NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Monday, May 24, 2010
INCIDENTS
Gulf Coast Parks
Assessment And Monitoring Of Spill Continue
The Midwest Incident Management Team (Pontbriand) continues to manage the National Park Service response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill at Gulf Islands National Seashore. The Intermountain Incident Management Team (Mossman) will assume management of the South Florida incident this morning. Assessment and monitoring continue throughout the area, with shoreline cleanup assessment technique (SCAT) teams responding to reports of oil and/or oiled wildlife.
Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Having completed tier one baseline sampling in the Barataria Preserve, the park continues to monitor the NOAA surface oil forecast as well as actual movement of discharge products toward the Barataria Estuary. The May 19th 72-hour forecast showed a potential for beached oil inside the Barataria Estuary for the first time. While the preserve is still well inland from the potential strike area and buffered by miles of marsh and estuarine waterways, the park is working with the IMT at Gulf Islands to evaluate defensive actions being mobilized between the preserve and the Gulf of Mexico.
Gulf Islands NS - A small portion of the tar balls found in previous days has been sent out for analysis and tested. The results of those tested did not show any markers that link them to the Deepwater Horizon spill. The resource team did recover one dead sand shark on West Horn Island, which is being sent off to the rehabilitation facility for necropsy.
South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, DeSoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - Baseline condition assessments continued yesterday at Everglades, Big Cypress, and Biscayne. Cultural resource assessments are also being performed concurrently at Everglades and Big Cypress. Dry Tortugas staff have conducted additional shoreline surveys park islands and continue to document occurrences of tar balls on the islands. Two new tar balls were discovered on Loggerhead Key. The South Florida IMT continues to coordinate response efforts with larger unified command centers in other areas of the affected region. The south Florida Type III team has appointed an NPS representative to remain actively engaged with command staff. Archeologists from the Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC) embedded at the IC in Mobile have completed pre-damage condition assessments for archeological sites at Gulf Islands National Seashore and are providing support to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by conducting site assessments in refuges that may be affected by the oil spill. To date, the team has completed 67 site assessments at Gulf Islands and nine on Fish and Wildlife lands. The team will continue to assess refuge archeological sites across the northern Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana to the Big Bend of Florida. Additional archeological teams from SEAC are conducting assessments in the South Florida parks. The Mobile team has drafted guidelines for site assessment and monitoring of clean-up efforts for archeological sites and cultural resources; these guidelines are currently under review.
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]
Zion NP
Injured Visitor Evacuated By High Line
On the evening of May 16th, a 50-year-old woman fell 20 feet in Hidden Canyon. landing on the upturned branches of a dead pine tree. Initial reports indicated that she had suffered impalement and lost a significant amount of blood. Responding ranger/medic Ryan McDonald-O'lear discovered that the woman had suffered two significant lacerations. She was unable to bear any weight on her injured limbs, but was stable. Accessing Hidden Canyon requires traversing a cliff face on a three-foot-wide trail using chains. In order to avoid the chain traverse, rangers constructed a 400-foot-long highline, but twists were soon discovered in the line. Since the woman was stable and darkness was limiting the team's ability to safely construct the highline, the decision was made to complete the operation the following morning. Ranger/medics spent the night with her. The SAR team returned at first light and completed the highline and safely evacuated the woman. Twenty-four park employees were involved in the rescue. [Ray O'Neil, Operations Chief]
Grand Canyon NP
Man Falls Several Hundred Feet To His Death
Park dispatch received a report that someone had gone over the canyon's edge near Mather Point on the South Rim around 5:40 a.m. last Friday morning. Upon arriving at the scene, which was about a quarter mile east of Mather Point, rangers spotted a body 400 to 600 feet below the rim. Witnesses said that the man had run to the edge, then gone over. Initial efforts to hike to the body were unsuccessful; instead, search and rescue crew members had to rappel down to the body to prepare it for transport. It was subsequently flown out via helicopter long-line. Rangers are investigating the incident as a possible suicide. The identity of the deceased is being withheld pending positive identification and notification of next of kin. [Shannan Marcak, Public Affairs Officer]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:
Servicewide - The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Civil War Preservation Trust have each released their annual lists of the nation's most threatened historic areas - the former a list of 11 “most endangered historic places,” the latter a compilation of the 10 “most endangered battlefields.” Several NPS areas are included in the Civil War listing, including Gettysburg and Cedar Creek, and one site, the Wilderness Battlefield, made both lists.
Risk Management Division - On Friday, May 7th, Director Jarvis signed Director's Order (DO) 50C, Public Risk Management, the first-ever guidance to support park efforts to prevent visitor injury. A link is provided to the DO and its associated reference manual.
Natural Resource Program Center - The spring issue of Park Science is now out. A link is provided to this edition.
Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings and the status of legislation pertinent to the National Park Service.
Natural Resource Program Center - Chuck Pettee will retire from the National Park Service on May 31st. Over the course of his 22-year NPS career, Chuck provided leadership to resolving many of the Service's most difficult and protracted water resource and water rights protection issues. 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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