NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, April 23, 2010

INCIDENTS

Jefferson NEM

Life Saved Through Ranger's Intercession

On Tuesday, April 6th, ranger Jay Brown contacted a despondent person who was standing on southbound Memorial Drive, leaning over the railing above an area where Interstate 70 runs directly underneath several city streets. The man told Brown that he was thinking of jumping onto the interstate. Brown began talking with him in order to gather more information and eventually convinced the man to step back from the railing and walk with him into Ely Smith Square, an open area of the park. Brown called dispatch and requested an ambulance, then continued to converse with the man, consoling him until the ambulance arrived. Brown then accompanied him to the hospital, where he was admitted for psychiatric evaluation. [Pete Swisher, Chief Ranger]

Big Bend NP

Rangers Rescue Stranded Hiker

Park dispatch received a report of an overdue hiker on the remote and strenuous Marufo Vega Trail on the morning of Friday, April 9th. The hiker, 34-year-old J.M. of Austin, Texas, had been issued a permit for a three day hike. The park plane was dispatched and searched the area without success. As temperatures had been in the 90's for several days, a hasty ground search team started hiking the trail. A horse team was also assembled and started up the trail with medical supplies and extra water. A Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) helicopter joined the search of the narrow steep canyons. Later that afternoon, the crew of the helicopter spotted an unusual blue object on a canyon floor, while the crew of a park plane spotted what turned out to be an orange sleeping bag in the same canyon. Ground searchers were directed to the location and found the missing hiker. They learned that J.M. had become lost on his first day out and wandered the open desert in search of the trail. By day three, he was desperate for water and begun descending washes in an attempt to reach the Rio Grande, which he could see in the distance. As his desperation grew, J.M. climbed down into a steep canyon, believing it lead to the river, but found that it lead only to a 70-foot pour-off above the river. He was trapped - he could see the river below, but could not climb back up the canyon wall. To keep from dehydrating, J.M. chewed the juice out of cacti and took advantage of shade from the canyon walls. He also spelled out the word “Help” with rocks and lit a small fire, hoping it might be seen from a plane. Rangers rappelled into the canyon and then rappelled with him to the canyon floor below, where they were picked up by the DPS helicopter. Despite having filed a backcountry plan, Meyer had changed his plan at the last minute without telling anyone and took only enough water for one day. He did not have proper topographic maps, a compass, GPS, or any other recommended supplies. Without sufficient food and water, it is likely that he would not have survived another 24 hours. Employees from various divisions assisted along with park volunteers and DPS and US Border Patrol personnel. Ranger Joe Roberts was IC. [Allen Etheridge, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

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

Santa Monica Mountains NRA - Nearly 3,000 residents from the greater Los Angeles region attended the first annual Santa Monica Mountains Science Festival last Friday and Saturday. In addition to families and organized school trips, nearly 30 community centers and other local organizations arrived on school buses and vans to take part in the daytime and evening festivities.

Office of Communications - On Tuesday, a joint National Park Service and U.S. Postal Service book was unveiled in a ceremony in Washington. The book tells the story of national parks using photographs and postage stamps to illustrate important places, people and events. Photo.

Grand Canyon NP - Park staff recently completed installation of five, new wayside exhibit panels at Bright Angel Pueblo, an archeological site located within the inner canyon at the mouth of Bright Angel Creek directly adjacent to Phantom Ranch. Photo.

WASO Public Affairs - Applications for the National Park Service's Save America's Treasure grants are due by May 21st.

Servicewide Training Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses offered by the NPS and its partners across the nation. Added to this week's listing are the following - a regional wilderness stewardship course in Alaska, a training course for law enforcement control tactics instructors in Ohio, ARPA training in California, and use of force instructor training at FLETC.

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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