NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
INCIDENTS
Gulf Coast Parks
Oil Spill Cleanup Operations Continue
Gulf Islands National Seashore is planning for its first sea turtle egg relocation. Southern Florida reports that parks there are still oil free. Here are the details:
Gulf Islands NS - The park recently announced that it will relocate its first nest of turtle eggs. When turtle nests are found on the beach, they are flagged for safety and the exact coordinates are passed on to turtle experts. If the nests are vulnerable to oil or cleanup activities, they are quickly relocated to a temporary nesting area. This relocation is delicate work. The exact placement of eggs in the original nest must be duplicated, as the eggs must maintain their temperatures or hatchling development is disrupted. Cooler egg temperatures tend to produce male hatchlings, while warmer eggs tend to produce female hatchlings. Between days 50 and 53 of a 63 to 70 day hatching period, the eggs are removed from the temporary nest and placed in a cooler for transport. They are sent via Fed Ex to a NASA facility located near Canaveral National Seashore and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, where they are stored in a temperature controlled environment for hatching. Once hatched and deemed medically stable, they are released back into the wild on the east coast of Florida. On July 7th, the first gulf shore relocation of turtle eggs took place from St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge. Gulf Islands National Seashore has announced that its first nest will be ready for relocation to the Atlantic Coast on July 23rd.
South Florida Parks (Big Cypress, Biscayne, Desoto, Dry Tortugas, Everglades) - All vessel and flight patrols continued yesterday and no oil was spotted in the Florida Peninsula Command area of responsibility. A total of 153 oil samples from around the peninsula have been processed to date and none are connected with the oil spill; another 35 samples are in process and not expected to be positive either. Community meetings and development of qualified community responder programs are underway in the St. Petersburg and Key West Branches and planning continues in all branches. A cultural resource plan is being developed at the Florida Peninsula Command Post for all branches and will become a part of the planning package that will be handed down to the branches to incorporate with the tactical planning they have done so that everything will be in place should oil hit a trigger point offshore and operations be initiated.
Jean Lafitte NHP&P - No new developments.
Padre Island NS - No new developments.
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/" Deepwater Horizon 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
HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/documents/NPS%20-%20Public%20Health%20Notice%20SIGNAGE%206-26-10.pdf" Gulf Islands Public Health Precautions Notice
HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/archive/features/oilspillresponse/OilSpillSafety/index.htm" Public Health Service Oil Spill Safety Video
HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/archive/features/oilspillresponse/" Oil Spill Media Page
[Andy L. Fisher, Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response]
Great Smoky Mountains NP
Rangers Respond To Three Mass Casualty Accidents
Over the course of a five-day period, rangers responded to three mass casualty motor vehicles accidents in the park with a total of 20 people injured:
Sunday, July 4th - Park dispatch received a call reporting a single vehicle rollover accident on Newfound Gap Road on the North Carolina side of the park. The five occupants of a Chevrolet HHR rental car, all from Ohio, sustained a variety of injuries in the crash. One had a compound femur fracture and possible head injuries and had to be extricated from the car. Rangers from Oconaluftee and Little River responded with Cherokee tribal EMS, fire and police personnel. Four of the injured visitors were taken by separate ambulances to hospitals in Sylva and Waynesville. The most seriously injured victim was flown by Mountain Area Medical Airlift to Mission Hospital in Asheville. The highways was closed for over an hour. The case rangers are Josh Frazier and Mike Scheid; supervisory ranger Joe Pond was IC.
Wednesday July 7th - Supervisory park ranger Bobby Fleming and ranger John Sheets came upon a three-vehicle accident on the Newfound Gap Road near Sugarlands Visitor Center that had occurred just seconds before their arrival. A van had been rear-ended, causing six injuries. All six people were stuck in the van due to damage to the side door. Ranger/medic Ellen Paxton, supervisory ranger/medic Joe Pond, FLETC trainee Mike Hinchberger and personnel from Gatlinburg EMS and fire responded. Four of the injured were taken to a medical center in Sevierville for evaluation. The road was closed for about an hour. The operator of one of the vehicles was cited for failure to maintain control. Fleming was the incident commander and Sheets is the investigating ranger.
Thursday, July 8th - Dispatch received an initial report of a van accident involving children on the Spur near Norton Creek. Fleming and Steve Kloster, acting chief ranger, responded along with rangers Jacob Greene and Ken Davis and ambulance and EMS personnel from Gatlinburg and Sevier County. They found that nine adults - and no children - had been injured. Two were flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville with serious injuries; two were taken by ambulance to the same center; the remaining five were taken by ambulance to the medical center in Sevierville. All nine were from the Ukraine and were working in Gatlinburg. The road was closed for about two hours. Park maintenance personnel played a key role in assisting with traffic control and cleanup of the scene. Fleming was the incident commander and is the investigating ranger.
Meetings between supervisory staff from the park and local emergency service agencies throughout this past winter and spring have helped to assure a coordinated and effective multi-agency response to emergency incidents within the park. [Steve Kloster, Acting Chief Ranger]
Olympic NP
Park Staff Assist In Fatal USCG Helicopter Crash
Rangers and members of the park's dive team responded to a request for assistance in recovering US Coast Guard personnel involved in a helicopter crash off shore of the Quileute Indian Reservation near La Push on July 7th. The Jayhawk helicopter broke into pieces and crashed into the ocean after striking power lines suspended between the shore and James Island at the mouth of the Quillayute River. Members of the dive team, supported by a USCG boat crew, recovered the body of the fourth and last member of the flight crew to be accounted for in the multi-agency search effort. [Mark O'Neill, Park Dive Officer]
HYPERLINK "http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012308470_coptercrash09m.html" http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012308470_coptercrash09m.html
Cape Cod NS
Boater's Body Found In Nauset Inlet
On the morning of July 10th, a 17-foot center console fishing boat was found, motor still running at full throttle, on the spit at Coast Guard Beach. The boat's grounding was just north of Nauset Inlet, where it had been seen about an hour earlier. At that time, the boat was occupied by one person and was going through the Nauset Marsh channel in an attempt to enter the inlet to reach the open ocean. The operator was having difficulty going through the inlet due to a strong incoming tide and winds that were causing a strong chop. It appeared that the boat made it through the inlet, but a 911 call was made because it was now grounded and without an operator. A two-hour search ensued that involved park lifeguards and rangers, the Coast Guard (a helicopter, a Falcon jet and three boats), and Orleans and Eastham rescue vessel. It resulted in the discovery of the body of D.H., 60, of Medfield, Massachusetts, who a summer resident of Orleans. His body was found on a hummock inside the inlet. D.H. was not wearing a life jacket. The Massachusetts State Police, Eastham PD, and the park are continuing the investigation. Ranger Jay Kolodzinski is the lead for the NPS. [Bob Grant, Chief Ranger]
Sequoia-Kings Canyon NPs
Marijuana Plantation Eradicated
On Thursday, July 1st, protection rangers removed an illegal marijuana patch in Sequoia National Park. A total of 20,324 plants worth over $81 million were removed from the park, along with trash, fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, and other hazardous materials. Some expended gun shell casings were also found. The site is believed to have ties to a Mexican drug trafficking organization. No arrests have been made yet. An investigation is ongoing. [Dana Dierkes, Public Affairs Officer]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" home page. Non-NPS employees can see most (but not all) of them at HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" NPS Digest:
Natural Resource Program Center - Park Science, the NPS research and resource management journal published by the Natural Resource Program Center, has won an Apex Award of Publication Excellence for 2010.
Office of Indian Affairs and American Culture - In late May, this year's American Indian Law Training Workshop was held at NCTC. The primary purpose of the workshop is to build a knowledgeable foundation for federal employees in federal American Indian law. Photo.
Natural Resource Program Center - Dr. Tanya Shenck and Rick Kahn will be joining the Biological Resource Management Division, the former as climate change landscape ecologist and the latter as a wildlife management specialist.
NPS Alumni - Charles “Corky” Mayo, who retired from the NPS as chief of interpretation last year, experienced a serious brain hemorrhage last week and is currently in an intensive care unit at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. Photo.
NPS incident submission standards can be found online at the HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id=8728&lv=2&pgid=3504" serious incident notification web page.
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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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