NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, June 18, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

Media Tour Highlights Protection Efforts

The men and women of the National Park Service - both current employees and numerous retired employees - 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 - The NPS and Fish and Wildlife Service partnered in a joint media tour at Fort Pickens yesterday, highlighting the protection efforts underway for the natural and cultural resources in the park and other sensitive lands affected by the oil spill. Six news organizations representing international, national and local media participated, including Reuters, Pensacola Radio WUWF, The Gulf Oil Monitor, BP.com, Greenwire.com, and the Pensacola ABC News affiliate. The three-hour media visit illustrated the collaboration between the services and expressed the two agencies' commitment to ensuring that the lands they administer are adequately protected during the ongoing response, the largest spill response in US history. The NPS continues to work with the unified command to assess the oil impacts and protect critical habitat, natural and cultural resources and historic structures. Decisions on cleanup treatments are based on science and the principle that the treatment technique is better for the environment than the oil. Achieving recovery goals is a delicate and crucial balance between swift and immediate response and science-based decisions and actions, which are intentional and measured. Examples of science-based response and decision making during the clean-up efforts include determining GPS coordinates of nesting shore birds to avoid disturbing nesting sites, identifying sea turtle nesting sites and creating 10-foot perimeter buffer zones, using non-mechanical equipment or hand tools in sensitive areas, developing technical plans for engaging in light oil clean up, using non-mechanized cleanup methods in designated wilderness areas, and limiting and consolidating helicopter over-flights and landings to ensure minimum impact. NPS surveillance takes place daily on national seashore beaches as oiling continues in scattered areas of northwest Florida. Perdido Pass, Pensacola Pass and Destin Pass remain closed with the tides to reduce the amount of oil from entering inland waters. Booms will be deployed across each pass at flood tide (water coming in) and removed at ebb tide (water going out). Fort Pickens is receiving light to medium tar balls, with the bayside of Fort Pickens receiving very light mousse. Skimming boats are operating offshore in the area around Perdido Pass and Petit Bois Island, which is seeing moderate mousse.

South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, Desoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - Plans are being developed with the South Florida Peninsular JIC on a press advisory for all public land managers on Monday, June 20th. More information will follow as plans develop.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Oil sheen continues to be observed on waterways 25 miles south of Barataria Preserve. Booms remain in place along the bay's northern coastline, and vigilant observation and patrols by park staff continue. SER Regional Director David Vela and Acting Deputy Regional Director Mark Woods joined the surveillance operations and toured the preserve by boat, meeting with park staff at two of the park's six sites.

Padre Island NS - Yesterday's collection of oil debris, which made landfall on South Beach, included a 55-gallon BP oil drum that contained several gallons of liquid. The drum was placed in the park's hazmat facility for collection by the U.S. Coast Guard and for determination and verification of its origins. Hundreds of paper-thin tar balls, observed by the Coast Guard during overflight surveillance operations, have washed ashore in the Big Shell area of South Beach within the park's boundary. The Port Aransas area, north of the park boundary, was subject to an eight-mile long band of sporadic tar balls making landfall. Cleanup efforts are underway, with Coast Guard officials in the park to assess the situation and to advise on response actions. The park is located over 500 miles from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site. As the volume of the spill increases, currents and strong winds could bring more remnants of the spill to the Texas coast during the coming months.

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. Note that a new link has been added for the ICS 209 Incident Status Summaries prepared each day and posted on an NPS web page; among other things, these provide details on significant events, major problems and current resource commitments.

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

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=1006&id=9336" NPS ICS 209 Incident Status Summaries

[Bobbie Altomare Visnovske, Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response]

Bryce Canyon NP

Seriously Injured Visitor Treated And Evacuated By Helicopter

On the afternoon of May 29th, rangers received a call for assistance from the Canyon Trail rides concessionaire regarding a woman with an injured leg on the Peek-a-Boo Loop Trail. The wrangler on scene described the seriousness of the injury, prompting rangers to call for additional resources from the county and other divisions within the park. The local response was rapid, organized and professional. Rangers and EMT's were on scene within minutes of the initial request for help. The woman's leg was twisted at an awkward angle, probably indicating a spiral femur fracture. Tropic Fire Department EMT's started an IV and administered morphine. Due to the serious nature of the injury, personnel on scene made the determination that she should be airlifted to the nearest hospital equipped to handle this type of trauma. Tropic Fire Department EMT's and rangers applied a traction splint, prepared her for transport, and hauled her to a ridge on the Peek-A-Boo Loop where a Classic Lifeguard air medical transport helicopter was able to touch down. This is the first time in many years that a helicopter has landed within the Bryce Amphitheater among the hoodoos, requiring considerable expertise by the pilot. The woman was then flown to Dixie Regional Medical Center. The park extends its thanks to the dedicated Tropic Fire Department personnel who volunteer countless hours of training and applied skills to saving human lives. The park would also like to extend a special thanks to the retired civilian doctor who remained with the patient and monitored her condition throughout the ordeal. [Daniel Fagergren, Acting Deputy Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

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

Harpers Ferry Center - The Harpers Ferry Center for Media Services celebrated its 40th anniversary on Wednesday, June 16th, by hosting a homecoming event on its Harpers Ferry campus. In attendance were nearly 250 Harpers Ferry Center staff, invited guests, and former employees.

Intermountain Region - Eighteen students from the Kansas State School for the Blind are retracing the Oregon and California National Historic Trails in a minivan-caravan this June, visiting important NPS trail sites and using “talking” GPS devices to walk in wagon ruts along the way. Photo.

Glacier NP - A new University of Montana study of mountain goats has been suspended pending an internal investigation into the cause of two deaths in separate darting and tranquilizing efforts.

Yosemite NP - Cindy Whitten has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Barry Hance Memorial Award. Photo.

NPS Alumni - Bill Brown, 71, retired staff curator at Harpers Ferry Center, passed away on June 15th.

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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