NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

Tar Balls Appear At Gulf Islands And In South Florida

The National Park Service response to the Mississippi Canyon 252 oil spill continued yesterday in sites around the Gulf of Mexico. Dozens of NPS 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) currently continue to work under a Type III organization, but are preparing to transition to a Type II team.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Park staff have chosen sample sites and taken baseline photos and samples of soil, sediment and water; this process will continue over the next few days. 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 NS.

Gulf Islands NS - Approximately 75 tar balls were found yesterday on West Ship Island and Horn Island. Clean up of the sites has begun and will likely continue during today's operations. Crews are also working to repair damaged booms in the area. No closures are currently in place, and no oiled wildlife have been reported. New information is being updated on HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/guis"www.nps.gov/guis and on Twitter@ SouthEastRegionNPS.

South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, De Soto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - Multiple tar balls were discovered Monday on a beach in Key West. Samples are currently being analyzed by the U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA to better determine their origin. Though it has not yet been confirmed whether these are the result of the Deepwater Horizon spill in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the discovery has sparked considerable local concern and media interest. On Tuesday, on the heels of this discovery, park staff surveyed the shoreline on two keys in Dry Tortugas National Park. What appears to be a petroleum residue has been found on both Loggerhead and Garden Keys. Samples have been taken for further analysis to better determine composition and origin. Additional shoreline surveys in the park are ongoing. At the moment, visitors to Dry Tortugas are being notified to swim at their own risk and be aware that tar balls could be present in the water column or on the beaches. Due to the unexpected discovery of tar balls in the area, baseline condition assessments for Everglades, Big Cypress, and Biscayne are now scheduled to be completed in an expedited manner. Crews will begin performing natural and cultural assessments of the most threatened areas today, and it is hoped all sampling can be completed within a two-day time frame. Scientists from the NPS South Florida/Caribbean Network continued to deploy additional hydrocarbon sensors in the waters of Florida Bay. It is anticipated that, conditions permitting, additional passive sampling devices will be deployed at sites within Dry Tortugas and Biscayne National Parks. The South Florida IMT continues to coordinate response efforts with larger unified command centers in other areas of the affected region. It is anticipated that, as this incident grows in size and complexity, incident management will be transitioned to an incoming Type II team. Representatives from Entrix, a BP contractor, have now been issued permits to begin collecting samples at four sites in Everglades and at one site in Dry Tortugas. The company is scheduled to conduct 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 very high. 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]

Grand Canyon NP

Park Resident Pleads Guilty To Possession Of Child Pornography

Last May, special agents with the NPS Investigative Services Branch and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with protection rangers, served a search warrant on a residence located within the park. The occupant - G.H. - was subsequently arrested and ultimately charged with four counts of receipt of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography, and one count of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. In January, G.H. pled guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced last month to 48 months in prison and 15 years of supervised release. He also forfeited electronic items and a .22 caliber Berretta handgun. [Robert W. Mullikin, Special Agent in Charge]

OTHER NEWS

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

Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - On Friday, May 14th, the United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution that honors the men and women who perform search and rescue throughout the United States. The resolution sets aside the week of May 16th to May 22nd as National Search and Rescue week.

Risk Management - The National Park Service Safety Leadership Council recently held its biannual meeting at Big Cypress National Preserve in Southeast Region. Photo.

Cumberland Island NS - What is becoming a biennial Cumberland Island tradition continued this month with the third Stafford family reunion in the past six years. Members of the family trace their ancestry back to the Stafford plantation, located in the park. Photo.

Fire and Aviation Management - Kathy Komatz, a SCEP with the NPS Branch of Aviation, was one of five individuals from the wildland fire service chosen to receive the seventh national Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award.

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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