NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Parks

Bad Weather Cuts Short Cleanup Operations

Despite bad weather that causes a suspension of cleanup operations, crews at Gulf Islands yesterday picked up just under nine tons of oiled material from park beaches:

Petit Bois Island - Two resource advisors with a 22-person crew picked up 2,320 pounds of oil products. One live, oiled gannet was picked up by the wildlife recovery team. SCAT Team 7 surveyed Petit Bois and prepared a damage assessment.

Horn Island - One resource advisor worked with a crew of 22 on the south shore of the island. They collected 3,570 pounds of oil products. The Point Protection Team, along with a resource advisor and an 11-person crew, worked the west tip of the island and collected 1,375 pounds of oiled materials. An archeological SCAT team with two resource advisors also worked on Horn Island.

West Ship Island - A resource advisor working with a crew of 19 recovered 560 pounds of oil on the west end of the island. Two dead oiled birds were found - one pelican and one unknown species.

East Ship Island - A SCAT team completed a survey of East Ship Island. One injured bird was reported to a wildlife recovery team.

Cat Island - A resource advisors and a six-person crew removed 875 pounds of oil materials from NPS lands. On private lands, two advisors with a 37-person crew collected 1,575 pounds of oiled products.

Opal Beach/Santa Rosa Area - A 120-person crew collected 1,140 pounds of oiled debris. A 50-person crew and collected another 420 pounds of oiled products.

Fort Pickens Area - A 146-person crew collected 1,900 pounds of oiled debris. A 99-person crew collected 4,660 pounds of oil products.

Johnson Beach/Perdido Key - A 37-person crew collected 870 pounds of oil products. There was a stand-down for lightning. A film crew was on site filming a documentary about the cleanup operation.

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.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.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm" NPS Oil Spill Response

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

HYPERLINK "http://www.restorethegulf.gov/" Restore The Gulf

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

[Barbara Dougan and Mary McBurney, Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response]

Canyon de Chelly NM

Severe Thunderstorms Pound Park

Severe thunderstorms and flash flooding have affected park operations at Canyon de Chelly since the monsoon season started several weeks ago. Large floods on August 1st destroyed the footbridge to Antelope House and made upper reaches of the canyons impassible. On August 3rd, with thunderstorms building again, members of the park staff were closing the visitor center when they saw a tornado just north of the park. Heavy rains in the mountains also caused a small earthen dam to fail. Due to all the excitement, rumors started around 8 p.m. that Tsaile Dam at the head of Del Muerto Canyon had failed and that Chinle was going to be flooded. The park was inundated with calls asking about flooding and the Navajo Nation radio began reporting the incident. Although they knew the dam was not in danger, the Navajo Police Department declared an emergency because they anticipated flooding due to the heavy rains and the already high water levels. An incident command post was established in Chinle to handle the coordination between agencies for the emergency response. The canyon and park campground were closed and other low lying areas were placed under a voluntary evacuation order. Campers and local evacuees were moved to the Chinle Community Center, where a temporary shelter was established. At midnight, members of the park's SAR staff hiked down into the canyon to Antelope House to warn an overnight camping group of Girl Scouts to move to higher ground. Water levels rose to very high levels early in the morning and continued through the next day. On the morning of August 4th, with the canyon impassible to vehicles, the park received a call from a historic preservation trail crew that a canyon resident had been reported to them as unconscious due to a diabetic condition. Family members and the patient were working their way upstream using a vehicle and tractor to get through the stream crossings to a wide spot in the canyon. The park called in a medevac helicopter from Winslow and directed it to a landing site near the location where the family was waiting. The patient was still unconscious and was transported to the Chinle Indian Health Services hospital for treatment. After treatment, he recovered and was released later that evening. [Tom Clark, Superintendent]

Grand Canyon NP

Rangers Free Boats Stranded At Crystal Rapid

On Monday afternoon, rangers freed the second of two boats which became stranded over the weekend at Crystal Rapid on the Colorado River. On Friday afternoon, park dispatch received a report of a boat stuck on the rock garden at Crystal Rapid. River and search and rescue rangers and the park's inflatable Zodiac were flown by helicopter to a nearby beach, where it was determined that one of two motorized rafts in a Western River Expeditions boat trip had become stranded at the top of the rock garden. The Zodiac was launched to rescue the boat's passengers, and, by 8 p.m., the 16 passengers and crew had been transported to shore, where they set up camp. The other raft in the party continued on to Lower Tuna. The following morning, an Outdoors Unlimited oar-powered raft became stranded at the same location as rescuers were attempting retrieval of the Western raft. Rescuers already on the scene quickly rescued the boat's operator and transported her to shore, where she rejoined the Outdoors Unlimited trip. On Saturday, a separate Western river trip passed through the area and picked up half of the passengers from the stranded boat on the original trip. On Sunday, a raft sent by Western to take the place of the stranded raft arrived at Crystal Rapid, resupplied the Outdoors Unlimited trip which had lost gear when its boat flipped, then picked up the remaining passengers and crew from the original Western trip so that they could continue down the river and rejoin the rest of their group. Once resupplied, the Outdoors Unlimited trip also continued down the river. Their boat was freed late in the day on Sunday and tied to shore downriver of the rapid so that Outdoors Unlimited could retrieve it at a later date. On Monday, after unloading and partially de-rigging the raft to lighten its load, rangers were able to free the Western raft, which was reloaded and rigged and continued downstream to the takeout at Pearce Ferry. No injuries to either boating party were reported. [Shannan Marcak, Public Affairs Officer]

Big South Fork NRRA

Novice Swimmer Drowns In River

On the morning of Saturday, August 7th, a park employee advised ranger Jim Cannon that a person was missing on the river at Blue Heron. Cannon responded and spoke with two people in a canoeing party who said that the missing man, Bryce Hood, had last been seen floating on his back down the river. Cannon summoned the McCreary County Rescue Squad and directed park staff to search along the river banks in the area. According to the people who were with Hood, they'd launched canoes at the Blue Heron canoe access and planned to boat to Yamacraw. While stopped for a break at a calm looking pool, some members of the group began swimming in the river. Witnesses said that Hood was not a good swimmer, having learned just a few weeks previously. Another member of the group told Cannon that Hood had cut his right big toe on a rock, and that they thought that he'd gone to the bathroom to care of it. There was a time span of approximately five minutes from the point where someone last saw Hood until they realized that he was missing. An unidentified witness told the group that he last saw Hood floating on his back down the river, but added that he did not look as if he was in distress. The Pulaski County Rescue Squad dive team arrived around 3:30 p.m. and searched the area where Hood was believed to have last been seen. They employed sonar and began a grid search of the river, working their way down to an area known as Joe's Shoals. Meanwhile, a Kentucky State Police helicopter flew the river gorge, searching both the river and both banks. Divers found Hood about six feet underwater in an eddy along the river's left bank. A raft was employed to recover the body, which was turned over to a coroner. Cannon was IC on the incident. [Frank Graham, Chief Ranger]

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 home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

Isle Royale NP - A historic sailing ship that entered park waters in late July was reputedly free of aquatic invasive species, particularly the highly invasive zebra mussel, but many of the latter were found on the ship's hull. Photo.

Grand Canyon NP - The NPS and Havasupai tribal members held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, August 5th, celebrating the completion of six new handicap accessible housing units in Supai Camp, an area on the South Rim of the park that is home to Havasupai Tribal members. Photo.

George Washington Carver NM - On Saturday, July 10th, George Washington Carver National Monument held its annual Carver Day celebration. Approximately 850 visitors attended this event. Photo.

Historic Preservation Training Center - Douglas Burkhard, 58, a former exhibit specialist at Harpers Ferry Center, passed away at his home on Sunday, August 8th.

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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