Park News August 1,2008

Olympic National Park

A memorial service celebrating the life of Andrew Palmer will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Monday in McCurdy Pavilion at Ford Worden State Park in Washington. Andy, 18, was fatally injured in a tree falling accident while on a fire assignment in Northern California.

The Palmer family welcomes those who mourn Andy’s loss to attend the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Andy’s name. A scholarship fund has been created in Andy’s memory to be shared by the Port Angeles and Port Townsend High Schools.  Make your donations to the Port Townsend High School Scholarship Foundation, 538 Calhoun Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368.  Donations may also be made to the National Wildland Firefighter Foundation http://wffoundation.org/.

Fort Worden is on the Olympic Peninsula in Port Townsend, Washington. The nearest large airport is Seatac. The Edmonds to Kingston ferry is the most direct ferry route to the area. Allow additional travel time due to road work on the peninsula and traffic congestion related to the service.

All uniformed personnel are asked to meet at the McCurdy Pavilion at 8:45 a.m.

Fire Service agencies bringing engines should plan to meet at Blue Heron Middle School, 3939 San Juan Ave in Port Townsend. The engine procession will depart the school at 8:30 a.m. An area inside the pavilion will be designated for the media. Media representatives planning to attend should arrive by 9:00 a.m. in order to check in and set up prior to the service. The Palmer family will not be available to talk to the media the day of the service.

The service is scheduled to last approximately one hour with a reception following.

Flags are to be flown at half staff through dusk on Monday and will be returned to full staff thereafter.

 

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Seasonal employee Joseph "Joe" Shannon died as a result of injuries sustained from a collision with a bus while riding his bicycle on Monday, July 28th. He was off duty at the time, riding near his home outside the park in Long Beach, New York. He sustained significant head trauma and died in the hospital on Wednesday, July 30th. Shannon worked for over ten years as a seasonal park ranger in interpretation at Sagamore Hill during the summer and volunteered at Fort Matanzas in St. Augustine, Florida, during the winter. Superintendent Thomas Ross describes Shannon as "our go-to ranger for grounds, nature and beach walks. He will be sorely missed by colleagues and the public he served so well." Shannon was 76 years old and a combat veteran of the Korean War. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Joan, and his three sons, a daughter, and eight grandchildren. Sagamore Hill will close at 4 p.m. today so that employees may attend the funeral. Visitation will be at Macken Mortuary’s Rockville Centre Chapel (52 Clinton Avenue) on Friday from noon to 4 p.m. The funeral mass will be at 5 p.m. at  St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre (29 Quealy Avenue). In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Gerard's Campus, PO Box 4382, St. Augustine, FL 32805. Cards may be sent to his wife: Joan Shannon, 830 Shore Road Apt. 3K, Long Beach, NY 11561.


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Zion National Park

An off-duty park SCA intern was rappelling at Pine Creek on the afternoon of July 30th when she fell approximatley 100 feet.  Park staff responded and she was evacuated to a medical facility by an aircraft from Nellis Air Force Base, located outside of Las Vegas. The extent of her injuries are not known. The park was hosting a VIP/dignitary protection class at the time, and about half of the members of the class assisted in the rescue.

 

Dinosaur National Monument

The park was advised of a rafting accident at Upper Disaster Falls on the Green River around 6 p.m. on July 27th.  The eight-year-old victim and his family were part of a commercial whitewater rafting trip that had launched from the Gates of Lodore that morning. At about 3:30 p.m., the boy and his father were paddling an inflatable kayak through Upper Disaster Falls when the craft overturned and both of them went into the water. The father was retrieved from the water by another raft, but the boy was unable to reach the raft and was last seen near the shoreline. Both the boy and his father were wearing lifejackets and helmets when they went into the water. An aggressive search was begun by the rafting party and the boy was found about 90 minutes later. The isolated location of the incident greatly hampered the group’s efforts to obtain emergency assistance. Once notified of the situation, the park and Moffat County Sheriff’s Department coordinated efforts to reach them. CareFlight was requested from St. Mary’s hospital in Grand Junction, but was unable to liftoff due to inclement weather in the area. A local fire helicopter was therefore diverted to assist with rescue efforts. Due to the topography of the narrow river canyon, however, the helicopter was not able to land near the victim and was forced to land across the river.  The rafting group was unable to get him to the helicopter’s location before loss of daylight made both flight and river crossing unsafe.  Guides performed CPR for more than three hours before becoming too exhausted to continue. The rafting group continued downriver about eight miles to Echo Park the next morning, where they were met by Dinosaur National Monument and Moffat County Sheriff’s Department staff.  The boy was identified as eight-year-old Owen Gerson of Woodstock, New York.

 

Ozark National Scenic Riverways

Ozark National Scenic Riverways is seeking candidates to fill the position of chief of maintenance to manage the maintenance and facilities operations division of the park, working out of the headquarters facility located in Van Buren, Missouri.  The maintenance division consists of permanent, subject-to-furlough, and temporary employees. For more information on this vacancy, please click the link below for the full announcement.  This position is also being announced to all qualified candidates under announcement OZAR-DEU-08-30. The closing date is August 29th. The park contact for this vacancy is Leslie Richardson, Human Resources Assistant, 404 Watercress Drive, PO Box 490, Van Buren, Missouri  63965 (573) 323-4236 ext. 234.



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