NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Thursday, July 2, 2015
INCIDENTS
Grand Canyon NP
Visitors Rescued From Stuck Raft
On June 22nd, two visitors on a non-commercial river trip pinned their raft on rocks near the top of the Colorado River's Hance Rapids. Unable to free themselves from this dangerous situation, the trip leader called for assistance.
River Rangers Bryan Stone and Dave Loeffler were flown to the scene with an inflatable Zodiac rescue boat and attempted unsuccessfully to reach the stuck visitors. Stone was subsequently inserted onto the stuck raft via helicopter short-haul and facilitated the extrication of the visitors via short-haul.
With reduced weight on the raft and a rising water level, the raft floated downstream the following morning after several interesting variations in the way it was pinned.
As the flight crew was flying to Hance Rapids to assist with the raft recovery and removal of the Zodiac, they diverted to a report of a capsized dory in Crystal Rapids with two visitors sitting atop the vessel. Upon arrival at Crystal Rapids, they found that the situation had self-resolved, as the two visitors had been swept into the river and rescued by their companions. Rangers James Thompson and Erika Andersson served as the incident commanders.
[Brandon Torres, Branch Chief of Emergency Services]
Delaware Water Gap NRA
Driver Killed By Falling Tree
M.L.L., 31, of Bushkill, Pennsylvania, was fatally injured in a one car motor vehicle accident on Route 209 just south of the Bushkill Meeting Center around 6 a.m. yesterday. M.L.L. was traveling southbound on Route 209 when his vehicle was struck by a falling tree. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Monroe County coroner.
Bushkill Fire Department responded to the scene within minutes, with Bushkill Ambulance, Pennsylvania State Police, and National Park Service rangers also responding. Route 209 was closed for several hours, but has since reopened.
[Kathleen Sandt, Public Affairs Officer]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers):
Department of the Interior - In advance of the two-year anniversary of President Obama's Climate Action Plan, Secretary Jewell has released a report revealing that national park infrastructure and historic and cultural resources totaling more than $40 billion are at high risk of damage from sea-level rise caused by climate change.
Biological Resources Division - The National Park Service, in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has released Opening Doors: A Best Practices Guide to National Parks Scholarship Programs.
Fire and Aviation Management - Incorporating the latest scientific research, the NPS Structural Fire Program is teaching new skills and tactics to firefighters to improve safety and efficiency on the fire ground.
To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites:
NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index
Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/
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).
--- ### ---