Park News September 9,2008

Southeast Region

South Florida parks are closed today as Hurricane Ike passes by to the south, while Gulf Cost parks are keeping a close eye on its forecast path:

• Everglades NP/Dry Tortugas NP – Dry Tortugas closed yesterday and will remain closed today. Most employees have already evacuated to Orlando, where they are expected to remain through Wednesday. Four employees remain at Fort Jefferson to await passage of the storm. The M/V Fort Jefferson moved yesterday to safe harbor in the Miami River. Gulf Coast Visitor Center at Everglades closed at noon yesterday, Shark Valley closed at 3:30 p.m., and Flamingo remained closed. At the time of the report yesterday, the main park road was closed from Mahogany Hammock to all points south. Staff from Flamingo, Key Largo and Gulf Coast completed evacuations late yesterday. All areas of the park will be closed to visitation today. The Ernest Coe Visitor Center will continue to be staffed solely as a contact station for wayward visitors.


• Biscayne NP – Preparations continue for Ike. The park shutdown at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.


• Big Cypress – The park remains open, but storm monitoring continues.

Parks in Mississippi and Louisiana are monitoring Ike’s path, which is currently on a track toward Louisiana and Texas. Gulf Islands is preparing for a possible storm surge emanating from Cuba.  The Western IMT concluded Hurricane Gustav recovery operations in the Mississippi District yesterday.

 

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Due to the anticipated high influx of visitors, Lake Mead and Mohave District staff implemented an incident operations plan to provide 24-hour coverage from Friday through Monday during the Labor Day weekend. Operational leadership principles provided the framework for establishing staffing levels and work schedules, making it possible for the park to meet competing workload demands with available staff while managing risk appropriately. More than 150,000 visitors came to the park over the weekend. There was isolated thunderstorm activity on Saturday, followed by windy conditions throughout the day Sunday.  During the weekend, the interagency dispatch center fielded 11,740 radio transmissions and 1,444 phone calls with 197 CAD entries. Dispatchers also dealt with 390 vehicle stops and 427 emergency calls. Thirteen alcohol-related arrests were made. Rangers responded to 18 medical calls, which included at least two saves, towed 40 boats, and executed 10 water rescues, many of which occurred during a high wind event that sank several boats. Fire personnel assisted in a vehicle fire (fully involved RV), managed air operations and participated in most of the 18 medical calls over the weekend. Other incidents included the following:

• Near Drowning – A 10-year-old boy was swimming near the shore in 6 Mile Cove along with other children while his parents watched from shore. The boy was not wearing a life jacket, although waves were over four feet at times, with a strong south wind. He began having trouble swimming and ended up going underwater for an unknown amount of time before the adults recognized the problem and brought him to shore. Rangers Culver and Park began patient care and called for Mercy Air. Lake Mead fire crews set up a landing zone and additional personnel responded by water. As rangers and fire personnel cared for the boy, he began to slowly regain consciousness and became responsive. Mercy Air flew the boy to a hospital in Las Vegas.


• Boating Mishaps – On Sunday, high winds resulted in numerous calls for assistance and several rescues on the lake. Rangers Provencher, Lavasseur, Martin, McKay and Arnberger and supervisory special agent Crawford crewed boats and rescued dozens of visitors from Lake Mead under highly adverse conditions.


• Drowning – Park personnel received a call on Friday, requesting assistance at the Callville Bay Marina. A visitor slipped while moving from the dock to a tied boat and fell into the water and was not able to get out. The next morning, the park asked Las Vegas Metro Search and Rescue to conduct a dive operation and recover his body. The victim was the commodore of the Lake Mead Yacht Club.


• Hells Angel Visit – The park received assistance from Golden Gate NRA, Yosemite NP and a Park Police special event and tactical team (SETT) in the management of a Hells Angels “poker run.” This interagency effort included police departments from Henderson, Boulder City, and Hoover Dam and was also supported by NPS special agents and officers from other federal agencies.  The presence of the SETT made it possible for the park to manage weekend operations while minimizing the overall impact the event had on visitors.

 

Cape Lookout National Seashore

Protection rangers responded to a domestic violence incident in the Cape Lookout lighthouse area at 3 a.m. on July 5th and took William Landen of New Bern, North Carolina, into custody (click on the link below for the original report). Landen was subsequently charged on two misdemeanor counts – assault (18 USC 113(a)(4)) and disorderly conduct (36 CFR 2.34 (a)(1)).  At his initial appearance, Landen was remanded into custody pending trial, based on his history of domestic violence and other offenses. On August 26th, he pled guilty to both charges and was sentenced to the maximum time (six months) for each count, to be served consecutively.  Note that the original incident report stated that this was Landen’s “third domestic violence arrest in the park since April.”  This was, however, the only arrest in the park.  The other arrests occurred outside the park and in a different county.


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Anacostia Park

On the afternoon of Thursday, September 4th, officers Ryan McDermott and Frank Morales were conducting speed enforcement in Anacostia Park as part of the “Smooth Operator” campaign when they stopped a Mercury sedan for speeding.  While speaking with the operator, they saw an open container of alcohol in plain view in the vehicle. The operator and the two passengers were detained and a search revealed approximately five grams of powdered cocaine, a scale, and numerous clear zip bags in the vehicle. The officers continued to search the vehicle and discovered a 12 gauge shotgun with a collapsible stock in the trunk. It was loaded with four live rounds and one spent shell. One of the passengers was also found to have an outstanding criminal warrant against him. All three were arrested and charged with narcotics, weapon and other offenses. 

 

Historic Preservation Training Center

Karen (Petey) Bender, an exhibit specialist at the Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC) in Frederick, Maryland, is scheduled to deploy to Iraq this coming January.

Bender, a chief warrant officer with the 56th Stryker Brigade based out of Philadelphia, has accrued 23 years of service with the Pennsylvania National Guard.  Her unit begins training on September 19th in preparation for a January 3rd deployment to Iraq.

Petey has over 15 years service as a mason with the HPTC. In 2005 Petey successfully competed for a three-year HPTC exhibit specialist training program trainee position and completed the program in July 2008. Over the course of the last two years, she has served as a project leader on several large-scale, complex masonry preservation projects at Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida, and at President’s Park in Washington, DC.

Her many friends and colleagues at the HPTC attended a send-off party on Thursday, August 26th, at the HPTC shop facility.

 

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A vacancy announcement for a GS-1102-14 supervisory contract specialist can be found on USAJobs.  The announcement closes on September 22nd.  Relocation is not available.


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