NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Friday, June 4, 2010
INCIDENTS
Appomattox Court House NHP
Services For Teddy Garrett To Be Held Tomorrow
Teddy Wayne Garrett, 67, of Appomattox, was tragically killed in the line of duty on Wednesday, June 2nd, at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. He had been a seasonal employee in the park's maintenance division since 2003 and leaves behind many loved ones, including his wife of 34 years, D.W.G. He was a loving and devoted father and is survived by two daughters, M.(M.)D.G. of Richmond and C.(C.)L. and her husband, A.; a son, T.W.G., II; a brother, B.G. and wife, J. all of Appomattox; three sisters, G.L. and husband, F. of Richmond, G.G., and B.C. and husband, T. all of Appomattox; sister-in-law, P.W. and husband, H. of Virginia Beach; and loving family friends, G.W., II of Richmond and E.R.J. of Pamplin. Born in Appomattox County on February 19, 1943, he was a son of L.C.G. of Appomattox and the late E.E.R.G. Teddy was a member of New Hope Baptist Church, a United States Army veteran of the Vietnam War, and a retired employee of General Electric and Ericsson. Funeral services will be conducted at 11:00 am, Saturday, June 5th, by the Rev. R.R. and J.C.R., II at New Hope Baptist Church in Appomattox. Burial will follow in Liberty Cemetery and will include participation by a National Park Service honor guard. The family will receive friends at Robinson Funeral Home today (Friday) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and other times at the family home. Those wishing to make memorials please consider the Appomattox Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 57, Appomattox, VA 24522 , the Appomattox Volunteer Fire Department, P.O. Box 894, Appomattox, VA 24522, or the American Diabetes Foundation, P.O. Box 1131, Alexandria, VA 22303. Robinson Funeral Home and Cremation Service is serving the family and an online condolence may be sent at HYPERLINK "http://www.robinsonfuneral.com" www.robinsonfuneral.com. [Mike Litterst]
Gulf Coast Parks
Response To Oil On Gulf Island Beaches Continues
The men and women of the National Park Service have been an integral part of the national federal response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. All NPS units in the Gulf remain open and are conducting park operations.
Gulf Islands NS - Gulf Islands received a swath of sheen and tar balls approximately two miles long and three feet wide on Petit Bois Island on June 1st. Sheen has also been observed since June 2nd along the southern shore of Horn Island and possibly looping slightly around the end of the island. SCAT (Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Technique) and READ (Resource Advisors) teams have been evaluating and responding to the situation, but clean-up efforts have been hampered by inclement weather. Additionally preparations in the Pensacola area are being made in response to a slick less than seven miles offshore. This includes the use of booms off the western tip of Santa Rosa Island near Ft. Pickens.
South Florida Parks (Big Cypress NP, Biscayne NP, DeSoto NM, Dry Tortugas NP, Everglades NP) - Recreational and commercial fishing waters approximately 15 miles west of Dry Tortugas NP have been closed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; however, this does not affect all areas near the park, so people are advised to check the NOAA website at www.noaa.gov . The Key West Tar Ball Incident has been re-opened based on additional tar balls found at Duck Key. South Florida incident command has stationed Wayne Elliot, deputy operations chief in Key West, to continue coordination with the USCG Key West Sector and other partner agencies. Personnel continue to conduct daily surveys of the islands of Dry Tortugas National Park. Monitoring continues at all South Florida park coastal areas. There has been no oil from Deepwater Horizon in the parks. Visitors are continuing to enjoy the islands and beaches and all the related recreational opportunities they offer. 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 "mailto:SouthFloridaNPS@gmail.com" SouthFloridaNPS@gmail.com .
Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Park staff are working with the unified command in Mobile and with state and parish officials to plan for any necessary defensive actions.
Padre Island NS - Personnel have collected three tar balls this week. Padre Island is a nesting ground for Kemp's Ridley turtles and so far this year, 48 have been found in the park. Tracking devices attached to Kemp's Ridley turtles while they are nesting allow the park to monitor their movement after nesting. Turtles often head for the area currently being affected by the spill when they finish nesting. Resource staffers are also planning for a survey early next week in which they will reshoot baseline photos for the park and record any incidences of sick or dead wildlife.
The national parks in the Gulf of Mexico and south Florida preserve wildlife habitats and historical areas that are unique to our country. Coral reefs, mudflats, mangroves, marshes, and seagrass beds provide nurseries, refuge, and feeding areas for wildlife, while lighthouses, seacoast fortifications, and shipwrecks preserve evidence of trade, war, and maritime technology dating back to the 16th century. Millions of people come to these seashore and island national parks for relaxation, inspiration and fun. In national park lands and waters the oil spill could contaminate and destroy the food sources and nesting areas for marine wildlife, including endangered least terns and Kemp's Ridley turtles. Spilled oil can permanently damage historic brick coastal fortifications on the water's edge, like Fort Massachusetts at Gulf Islands National Seashore, or underwater shipwrecks like the Windjammer at Dry Tortugas National Park. Of additional concern, oil clean-up crews and equipment could disturb or damage sensitive wildlife habitats and archeological sites. Beaches, bayous, and waters will be closed if they become contaminated.
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
[Mindi Rambo, Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response]
C&O Canal NHP
Mother And Daughter Drown In Potomac
A mother and her daughter drowned in the Potomac River on Memorial Day. On Wednesday evening, local officials pulled the body of what is believed to be a 14-year-old Peruvian girl from the Potomac Gorge, five miles downstream from where the girl and her 36-year-old mother entered the Potomac River near Great Falls Park. The search for the mother's body continued yesterday. It is believed the Peruvian family recently immigrated to the Washington area and was with other Peruvian families enjoying the Memorial Day weekend. These two drownings on Memorial Day brings to eight the number of lives lost within the last year in the Potomac River Gorge, a 14-mile stretch of river from Key Bridge in the District of Columbia northward to the Great Falls on the Potomac. Between 2004 and 2008, with considerable interagency cooperation on the local, county, state and federal levels, there were no preventable drownings in the Potomac River Gorge. While that considerable interagency cooperation has actually grown stronger over the years, the string of no preventable death by drowning was broken in 2009. To raise the visiting public's level of awareness of the hazards of this stretch of river, the National Capital Region's Communications Office, in concert with staff from C&O Canal, George Washington Memorial Parkway and the U.S. Park Police, have produced four-minute video presentations in English, Spanish and Vietnamese that directly show the fast-flowing water as it moves over treacherous rocks. In previous years, both parks have posted river safety signs in English, Spanish and Vietnamese on both sides of the river; those signs remain and additional signs are planned. Both parks have helped prepare a Potomac Gorge search and rescue atlas now used by all emergency service providers, have added NPS bicycle and foot patrols, trail stewards and other volunteers to make visitor contacts, continue to conduct preventive search and rescue patrols, and have park interpretive staff incorporate river safety into programs and roving patrols. All of these efforts will continue. [Bill Line, Communications Officer, NCRO]
Grand Canyon NP
Falling Fatality Ruled A Suicide
The body of a man retrieved from below the rim on Friday, May 21st, has been identified as that of 64-year-old M.M. of Long Beach, California. His death has been ruled a suicide. Around 5:40 a.m. that morning, park dispatch received a report that someone had gone over the edge near Mather Point on the South Rim. Upon arriving at the scene, rangers spotted a body almost 600 feet below the rim and were told by witnesses that they had seen the man running up to and jumping over the edge of the canyon. [Shannan Marcak, Public Affairs Officer]
Saguaro NP
Motorcyclist Killed In Accident
On April 28th, a two-vehicle accident occurred on Picture Rocks Road about a mile east of Golden Gate Road. One of the vehicles, a motorcycle, was operated by 59-year-old B.B. B.B. sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized at University Medical Center in Tucson. On May 23rd, he died of his injuries. The park was notified of B.B.'s death on June 1st. [Bob Love, Chief Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:
Upper Delaware S&RR - American Rivers, a national conservation group, has placed the Upper Delaware at the top of its annual list of America's most endangered rivers.
Lake Mead NRA - On May 22nd, Lake Mead rangers and interagency dispatchers joined over 100 officers from 20 agencies to carry the "Flame of Hope" throughout the State of Nevada on its journey to the Special Olympics Summer Games, which are currently being held in Reno. Photo.
Servicewide Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation. Added to this week's listing are the following - a Presidential sites and libraries conference in Virginia in June, a September 30th deadline for submissions for the 2011 George Wright Society conference, and invasive species early detection training at Lewis and Clark in June.
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
* * * *
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).
--- ### ---