NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, October 20, 2011

INCIDENTS

Crater Lake NP

Missing Hunter Found In Park Wilderness

On Saturday, October 15th, rangers were conducting hunting patrols on the west boundary of the park when they were advised that a 69-year-old hunter was overdue by six hours to his camp on USFS roads. Rangers immediately conducted a hasty search of the area, which resulted in no findings. Contact was established with the lost hunter via cell phone and a family radio system but was intermittent. A decision was made to pull searchers from the field for the evening and resume a larger scale search the following day. Over 30 search and rescue personnel were assigned to the incident. The Crater Lake search and rescue team, which consists of protection rangers, firefighters, and interpreters, was assisted by Jackson County and Klamath County SAR teams. Rescuers staged at a USFS warming hut in the Rogue National Forest and began searching on Sunday morning. The hunter was asked at intermittent times to fire his weapon to assist searchers in determining his location. Search teams were able to locate him northwest of Union Peak and walk him out to the road. He was in good condition, aside from being cold, wet and mildly dehydrated. Jason Ramsdell was operations chief for the incident and Joe Spillane is the lead investigator for the case. [Jan Lemons, Incident Commander]

Blue Ridge Parkway

Motorcyclist Killed In Accident With Car

On Sunday, October 16th, J.B.C., 27, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was killed in a motorcycle accident while traveling northbound on the parkway. J.B.C. lost control of his motorcycle and slid into the path of a southbound vehicle. The operator and passenger of the southbound vehicle were transported to Haywood Regional Medical Center in Waynesville, North Carolina, where they were treated and released. The cause of the accident is still under investigation, but it appears that inattention was a contributing factor. [Tim Francis, Pisgah District Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

John Muir NHS - A grand opening of the park's newly remodeled visitor center was held on National Public Lands Day. The construction project created a larger lobby to greet visitors, as well as providing space for new exhibits to educate the public about the life and achievements of conservationist John Muir.

Natchez Trace Parkway - Over 250 employees from Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi, Inc. volunteered their time to work on park projects on September 17th in honor of National Public Lands Day. Photo.

Big Bend NP - On September 24th, 33 volunteers joined with Big Bend staff to give back to their public lands in celebration of National Public Lands Day. Their goal was to follow through and finish up several previous park work projects. Photo.

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced with the support of the Office of the Assistant Director for Information Resources and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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