NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Friday, August 23, 2013
INCIDENTS
Rocky Mountain NP
Visitor Dies In Fall From Batman Pinnacle
The park received a cell phone call yesterday afternoon reporting that a 22-year-old man had fallen 30 feet while climbing Batman Pinnacle on Lumpy Ridge, a popular rock climbing area within the park. CPR was begun minutes later by people at the scene, but they were unable to revive him.
The accident occurred about two miles from the Lumpy Ridge Trailhead in steep, rugged terrain with loose rock and scree. Due to severe thunderstorms with intense lightning and heavy rain, causing wet and slick rocks, recovery efforts had to be postponed until today, weather permitting. Rangers remained at the scene last night.
The approach to the Batman Pinnacle and Lightning Rock formations has been closed until recovery efforts are completed.
[Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Officer]
Bighorn Canyon NRA
Aggressive Black Bear Destroyed
On August 9th, a 120-pound female black bear was killed at Black Canyon Campground in a joint operation by rangers and Montana Fish and Wildlife officers.
Over the last three years, this black bear had gotten into unsecured food and coolers brought in by day users and campers at this popular campground on Bighorn Lake and recently displayed aggressive behavior toward people. Black Canyon has been closed to the public at various times during past years due to this bear and was just recently closed to the public on July 26th. Bear activity in the area had been monitored by rangers since this most recent closure.
While monitoring the closed area, this same bear reappeared. A ranger shot a rubber slug deterrent round at the bear, hitting it front and center; although the bear ran into some brush, it came back out five minutes later. The ranger then shot a second rubber slug deterrent round at the bear, hitting it in the back. The bear again ran away, but returned within fifteen minutes.
A decision was made by park management in conjunction with the park's standard operating procedures and step-up plan that the bear would need to be killed due to its habituation to humans and human food and its lack of significant response to the deterrent rounds fired by the rangers.
During an investigation of this latest occurrence, a 22-year-old woman was cited for feeding wildlife after she admitted to throwing a hotdog to the bear prior to the area closure. Other food storage violations are being investigated.
[Dale Kissner, Supervisory Park 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/):
Office of Communications - Sunday is Founders' Day, the National Park Service's birthday. On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill establishing the bureau within the Department of the Interior.
Midwest Region - Ten diverse high school students from North Carolina completed a 1,500 mile bicycle trek from New Orleans to St. Louis in June. The project was supported in part by Midwest Region and the National Park Foundation.
Glen Canyon NRA - Rangers last week spearheaded “Freshman Focus” at Page High School, an event that focused on driving under the influence and its consequences. It was inspired by the death last year of a senior from the high school in an accident on a park highway.
Lincoln Home NHS - Lincoln Home National Historic Site honored the contributions and sacrifices of the United States Colored Troops in a program entitled “Lincoln, Colored Warriors, and the Spirit of Freedom” on Saturday, August 3rd.
Women's Rights NHP - An intern from Penn State University has produced several new videos addressing human rights past and present that are now available on the park's webpage and via YouTube.
Servicewide Training Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses, webinars and online training offered by the National Park Service and related agencies.
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The Morning Report is 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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