NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
INCIDENTS
Glacier NP
Concession Employee Falls To Death While Climbing Mountain
Rangers recovered the body of a 21-year-old climber near Grinnell Point in the northeast corner of the park on the afternoon of July 25th. M.N. was climbing the mountain with two other park concession employees when he fell at least 60 feet to his death.
Park dispatch received a report of the accident that morning from a Glacier Park Boat Company employee. A group of eight hikers later reported that they found the climber, but did not see signs of life. The area in which the fall took place is very steep, with cliffs and rocky terrain.
M.N. was an employee of the park's concessioner, Glacier Park, Inc., and worked at the Many Glacier Hotel. Grinnell Point is located near Lake Josephine in the Many Glacier Valley.
[Denise Germann, Public Affairs Officer]
New River Gorge NR
Search For Missing Teen Comes To Successful Conclusion
On Saturday, July 27th, rangers and the Fayette County Sherriff's Office deputies responded to the Army Camp Campground to search for a missing 16-year-old boy who'd last been seen by his parents around 11 p.m. and who was found to be missing at 3:30 a.m. The boy left a note saying that he was going to walk into the river and drown himself.
Two sheriff's office dog teams searched the campground area while rangers conducted hasty searches on the river and the main roads in the area. A local media alert was also put out, and the missing juvenile was entered into NCIC.
Investigators with the park and ISB worked another angle, looking into the possibility that the boy had run away. After several hours of forensics work on his computer and several hours running down leads from Facebook contacts, it was discovered that he had made several phone calls from the Beckley area around 9 a.m., well after his disappearance. The Beckley Police Department and the Raleigh County Sheriff's Office were notified and provided with photographs.
Rangers and deputies visited a residence in Raleigh County from where the missing juvenile had made a phone call and determined that the cell phone number he was using once belonged to one of the residents. The boy was picked up by police in Pulaski, Virginia, around 8:30 p.m. His parents went to Pulaski and picked him up. A follow-up investigation is underway.
[Jeff West, Chief Ranger]
Blue Ridge Parkway
Body Of Suicide Victim Found Near Swannanoa River
On Friday, July 26th, hikers found the remains of a 61-year-old North Carolina man by the Swannanoa River near milepost 384. The man had been reported missing by the Asheville Police Department on July 22nd.
Evidence gathered at the scene indicates a possible overdose of prescription medications, but will not be confirmed until an examination is completed.
Asheville PD is pursuing the investigation.
[Tim Francis, Pisgah District 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/):
Upper Delaware S&RR - Upper Delaware held its first-ever bioblitz over two days at the end of June. Nine teams of scientists, students and volunteers recorded over a thousand species of plant and animal life on and near the 64-acre Norcross Wildlife Foundation tract bordering the park.
Today's Almanac - Today's weather notes and remembrances from National Park Service history. Tropical Storm Flossie has been downgraded to a tropical depression, but it is still expected to bring gusty winds, very heavy rain and dangerous surf as it passes just north of Maui, Molokai, O'ahu and Kauai this morning.
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP - Over 150 participants nationwide recently joined a webinar conversation with Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Deputy Director Peggy O'Dell about parks and programs in urban environments.
Northeast Region - In late June, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground partnership hosted the world premiere of director Ron Maxwell's new film, Copperhead, at Gettysburg's historic Majestic Theater.
Information Resources - Liza Rupp, currently stationed at Valley Forge NHP, has been selected as the new park representative on the NPS GIS Council.
Alaska Region - An announcement has been issued for a superintendent for Kenai Fjords. Closes: August 12th.
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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@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).
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