NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Friday, January 18, 2013
INCIDENTS
Great Smoky Mountains NP
Major Slide Cuts Newfound Gap Road
Newfound Gap Road has been closed due to a landslide that undercut the road between Collins Creek and Webb Overlook on Wednesday morning. The slide is estimated to have taken out about 90,000 cubic yards of material, destroying about 300 feet of roadway. The slide is still active and a team made up of park staff and Federal Highways employees observed debris continuing to fall during an assessment of the area yesterday. The closure is expected to be in effect for an extended period of time. The park is also evaluating the remainder of the roadway, but anticipates that Newfound Gap Road will reopen to visitors from the Gatlinburg entrance in Tennessee to Newfound Gap parking lot as soon as it is possible. The road will be open to Smokemont on the North Carolina side. Park staff are working with the Department of Federal Highway's Construction and Geotechnical Services to evaluate the slide damage and to begin planning for repairs. Additional details will be released as condition assessments are analyzed. As of midnight on Tuesday, the park had received 8.56 inches of rain at Cherokee, 7.40 inches at Newfound Gap, and 6.86 inches at LeConte. Rivers and streams have been running fast and high since Sunday, when the rains began. There are currently multiple temporary road closures throughout the park due to high water. For the most current road closure reports, please call 865-436-1200 x 631 or follow SmokiesRoadsNPS on Twitter. [Molly Schroer, Public Affairs Office]
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/):
Montezuma Castle NM - Ed Cummins, 59, chief ranger at Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments in Arizona, passed away on Friday, January 11th. A memorial service will be held on January 25th.
Cabrillo NM - Devils Postpile and Cabrillo recently partnered with the Bishop Paiute Tribe and the National Park Foundation to bring fourth and fifth grade students from Bishop's Elm-Pine Street School to Cabrillo National Monument. The students will also visit other parks under the NPS "Ticket to Ride” grant program.
Intermountain Region - Chris Turk, regional environmental coordinator for the Intermountain Region and a national leader in Park Service environmental compliance training, will retire on February 8th after nearly 35 years with Intermountain Region and the Denver Service Center.
Servicewide Training Calendar - Added to this week's calendar are announcements for an EMT-B refresher, wildland fire origin and cause determination training, three commercial services courses, and several new FLETC offerings.
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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).
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