Park News September 10,2008

Gulf Coast/East Coast Parks

Reports have been received from parks regarding each of the three tropical systems that have hit or threatened the U.S. over the past week:

Biscayne NP – As Hurricane Ike moved toward the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, the park began a phased reopening. The Dante Fascell Visitor Center and grounds at Convoy Point, located nine miles east of Homestead, reopened to the public at noon yesterday. All other park facilities and services, including concession-operated boat tours, canoe and kayak rentals, park facilities and docks on Boca Chita, Elliott and Adams Keys, are expected to reopen today if wind and weather conditions are favorable.

Everglades NP/Dry Tortugas NP – The park IMT continues to monitor Hurricane Ike, thought it appears both parks have fortunately escaped major impacts. While Dry Tortugas did experience tropical storm force winds yesterday, Everglades suffered relatively few effects. All areas of Everglades National Park will remain closed to visitation on Wednesday, September 10th. The closure is being extended to provide ample time to survey visitor areas, mitigate any damage, stage necessary equipment, and allow for the return of evacuated employees. All employees are asked to report to their IMT supervisors for their regularly scheduled shifts tomorrow.  Efforts will be focused on  reconnaissance, clearing trails, staging equipment, and preparing for a return to normal park operations. It is anticipated that all areas of the park will reopen to visitor use on Thursday, September 11th.  The Main Park Road is scheduled to open at 6:00 a.m., while outlying districts will operate under regular business hours. Dry Tortugas will also remain closed today. Employees evacuated to Orlando have been instructed to begin the return trip to the park on Wednesday morning.  Similarly, the M/V Fort Jefferson will begin the return trip from the Miami River on Thursday morning.

Jean Lafitte NHP&P/New Orleans Jazz NHP – The two parks continue to recover from the effects of Hurricane Gustav. Two 10-person saw crews and a team leader are currently assisting in removing the numerous downed trees in all of Jean Lafitte’s six units. Power and other services have been restored at all but the Thibodaux Unit. Park headquarters, the French Quarter Visitor Center, Lafayette, Eunice and the Barataria Visitor Centers are now open. Most schools are going to open up this week as well. Overnight curfews in most areas have now been lifted. Recovery efforts are still being conducted under the supervision of the park's incident management team.

Acadia NP – On September 6th and 7th, the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna dropped between 5 and 7.5 inches of rain on the park, causing extensive gulley erosion to the historic carriage road system and unpaved park roads. The park staff is continuing to assess storm damage to the park’s trails and facilities. Most of Acadia’s carriage road system and fire road system were closed early Sunday morning because of major washouts. Most affected on Mount Desert Island was the Seal Cove Road, which cuts across the island from Southwest Harbor to Seal Cove. Several sections of that road were totally washed away, and it could take two weeks to repair. On Schoodic Peninsula, the Schoodic Head Road was also greatly damaged, and repair of that road may take three weeks. The carriage road system has reopened for foot traffic and about half of the carriage roads have re-opened to bicycle and horse use.

 

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

On August 30th, staff at the Whiskeytown Visitor Center received a call from a hiker who’d run down from the trail to Whiskeytown Falls to summon help for another hiker. Dave Parkison and his wife, Laura, both of Shasta, California, were nearly to the falls when his chest began to hurt and he felt tingling in his extremities. EMT rangers and firefighters from Whiskeytown and Engine 10 from Redwood responded on the ground along with a CHP helicopter, a ground ambulance, and a REACH air ambulance. Parkison was stabilized on scene and hoisted out of the heavily-timbered area in a “screamer suit” by the CHP helicopter. He was transferred to the waiting air ambulance, which then delivered him to Mercy Medical Center in Redding. Doctors confirmed that Parkison had suffered a heart attack. He was treated, then released on September 3rd. Doctors credited his quick transport to the hospital for his successful outcome.  Park staff in turn cited the multi-agency cooperation and prompt response that is typical in the park. Ranger Gary Panich was incident commander.

 

Big Thicket National Preserve

While conducting an assessment of possible hurricane damage on the afternoon of September 2nd, rangers Josh Clemons and Johnny Stafford interrupted a drug deal in progress. The rangers were checking a day use area when they encountered five men and a woman engaged in the drug transaction. As Stafford took control of one man who had marijuana in his possession, a second man attempted to walk away. Clemons ordered him to stop, but he ignored the command. Clemons then grabbed hold of the man and took him to the ground. The man ignored orders to stop resisting and tried to wrestle free of Clemons. Stafford approached the man with his taser drawn and the cartridge removed and displayed the spark. The man immediately submitted to Clemons and was handcuffed without further incident. During a frisk of the others in the group, a number of bags of marijuana and Vicodin pills were found. Possession, distribution and resisting charges are pending.

 

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Rick Obernesser Selected As National Chief Of Investigations

Rick Obernesser has been selected as the new chief of investigative services in the Washington Office.  He will oversee all special agents and special agent supervisors throughout the country and will continue building a progressive program that works seamlessly with parks and regions. 

Rick has more than 25 years of NPS experience and has served as the chief ranger of Yellowstone for the past 10 years, where he has managed one of the largest field divisions in the NPS. 

“We are extremely pleased that Rick is joining the Visitor and Resource Protection team here in Washington,” said Karen Taylor-Goodrich, Associate Director.  “Rick has done a great job throughout his career of managing complex operations and will be another tremendous addition to the staff here.”

Prior to his Yellowstone post, Rick served in a variety of other positions, including acting national chief ranger in WASO, chief ranger of Cape Cod National Seashore, and many other supervisory and operational positions in Yosemite NP, Great Smoky Mountains NP, Glen Canyon NRA, and Petrified Forest NP. 

Rick possesses a BS in environmental resources from California State University, Sacramento.

He begins his new assignment in mid-October.

 

Yellowstone National Park

Intermountain Region special agent in charge Brian S.Smith will leave the NPS after 27 1/2 years to join the Port Angeles Washington Police Department as the deputy chief. 

Brian is a native of Marin County, California, and grew up in the town of Larkspur.  After graduation from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978, his first job in a national park was as a jammer driver for Glacier Park Incorporated.  After that, his employment as a Heavenly Valley professional ski patroller and EMT/paramedic with Marin Coastal Ambulance led to a seasonal law enforcement ranger position in 1981 at Golden Gate NRA in the Marin Headlands.

He followed this with seasonal ranger assignments at Sequioa-Kings Canyon (Grant Grove) and Glen Canyon NRA (Wahweap).  His permanent assignments included Chattahocchee River NRA, Glen Canyon NRA, and Grand Canyon NP (South Rim).  In September of 1989, he was promoted to a supervisory park ranger position and worked as the night shift supervisor until January of 1994, when he accepted a criminal investigator position at Yosemite National Park.  In November 1994, he accepted a lateral transfer to the night shift supervisor position in Yosemite Valley, where he remained until August of 1998 when he transferred to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center as a detailed NPS special agent and lead instructor in the Division of Behavioral Science.

In September of 2001, Brian transferred to Yellowstone National Park as the supervisory special agent and branch chief of the Branch of Law Enforcement Services.  In June of 2005, he assumed the duties of regional special agent in charge for the Intermountain Region, which included direct supervision of the NPS special agents in six states, including Yellowstone NP, Grand Canyon, the Arizona border/Tuscon HIDTA, the El Paso EPIC agent, and the NPS agents based in Denver.   

Brian graduated from the FBI National Academy in 2003  and received a masters degree in public administration with high honors from Montana State University in May of 2007.  For 24 years, Brian also maintained his certification as an emergency paramedic, and was deeply involved in EMS and SAR for most of his career.

He is particularly proud of the accomplishments of the Yellowstone rangers and agents in their law enforcement efforts, and of the significant accomplishments of the special agents of the Intermountain Region.   He is proud of the long string of friends and colleagues he’s had the privilege to work and associate with during the last 27 years, with a special mention of Carlsbad NM superintendent John Benjamin, who has sponsored Brian throughout his career.

Brian leaves the NPS to take a position as deputy chief of police with the city of Port Angeles Washington, where he will supervise 31 sworn officers and 25 additional public safety dispatchers and administrative personnel.    

Brian is married to former park ranger Kristin Fey and they are the proud parents of their soon to be four year old daughter, Courtney.   Their personal email address is kfey@yahoo.com.

A party in honor of Brian's NPS career and to send off Brian and his family to their new life and location will be held on Monday, September 29th, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the community center in the former Yellowstone Park School in Mammoth Hot Springs.  Dinner will be served, $20 per adult.   RSVP by September 25th to Veronika Klukas, Yellowstone NP Chief Ranger's Office (307-344-2102 or Veronika_Klukas@nps.gov).

 

Pinnacles National Monument

Jesus (Jesse) Robles, law enforcement ranger at Pinnacles National Monument, will be transferring to Lake Mead National Recreation Area on September 14th.

Jesse began his National Park Service career three years ago at Pinnacles.  Prior to the NPS, he served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps.  He was an infantry machine gunner and earned his Iraq Campaign Metal and Combat Action Ribbon during 2003. 

Jesse attended FLETC from June to November, 2007, and completed his field training at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks between November 2007 to February 2008. 

Jesse is looking forward to working with the staff at Lake Mead.

The Pinnacles staff wishes Jesse continued success in his National Park Service career. Thank you for a job well done!

 

El Malpais National Monument

El Malpais National Monument, located in west central New Mexico, is seeking highly motivated candidates to fill two GL-0025-09 law enforcement park ranger positions.  Candidates must currently posses or be able to obtain a Level I law enforcement commission and National EMT Registry certification. These are permanent, full-time, primary/rigorous positions, covered by the 20-year special enhanced retirement system. To apply for these lateral reassignment positions (ELMA-08-11MPP), please follow the instructions on  the announcement, which can be viewed by clicking on “More Information” below. Applications are due by September 30th. For more information, contact supervisory park ranger Fred Moosman at (505) 783-4226, ext. 22, or the park’s human resources office at (505) 285-4641 ext. 16.



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Big Bend National Park

Dates: 09/08/2008 - 09/22/2008





































Big Bend National Park is recruiting for a GS-0390-5 telecommunications equipment operator. The person in this position works in the communication center, which provides the sole communication network support for the entire park and to other federal law enforcement agencies within the park. For more information, contact dispatch supervisor Katie Morris at 432 477-1182.


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