NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, October 28, 2010

INCIDENTS

Apostle Islands NL

Park Staff Rescue Man Who Fell From Cliff

On the afternoon of October 13th, park staff were notified by US Coast Guard Station Bayfield of a 911 call reporting that a man was stranded on a rock in Lake Superior somewhere between the mainland sea caves and Meyers Beach. The search area included over three miles of cliffs and rugged shoreline at the western end of the park. J.A., 28, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, was hiking near the Lakeshore Trail with a group when he slipped on loose rocks and slid down a steep slope and over a cliff edge, falling 35 feet into Lake Superior. J.A. said that he pushed himself away from the cliff face when he realized he was going over the edge in order to avoid hitting rocks below and landed feet first in the water. He then swam approximately 30 yards along the cliff face and found and crawled onto a submerged ledge. The water temperature was 50 degrees and the air temperature was 54 degrees. J.A., wearing only a t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, was in the water for approximately an hour before being rescued by the park's multi-divisional search and rescue team. The team arrived to find J.A. struggling to cling to the ledge as two-foot waves washed into him. The crew of the first NPS vessel on scene gave J.A. a lifejacket, which he immediately put on but was unable to zip due to numbness in his hands caused by the cold conditions. The crew of the second NPS vessel maneuvered close to the cliff face and helped J.A. on board using the vessel's loading ramp. NPS staff immediately began treating J.A. for hypothermia and brought him to an NPS dock at Little Sand Bay. J.A. was then transported by the Red Cliff Ambulance Service to a hospital in Ashland, where he was treated and released. [Michael Larsen]

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/):

Craters of the Moon NM&P - Employees at Craters of the Moon National Monument can now cruise the park tour road in near silence thanks to two new Gem e2 electric vehicles recently acquired by the park.

Learning and Development Division - Applications are now being accepted for the Leadership for Public Lands and Cultural Heritage certificate program - an innovative, graduate-level leadership program. The deadline for submissions has been extended to November 1st.

Fire and Aviation Management - The NPS Fire and Aviation Photo Contest has reached the "cast your vote" phase. The deadline for voting is Thursday, November 11th. Photos.

Herbert Hoover NHS - Neil Korsmo, chief ranger at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, will be retiring on October 31st after 34 years of service. Photo.

Midwest Region - Scott Bentley will return to the Midwest Region in January as the first superintendent of the newly established River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Monroe, Michigan.

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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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