NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

Oil Spill Monitoring And Preparations Continue

National Park Service sites along the Gulf of Mexico continue to collect data and monitor conditions. Dozens of park service employees from across the country are aiding in the response which is being managed by the Midwest Type III IMT (Pontbriand). The five South Florida parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, DeSoto, Dry Tortugas, and Everglades) continue to work under a Type III IMT to prepare for possible impacts there:

Padre Island NS - The park continues baseline assessments.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Park staff continue to monitor resources and collect and photograph samples of soil, sediment and water. Although the NOAA oil spill "zone of uncertainty" included Barataria Preserve last week and may do so again in the future, the preserve remains well outside the zone of predicted impacts. The park continues to work toward its objectives by coordinating with local partners and the IMT at Gulf Islands.

Gulf Islands NS - All park sites remain open and are operating normally. Poor sea conditions and severe weather on Sunday caused some areas of boom to become dislodged and damaged in Mississippi. Crews will continue replacing and repairing damaged sections of boom on Tuesday. Improving conditions and calmer seas allowed operations to continue Monday. Shoreline cleanup assessment teams (SCAT) continue to encounter light amounts of tarballs in small quantities. No oiled wildlife has been reported. Director Jarvis has returned to the Joint Information Center (JIC) in Mobile, Alabama to resume his role as incident commander. For photos of the response, please see the Gulf Islands NS website at HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/guis"www.nps.gov/guis.

South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, De Soto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - Biscayne superintendent Mark Lewis participated in a roundtable panel to discuss the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Initiated by U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL) much of the discussion was focused on the uncertainty of the impacts to southeast Florida and the Florida Keys due to the currents, the need for more modeling, and questions about dispersants. Natural and cultural resources staff met yesterday to discuss the baseline condition assessment sampling that is set to begin in Everglades later this week. A cultural resource assessment of Everglades' west coast will begin on Wednesday. Three hydrocarbon sensors have been deployed to Indian, Rabbit and Mormon Keys on Everglades' west coast. These passive sampling devices will be deployed to additional sites within the park and Dry Tortugas within the next week. Representatives from Entrix, a BP contractor, will be collecting samples at four sites in Everglades and at one site in Dry Tortugas. Provided they obtain the proper permits to do so, they will be sampling in Dry Tortugas on Wednesday and in Everglades later in the week. The contractors will be accompanied by an NPS natural resource advisor. Local media interest is currently low. A series of park-specific fact sheets that address response efforts are available on each park's respective website. A communications center continues to be staffed by a team of information officers, and can be contacted at 305-224-4215, or via email at HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/mailtSouthFloridaNPS@gmail.com__"SouthFloridaNPS@gmail.com.

For more information on the NPS, DOI and national oil spill responses and for a link to the BP online oil spill safety training needed by all incident staff, please see the following:

NPS Oil Spill Response - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm" http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm

DOI Oil Spill Response - HYPERLINK "http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm" http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm

National Oil Spill Response - HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com" http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

Oil Spill Safety Training - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Conferences&id=1957" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Conferences&id=1957

[J. Michael Johnson, Lead Information Officer, Gulf Islands National Seashore Oil Spill Response]

Denali NP&P

Climber Suffers Fatal Fall From Mt. McKinley

A French mountaineer fell to his death while climbing Mt. McKinley on Sunday, May 16th. P.F., 51, and his partner were approaching a feature at the top of Motorcycle Hill known as ‘Lunch Rocks” near 12,000 feet on the West Buttress when P.F. lost control of his sled. In an attempt to stop it from sliding over the ridge, both the climber and his sled tumbled towards the Peters Glacier. P.F., who was unroped at the time, was unable to self-arrest and ultimately fell over 1,000 feet to a steep, crevassed section of the Peters Glacier. A nearby climbing team witnessed the fall and made a radio distress call to rangers shortly after 3:00 p.m. At the time of the notification, the park's high altitude A-Star B3 helicopter was at the 14,200-foot camp on a resupply flight. Within five minutes, the helicopter flew to the accident site with two mountaineering rangers on board as spotters. They saw several pieces of fallen gear, then followed the fall line down to what appeared to be the climber lying in a crevasse at approximately 10,200 feet. As the steep terrain at the fall site offered no feasible landing areas, the helicopter and crew flew back to the Kahiltna Basecamp at 7,200 feet. After a two-man communications team was inserted at the top of the Peters Glacier, the helicopter returned to the crevasse site with NPS mountaineering ranger Kevin Wright on the end of a short-haul line, i.e. hanging beneath the helicopter at the end of a 120-foot rope. Helicopter pilot Andy Hermansky lowered Wright into the crevasse a distance of approximately 20 feet. Wright could not safely reach the climber, who was lying an additional 20 feet down in the crevasse, but readily determined that the climber had not survived the long fall. Hermansky and Wright returned to the Kahiltna Basecamp. NPS rangers will return to the site for further reconnaissance and to determine if a body recovery is an option. P.F.'s accident represents the park's first known fatality in this area of the route. The terrain where the fall started features smooth, compact snow and a slope of roughly 20 degrees, but it quickly drops to a crevasse-ridden, 40- to 50-degree slope. [Maureen McLaughlin, PIO]

Blue Ridge Parkway

Sobriety Checkpoints Lead To Arrests, Felony Investigation

Rangers conducted two sobriety checkpoints last weekend in the Asheville area in conjunction with the Asheville Police Department, the Asheville Arboretum, Biltmore Forest, and the North Carolina Breath Alcohol Testing Unit (BAT Mobile). Approximately 500 vehicles drove through the two checkpoints, resulting in four DUI arrests and one public intoxication arrest, nine cases involving drugs and/or paraphernalia, and approximately 30 other traffic offenses. On Saturday night, a vehicle stop made early in the checkpoint resulted in a significant interagency investigation into several felonies that had occurred both on the parkway and in the city of Asheville. Subsequent to contacting the driver of a vehicle with three occupants, ranger Debra Flowers detected the strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed two handguns, one of which had the serial numbers filed off, a felony offense. In addition, a search of the three subjects revealed over 20 ounces of marijuana hidden in the driver's pants. The two passengers in the vehicle were found to have a history of violence and drug-related activities and gang affiliations; one of them was currently on probation in Buncome County. Asheville detectives with their Criminal Investigations Division and Gang Suppression Unit responded to the scene to assist. When they arrived, they observed that the vehicle the three subjects had been driving matched the description of one that had been used in an armed robbery in Asheville two days prior. The three subjects also matched the description of those involved in the robbery. Asheville PD took the lead on the investigation at that time, and the three were transported to the Asheville Police Department, where Flowers and APD detectives interviewed them. Each of them confessed to the armed robbery in question, in which they had driven by a man walking down the street and gotten into a verbal altercation with him, culminating in an assault on the man, a weapon being brandished, and the theft of his money. The three also confessed to involvement in the recent armed robbery of a pizza delivery person, in addition to several other robberies and home invasions that occurred in Asheville in recent weeks. Subsequent to those interviews, Asheville police obtained a search warrant for the house that all three were living in. Rangers assisted with the execution of the search warrant, in which several stolen items related to recent home invasions, drug paraphernalia, and an additional firearm were seized. As a result of this interagency investigation, Asheville PD was able to close at least three previously unsolved cases. They have taken the lead on the ongoing investigation, and all three face several felony charges. [Lena Boesser-Koschmann, Assistant Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

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

Museum Management Program - In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage month, the NPS Museum Management Program and Manzanar NHS have launched a multi-media virtual museum exhibit.

NPS Law Enforcement Training Center - Andrew Zavanelli died at his home in Brunswick, Georgia, on Thursday, May 13th. He had worked at FLETC since 2006, first as the field training program manager and more recently as the advanced programs manager. Photo.

Park Facility Management Division - NPS areas and partners have received $17 million in funding for FY 2009 from Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program awards. Links are provided for specific details and for the FY 2010 call for new projects.

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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