NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Friday, September 13, 2013
NOTICE
This email edition of the NPS Morning Report will not appear next week due to the editor being on travel. It will still be available online, however, at HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/.
INCIDENTS
Rocky Mountain NP
Heavy Rains Cause Road Closures
The heavy rains and flooding affecting areas along the east side of the Rocky Mountains have led to numerous road closures within the park.
Old Fall River Road is closed at the US 34 junction, Bear Lake Road is closed at the intersection to Moraine Park Visitor Center and Moraine Park Campground Road, Cub Lake/Fern Lake Road is closed at the Moraine Park Campground junction, Wild Basin Road is closed at the Sandbeach Trail and Twin Sisters Road is closed from Highway 7. Trail Ridge Road remains open, but visitors have been advised to be mindful of wet conditions and debris on the road.
Park campgrounds are currently still open. Due to existing and forecasted conditions as well as flash flood warnings on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park, park managers are strongly discouraging visitors from traveling in the backcountry of the east side of the park. The park's backcountry office cancelled all overnight camping permits for last night for the east side of the park.
[Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Office]
Yosemite NP
Climber Rescued From El Capitan
Park dispatch received an emergency call from a climber on the 22nd pitch of the Nose Route on El Capitan on the morning of September 10th. The caller reported that a climber from another climbing team, a three-person group from Spain, had fallen 50 feet while leading the Great Roof Pitch (21st pitch) and had been seriously injured.
A Yosemite rescue team, including Yosemite helitak, was immediately assembled and flown to the summit of El Capitan via Helicopter 551, the park's contract helicopter. Ranger/medics Ed Visnovske and Chris Bellino were lowered approximately a thousand feet to the injured climber and found that he was in need of medical attention. They also found that he'd landed on his belayer, who'd been injured as well.
The lead climber was packaged in a litter and lowered approximately 2,000 feet with Bellino to the base of El Capitan, where he received further medical care. The team at the summit of El Capitan then began lowering the injured belayer, the third member of the climbing team, and Visnovske approximately 2,000 feet to the base of El Capitan.
During the rescue operations, a thunderstorm developed, making rescue operations difficult. Because of smoke impacts from the nearby Rim Fire, helicopter operations also could not be carried out after 7 p.m. The rescue team at the summit of El Capitan was therefore forced to bivouac overnight and return to the Valley floor in the morning.
[Jack Hoeflich, Yosemite Valley District Ranger and Incident Commander]
United States Park Police
USPP Detachment Assists BLM Officers At Festival
A contingent of Park Police officers provided assistance to the Bureau of Land Management in overseeing the annual HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Man" Burning Man festival, held this year from August 23rd to September 2nd in Pershing County, Nevada.
In the summer of 1990, the Park Police dealt with a Burning Man event at Baker Beach in the San Francisco area, eventually closing it down. The event moved and has since grown into a festival which as many as 69,000 people have attended.
The festival celebrates art and music, with the art being constructed on site at the festival. The price of admission is approximately $350 for the week. On the last day of the festival, the “Man” is burned, along with other pieces of art. Throughout the festival there are also rave parties with live music that run throughout the day and night.
The Park Police sent a detail of eight officers, including one captain, two lieutenants, a detective sergeant, two detectives, and two identification technicians to work with the other 95 law enforcement personnel from the Pershing County Sheriff's Department and the Bureau of Land Management. The detail arrived early and helped put together training that focused on active shooters and crowd management and also worked in conjunction with the BLM staff to develop the incident action plan for the festival.
Park Police detectives and technicians were each paired up with a deputy sheriff from Pershing County and a BLM officer while on patrol. The new effort in integrating the three agencies was extremely beneficial to the overall success of policing the event. The shifts were long, averaging fourteen hours a day. The Park Police assisted with well over a dozen sexual assault cases along with numerous other criminal investigations.
The participants of the festival overall were very open and friendly to the law enforcement personnel. The event was judged a success in large part due to the collaboration of the three enforcement agencies.
[Sergeant Paul Brooks, Public Information Officer]
Lake Mead NRA
Man Pleads Guilty To Assault On Woman
On Sunday, August 25th, rangers at Katherine's Landing responded to a report from a concerned citizen of a vehicle parked on the side of the road approximately a mile from the entrance station with a woman near the vehicle holding her arm and crying and a man walking away from her.
When the first ranger arrived on scene, both were back in the vehicle, but the woman got out and ran to the patrol vehicle in an effort to get away from the man. The second ranger soon arrived. It took the efforts of both rangers to calm her down enough to determine that the man was armed with a knife and that he'd struck and bit her numerous times.
Additional rangers and an NPS paramedic were called to the scene to assist with the woman and tend her injuries. Other rangers conducted a felony takedown and took the man into custody with little incident. A large folding knife was found on his person during the search incident to arrest.
During the course of the investigation, rangers learned that the man had bitten, hit and attempted to strangle the woman. They photographed both the scene and the woman's injuries. She was taken to the Western Arizona Regional Medical Center for further evaluation. The man was arrested and charged with a number of violations, including simple assault, domestic strangulation (under the new 18 USC assault law), and DUI. He was transported to Flagstaff to await initial appearance.
On September 4th, the man pleaded guilty to the Class A misdemeanor assault charge and to DUI. He was sentenced to 90 days in prison, a year's supervised probation, fines, and year's ban from Lake Mead NRA. The assistant U.S. attorney noted that the woman was present at the man's side during the plea and sentencing hearing, though she concurred with the agreement.
[Brandon Marsmaker, 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 - The National Park Service launched a new education website yesterday that provides teachers with an array of online resources to help students learn about the nation's history, its natural resources, and its national parks.
Grand Canyon NP - Grand Canyon National Park was recently the site of “Camping 101,” a family camping opportunity provided by the Camp Moreno Project, which promotes family camping experiences for underserved audiences.
Office of Risk Management - Richard Powell, chief of the Office of Risk Management and former safety manager and law enforcement ranger for the National Park Service, retired after 48 years of service on September 3rd.
Servicewide Training Calendar - The following were added to this week's calendar - two training classes at FLETC in December and the Association of National Park Rangers' annual gathering in St. Louis in October.
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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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