National Park News | Man Diverts a National Park River, New Shark Species Discovered, Rabies Scare at Saguaro

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I'm Jason Epperson. This is the America's National Parks Podcast, and it's time for this month's National Park News Roundup. A 63-year-old Michigan man has been convicted for redirecting a river, by hand, at Sleeping Bear Dunes, National Lakeshore. U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Mark Tott, announced that Andrew Blair Howard was convicted of a federal misdemeanor for tampering and vandalism in connection with a 2022 incident.

The Platte River flows through the Sleeping Bear Dunes before it empties into Lake Michigan. In the summer, paddlers, tube floaters, and beachgoers drift down its meandering waters. Howard used a shovel to dig sediment and rocks from the river basin and stacked large rocks on a dam to divert the river's natural water flow toward a newly created channel out to Lake Michigan. The diversion created unauthorized access for large boats to enter Platte Bay. Within days, the natural power of the water in the dam caused the new channel to reach about 200 feet wide.

According to court testimony from a park ranger, Howard dammed the river after being unable to navigate his boat into the bay that morning and later caught a co-host salmon once the mouth was deepened. The state of Michigan and the National Park Service had previously dredged the river, creating an entry to the lake every fall from 1968 to 2013,, but the Park Service has since decided to let the river run its course. The first-ever fossilized grasshopper eggs and egg pod have been found within John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Micro-CT scans were used to investigate the internal structure of over 50 fossilized insect eggs and an intact egg pod. The eggs had been previously identified as ant eggs in 2016..

The shape of the eggs is consistent with modern grasshoppers that lay their eggs in underground nests. Never before has a fossil egg pod of grasshoppers been found and described on Earth, attesting to their rarity and the exceptional preservation of the John Day Fossil Beds. The eggs are 29 million years old. Also, two new-to-science species of shark fossils have been discovered through the ongoing Paleontological Resources Inventory at Mammoth Cave National Park. The two sharks, Troglocodontus trimblee and Glicomanus cariformum, were identified by fossils collected from Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and northern Alabama.

The first was identified through adult and juvenile teeth. It was named in honor of the park superintendent, Barclay Trimble, who found the very first specimen, a single tooth, in early 2019.. It's estimated to have reached about 10 to 12 feet in length or about the size of an oceanic white-tipped shark. The Glicomanus cariformum is a new species, pushing its family of sharks back 50 million years earlier than previously thought, and it was also found through teeth, but also a partial set of jaws and gills. The species was named in honor of the Cave Research Foundation, or CRF, who not only support research at Mammoth Cave, but whose members also discovered the jaws.

It's also estimated to have reached 10 to 12 feet in length. Its jaw shape suggests it had a short head with a powerful bite for hunting smaller sharks, bony fish, and squid-like orthochones. The two sharks identified would have hunted the ancient nearshore habitats that covered Kentucky and Alabama over 325 million years ago. The area was once an ancient seaway that connected what is now eastern North America, Europe, and northern Africa, but would later disappear as the supercontinent Pangaea formed.

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The final investigation into the origin and cause of a fire that destroyed the Hurricane Ridge Day Lodge at Olympic National Park last May was able to determine an area of origin, but was unable to determine a specific cause of the fire. Several potential ignition sources were identified, but the specific source could not be determined. Independent investigators found that the fire likely originated in the northeast portion of the building, which was unoccupied and ongoing a full interior renovation. at the time. When the fire was discovered at 4.30 p.m.

on May 7th, the building was already described as a total loss. The long burn time destroyed evidence of fire patterns, triggered additional potential ignition sources, and compromised the investigators' ability to analyze electrical components within the fire's suspected area of origin. The Hurricane Ridge Day Lodge was a two-story, 12,200-square-foot structure constructed in 1952. The lodge had been structurally renovated numerous times in its lifetime, and it housed the area's hub for electrical, water, and communications infrastructure. As a result, the fire destroyed the facilities necessary to support full recreational access.

Temporary restrooms allowed for limited public access throughout the summer of 2023, and the Hurricane Ridge area closed on October 16th for utilities construction and the demolition of the remaining lodge debris. The area reopened for winter recreation and is currently open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays to winter visitors. through March 31st. The big atmospheric river that wreaked havoc on California caused a temporary setback in Death Valley National Park's ongoing recovery from Hurricane Hillary. Most of the park's primary roads have been reopened, though.

The rain enhanced the scenic temporary lake at Badwater Basin. Death Valley is the driest place in North America, typically receiving about two inches of rain over the course of a year. The official weather gauge at Furnace Creek had measured 4.9 inches in the past six months, with most of that happening in just two events, the remnants of Hurricane Hillary, 2.2 inches on August 20th, and the recent atmospheric river, 1.5 inches from February 4th to 7th. Several park roads were closed after flash flooding. on the night of February 6th.

Caltrans removed debris and reopened California 190. by mid-morning on February 7th. The National Park Service cleared debris and reopened Badwater Road by late afternoon. Side roads to some attractions are still closed. Most Death Valley visitors will remember a vast salt flat at Badwater Basin.

Heavy rain in August filled the valley floor with a vast, shallow lake. At its largest, it was about seven miles long, four miles wide, and two feet deep. By late January, it had shrunk to about half that size and was only a few inches deep. It has been increased a bit since that. atmospheric river.

Reports of deceased animals and strange wildlife behavior has Saguaro National Park concerned that rabies might be a possible cause. The park urges visitors who have had physical contact with an animal to notify park staff and seek medical attention immediately. Park staff recently discovered several deceased foxes and have received reports of abnormal animal behaviors in foxes and raccoons, as well as one reported incident of a bobcat biting a visitor. No carcasses have been yet recovered for testing to determine the cause of the illness in these animals. Rabies is a viral disease that is spread through saliva during a bite, scratch, or mucous membrane contact with an infected animal.

Rabies is very preventable in humans, with proper medical care given shortly after an exposure to the rabies virus, but it's almost always fatal if untreated. before the disease develops. Visitors should observe all wildlife from a safe and respectful distance and never pick up or handle a wild animal. Visitors will need a reservation to enter Mount Rainier National Park through the Nisqually-Stevens Canyon and Sunrise White River entrance stations during peak hours during summer of 2024, making it the newest of the select few national parks requiring entry reservations. In recent years, it's been too common for visitors to sit in idling cars for a couple of hours at the entrance stations and then make laps through the parking lots, hoping for an empty parking space, said Superintendent Greg Dudgeon.

We are testing a system that will spread visitation out throughout the day and season to reduce crowding. Park. visitors will need a reservation between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. through September 2nd.

Reservations can be made using recreation.

gov beginning February 21st for the Paradise Corridor and April 1st for the Sunrise Corridor. The park has grown in popularity in recent years, with visitation growing from just over 1.1 million in 2013 to about 1.6 million in 2022. Most of those visits occur between July and September and are concentrated in a small number of destinations, including Paradise. This, like most of these reservations, is a pilot program, while the parks figure out the best way to implement these in the future, so anything could happen going forward, and we do expect some changes happening this year. That's it for this month's National Park News Roundup.

Thanks so much and we'll see you next time.