Park News August 25,2008

Southeast Region

Tropical Storm Fay moved across Florida and southern Georgia and along the Gulf Coast over the weekend before diminishing to a tropical depression. Little damage was done, but facilities in some parks remain closed.

Canaveral NS – The park reopened around noon on Friday. The storm caused minor damage to homes and left lots of debris. The park suffered about $3,000 in damage. Several hundred dead birds were found at the visitor center and at a few beachside comfort stations. As of the late Friday, the park had cleared its main entrance roads of debris. Smaller loop roads remained closed and were in the process of being cleared. All boat ramps were closed due to water flowing over the docks.

Timucuan E&HP – The status of park facilities as of yesterday afternoon was as follows:

• Kingsley Plantation had reopened to the public. Numerous limbs had been removed and several hazard trees flagged and isolated pending removal on Monday by USFS fallers. One window in the historic Main House was broken due to storm shutter failure but no water damage occurred.


• Fort Caroline was still closed to the public due to the lack of power to the visitor center, trees down on interpretive trails, and a large quantity of litter at the fort model. The litter was washed in by high water. Expectations were that the litter and trees would be removed by late afternoon, but lack of power at the visitor center could prevent its reopening.


• The Roosevelt area (Willie Brown and associated trails) had not yet been evaluated and remained closed.


• The Cedar Point boat ramp was open. The trails at Cedar Point had a small number of trees blocking them and will require about two to four person-days to open.


• Thomas Creek roads have not been evaluated yet due to high water levels. This area is not open to the public, but unpaved roads are used for emergency/administrative access and non-native plant control. With declining water levels, the park hopes to evaluate road conditions by mid-week.


• Park headquarters had power and phones and will reopen this morning.


• One park residence remained without power.

Gulf Islands NS – The storm made landfall on the Gulf Coast Saturday afternoon, but further east than expected. It also tracked more inland than expected. Because of this, Fay was downgraded to a depression when the center was just north of the park’s Pensacola units. A full assessment had not yet been made at the time of Sunday’s report, but impacts are expected to be minimal. The status of park facilities as of midday yesterday was as follows:

• All Florida units had reopened.


• The Naval Live Oaks visitor center was without power and remained closed.


• The Fort Pickens area (including the campground) was open, but without potable water until Monday.


• Interpretive programming remained cancelled.


• The Mississippi units were in the process of reopening, except for the facilities on West Ship Island, which will likely reopen today. The excursion boat was not operating due to high seas.

 

Glacier National Park

An exhaustive search of remote areas in Glacier National Park through which an overdue hiker is thought to have passed continued on Sunday. About 50 searchers set out shortly after daybreak to continue to look for clues that might point to the path taken by Yi-Jien Hwa, a 27-year-old Malaysian man who planned to hike in the park’s backcountry from August 11th to August 18th. His family reports that he has not been heard from since he contacted them before setting out on his hike. Substantial ground was covered by searchers on Saturday and their reports helped identify areas to explore on Sunday, but no new information has emerged from the areas that have been searched that might help in finding Hwa or determining his condition. Teams of hikers and mountaineers were expected to continue investigating the diverse features of the landscape in the Floral Park area of central Glacier National Park on Sunday. Hikers planned to walk through mountain passes, wooded areas, and shaded, icy terrain where snow has fallen in recent weeks. Climbers are inspecting glaciers, melt ponds, and crevasses created by ice and hard-packed snow at higher elevations. Most of the teams were to be flown out of the backcountry by helicopter before nightfall, but one crew was to remain overnight to continue searching in more remote areas where extraction by air is not possible. Two helicopters were used in Sunday’s operations, including one loaned by the US Border Patrol. The National Park Service continues to receive planning assistance and other contributions in the search effort from the Flathead County Sheriff’s Department, US Border Patrol, and US Forest Service. The Blackfeet Tribe, Glacier County Sheriff’s Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation are helping to investigate leads as they emerge.

 

Cumberland Island National Seashore

On the morning of Monday, August 18th, 2008, park biologist Doug Hoffman discovered a capsized fishing boat while en route from the island to the park’s main office in St. Marys. A man and his pre-teenaged son were found approximately 500 yards from their sinking vessel.  The son was wearing a lifejacket, but his father did not have one and was beginning to experience severe leg cramps. Hoffman retrieved them from the water. When questioned, they said that they’d been in the water for at least two hours after their boat suddenly began taking on water and capsized. An incoming tide had carried them for over a mile and the strong current prevented them from reaching land.  The Coast Guard was notified of the incident and the boaters were transported to Lang’s Marina in St. Marys and assisted with locating a salvage company to retrieve their boat.

 

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

A multi-agency task force raided a large marijuana cultivation plantation complex along Willow Creek last Wednesday, an area that overlaps the park’s western boundary. The raid yielded 572 budding plants in a fourth and newly-discovered plot in the complex. Due to the number of plants, Whiskeytown rangers, who had walked into and secured the area, eradicated all plants, removed all trash from the plot, collected evidence relating to the identities of the growers, and catalogued resource damage to the area. The plants and trash were flown out by a CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) helicopter. A large amount of trash and resource damage remains in the western reaches of the complex from previous years’ activities. A mission to recover this trash is planned for this coming fall. The other three large plots in this complex were not occupied this year. Two of those plots yielded 6,428 plants in 2007. Francisco Huato Sanchez, a citizen of Mexico, was arrested in the eastern end of the complex and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison this past May for cultivating marijuana and possessing a loaded firearm during the commission of a crime. A third plot in the complex was quickly harvested and abandoned in 2007 after the helicopter was unable to fly due to loss of daylight during the initial raid. This site remains unoccupied. Investigation into several suspects identified in the fourth cultivation site earlier this year continues. The National Park Service went on to support Shasta County Sheriff's Office and CAMP in a second marijuana raid in the vicinity later in the day. Also participating in the operation were officers with the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch, the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, and the California National Guard.

 

George Washington Memorial Parkway

Dottie P. Marshall has been selected as the new superintendent of George Washington Memorial Parkway. 

Serving as the National Capital Region associate regional director for administration since 2003, Marshall has guided NCR parks through a variety of complex issues such as the competitive sourcing review of turf maintenance, the hiring of Centennial seasonals, and compliance with security procedures (HSPD-12) for new employees. 

Marshall has strong ties to George Washington Memorial Parkway, having served as the deputy superintendent there from 1995 to 2003.  Since then, she has remained engaged in issues in the park by providing counsel on matters such as the redevelopment of Jones Point Park, the replacement of Humpback Bridge and the restoration of Dyke Marsh.  She will be continuing her relationships with park partners such as Arlington National Cemetery, Women in Military Service to America Memorial, and Claude Moore Colonial Farm. 

The will report to duty in this position toward the end of the calendar year.

 

Appalachian National Scenic Trail

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is advertising for a GS-11 senior law enforcement ranger. This is a non-supervisory  position that is based out of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania. Duties include coordination of and response to law enforcement and emergency incidence the length of the Appalachian Trail.

The announcement number is NPSWASO-HQ-08-086 and it can be obtained by clicking on the link below. Be sure to confirm applicant eligibility near the bottom of the page. The position is open to all qualified persons within the Civil Service employees and closes on September 5th.



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Capitol Reef National Park

The park is seeking applications for the position of GS-12 chief of resource management and science. The position is open to those in the GS-0170, 0193, 0401, or 1301-12 (supervisory historian, archeologist, biologist or physical scientist) series. It closes on September 9th.

Located in the heart of red rock country in south-central Utah, Capitol Reef’s headquarters is 11 miles east of Torrey, Utah.  The visitor center and headquarters are situated in the lush area along the Fremont River that winds through the Fruita Historic District at an elevation of 5500 feet.  There are 378 square miles within the park, which was established to protect the 100-mile long Waterpocket Fold, a flexure or upthrust in the earth’s crust.  The spectacular setting of Capitol Reef has been formed over millions of years with water eroding and shaping the rock into myriad arches, natural bridges, monoliths, narrow canyons and towering cliffs. The park is open year-round with the majority of visitation occurring during the busy season from March through October.

For a copy of the announcement with details on duties, click on the link below.



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