP

Investigation On Avalanche Fatality Completed

The park has completed its investigation into the death of B.C.W., 37, whose body was recovered on Thursday, April 1st, on the northeast face of Peak 6996 near Mount Shields in the Marias Pass area. B.C.W., a lone snowboarder riding on Peak 6996 (locally known as Palindrome Peak, Little Shields, or False Shields), was caught in an avalanche and fatally injured on March 31st. Following the incident, a team of avalanche experts and investigators was assembled to analyze the conditions that contributed to B.C.W.'s death. Supplemental findings from field investigations conducted by the NPS and regional avalanche experts are available at the Glacier Country Avalanche Center web site (click on the link below). Exact details of the actual avalanche event are not known because the victim was alone. According to friends, B.C.W. was very familiar with the area and snowboarded there quite often. Avalanches are a real danger in the mountainous areas throughout Glacier National Park and surrounding areas. All backcountry travelers are urged to check HYPERLINK "http://www.glacieravalanche.org" http://www.glacieravalanche.org for the latest avalanche hazard and weather advisory before entering the park's backcountry. [Amy Vanderbilt, Wade Muehlhof]

HYPERLINK "http://www.glacieravalanche.org/incidentsdetail.cfm?RECNUM=59_" http://www.glacieravalanche.org/incidentsdetail.cfm?RECNUM=59

Mount Rainier NP

Day Hikers Rescued From Below Camp Muir

On the evening of April 17th, rangers were notified of two overdue hikers, one with a possible injury, somewhere on the Muir Snowfield. The pair were part of a larger day hiking group that had split up as weather deteriorated during their return from Camp Muir. None were prepared to spend the night out. What started out as a relatively mild day had turned into whiteout conditions. Rangers determined, however, that the weather was forecast to improve during the late evening. Climbing rangers Philippe Wheelock and Kevin Hammonds were mobilized at approximately 11 p.m. and directed to begin a hasty search. After failing to locate the two hikers, they regrouped at Camp Muir at 4 a.m. and with increasing daylight renewed the search. They located the hikers at approximately 8,800 feet on the western edge of Paradise Glacier at 6 a.m. The two women were conscious and in good spirits despite a forced open bivouac, though one had suffered a lower leg injury. Hammonds and Wheelock re-warmed them, packaged the injured woman, then evacuated both with the assistance of rangers Stefan Lofgren, who served as incident commander, and Sarah Pigeon. The group reached Paradise around 11 a.m. Two years earlier, in a similar situation during the month of June, a day hiker succumbed to hypothermia as his party attempted to return from Camp Muir to Paradise in blizzard conditions. [R. Chuck Young, Chief Ranger]

Buffalo NR

Rangers Assist With Murder Investigation

On Monday, April 12th, NPS rangers were asked to assist with a murder investigation by the Marion County Sheriff's Department. The murder happened in a remote part of Marion County next to the park's Lower Wilderness Area. The murder victim was a frequent user of the Cedar Creek Landing and the Lower Wilderness Area. The suspect in the murder was located driving the victim's truck by a state trooper on Monday. He also had two of the victim's credit cards in his possession, and it was determined that he had recently pawned a .22 semi-automatic rifle. When questioned, he admitted that he killed the victim, saying that he accidentally shot him while cleaning the .22 rifle. Rangers were part of the crime scene investigation team, which included FTEP trainee Aaron Smith. The crime scene team located the spent shell casing from the .22 rifle, as well as other evidence, and determined that the suspect's statements could not be true. When confronted with the evidence from the scene, he admitted that the two had an argument over a horse. He'd then waited until the victim was asleep and shot him in the head. [Jeff West, Lower District Supervisory Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

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

Director's Office - Join Director Jarvis on the stage where President Obama stood only hours before to kick off the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. The four-minute video highlights excerpts from the president's speech and the panel discussion. NOTE - Only available internally within the NPS.

Great Smoky Mountains NP - Park biologists have received confirmation that an Indiana bat collected from its hibernating refuge in the park's White Oak Blowhole cave has tested positive for White Nose Syndrom, a fungus that has killed in excess of 90% of the bats in many of the caves and mines in the Northeast and is just now showing up in the Southeast. Photo.

Intermountain Region - Jim Creager, age 63, passed away suddenly in the early morning hours of April 13th. He served as the lead for the Intermountain Region's IT help desk. Photo.

Office of the Chief Information Officer - The National Information Services Center is pleased to welcome Christie McDonald as the digital data manager for its Resource Information Services Division. Photo.

Intermountain Region - Lauren Meyer recently joined the Vanishing Treasures program at the Intermountain Regional Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 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/notify" http://inside.nps.gov/notify

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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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