NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, June 17, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

Mitigation Efforts Prevent Oil From Entering Inland Waters

The men and women of the National Park Service continue to be an integral part of the national federal response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. All NPS units along the Gulf remain open and are conducting regular park operations.

Gulf Islands NS - A media ground tour of Gulf Islands National Seashore will take place today at Fort Pickens in conjunction with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to provide information about natural resource protection measures underway at the park and other sensitive lands affected by the ongoing oil spill. National seashore and national wildlife refuge lands affected and threatened by the spill include hundreds of miles of shoreline and dozens of sensitive sites. Both services are strongly committed to ensuring that our nationally-significant resources are adequately protected during the ongoing response by employing robust plans, sound science, and all available personnel to achieve this goal. Both Perdido Pass, situated on the western coast of Perdido Key, and Pensacola Pass, situated between the eastern point of Fort Pickens and the western coast of Perdido Key on Santa Rosa Island, have been closed with the tide to prevent oil from entering inland waters. Boom will be deployed across each pass at flood tide (water coming in) and removed at ebb tide (water going out). Based on oil activity, the U.S. Coast Guard may call for the closure of Perdido Pass and Pensacola Pass; however, both passes will be open for vessel traffic during low tide. NPS surveillance continues daily on national seashore beaches as some additional impacts are expected throughout northwest Florida due to onshore winds. These impacts will most likely be in the form of tar balls, oil sheen, tar mats or mousse - a pudding-like oil/water mixture that could be brown, rust or orange in color. NPS personnel continue to patrol beaches and monitor cleanup crew efforts, as well as interact with visitors who contribute to the economic fabric of the region and are drawn to these preserved areas. All NPS units in the Gulf remain open and are conducting park operations.

South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, Desoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - The South Florida IMT is transitioning to a smaller staff in south Florida. This smaller group will continue to manage incident operations and coordinate with the U.S. Coast Guard sectors, including the South Florida Peninsular Joint Information Center) The U.S. Coast Guard Florida Peninsular JIC coordinated a flyover of the gulf coast out of Key West for offshore oil observations. There are no current reports of oil reaching shore on the Florida Peninsula.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Oil sheen has been observed on waterways about 15 miles south of the Barataria Preserve. Oil has reached the northeast coastline of Barataria Bay, which is about 25 miles from the preserve. Booms are in place along the bay's northern coastline. Park personnel continue to be on the water daily, conducting surveillance for oil and closely monitoring waterways. SER Regional Director David Vela and Acting Deputy Regional Director Mark Woods are expected to visit Barataria Preserve today by boat and to meet with staff.

Padre Island NS - Tar balls and tar mats were observed on South Beach yesterday. At mile markers 14.4 and 21.2, tar mats up to six feet long were discovered, while employees observed smaller tar balls floating in the surf.  These items were collected by the park's hazardous materials team and transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard, where it will be determined if the collected tar balls and tar mats are a result of the oil spill. Visitor interest in Padre Island National Seashore remains steady; a high level of visitor calls, indicating that their travel plans to visit the seashore remain unchanged, have been received. This may be due, in part, to this year's first Kemp's Ridley turtle release on the Texas coast. Yesterday, 116 hatchlings were released under guarded conditions, with over 450 visitors and representatives from three media outlets welcoming the hatchlings and attending the special event. Researchers from Texas Tech University and the U.S. Geological Survey are in the park devising protocols to collect samples from unhatched Kemp's Ridley sea turtle eggs to use in conjunction with the natural resource damage assessment process. Padre Island has an extensive program to monitor and protect Kemp's Ridley sea turtle nests, one of the most critically endangered sea turtle species worldwide. In previous years, the NPS has attached satellite transmitters to adult females after they nest and then monitored movements. Many of the turtles tracked entered waters offshore from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, or the west coast of Florida after they finished nesting.

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 sites:

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

HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doctype/2931/53023/" BP Oil Spill Response

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

HYPERLINK "http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/" National Oil Spill Response

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

HYPERLINK "http://www.geoplatform.gov/gulfresponse/" GeoPlatform

[Bobbie Altomare Visnovske, Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response]

Mount Rainier NP

Rangers Rescue Man From Vehicle In River

On June 5th, an SUV driven by park visitor G.G. of Seattle went off the Nisqually-Paradise road south of Longmire and down a 40-foot embankment, landing upside down in the Nisqually River. G.G. was uninjured but was trapped by his seat belt as water rushed into the partially submerged vehicle. The water temperature of the glacially fed river is in the high 40's and low 50's and G.G. was becoming hypothermic. Six to eight motorists who had stopped and entered the river tried unsuccessfully to help get him out of his SUV. Rangers Peter Maggio and Paul Harrington arrived on scene approximately three minutes after the car entered the river. Arriving moments later were several television crews who were in the park to cover an upper mountain SAR that was in progress. Maggio donned rescue gear, including a dry suit and safety line, and entered the water to assist the motorists who were attempting to free G.G.. From the back of the vehicle, Maggio was able to see G.G. struggling to keep his head above water. With the assistance of rangers on shore, Maggio secured a line to the back of the upside down vehicle in order to stabilize it. Water flow into the vehicle increased, though, creating an imminent threat to G.G. of drowning. Maggio decided he needed to take immediate action and climbed through the broken back window of the vehicle and up to where G.G. was trapped. After several attempts, he was able to reach and cut G.G.'s seat belt, thus freeing him. Maggio, with the assistance of the other motorists in the water, were able to remove G.G. from the vehicle and get him to shore. While G.G. was being treated for hypothermia, rangers coordinated the landing of a helicopter that was in the area for another in-park SAR. G.G. was flown to the park's helibase, where he was transferred to a waiting ambulance. He made a full recovery and was released from the hospital that night. Stefan Lofgren served as IC on this rescue. Footage of the rescue can be seen at the link below. [Chuck Young, Chief Ranger]

HYPERLINK "http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-051010-nisquallyriverrescue,0,5477694.story" http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-051010-nisquallyriverrescue,0,5477694.story

OTHER NEWS

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

National Park of American Samoa - Many of the cultural resources damaged by last September's tsunami - including artifacts and modern examples of traditional Samoan arts and tools - have been restored and returned to the park.

Fire and Aviation Management - The second issue of Wildland Fire News, the National Park Service newsletter for wildland fire, is now out. A link is provided to the page.

Intermountain Region - Ten archeology students from Central Wyoming College are mapping 19th century wagon trail swales, river fords, and possible emigrant graves associated with the Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express National Historic Trails in west-central Wyoming. 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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