The National Park Service IMT overseeing Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts completed its seventeenth day of operations yesterday. Currently working with the team are 480 National Park Service employees from 108 parks and 43 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Today’s status reports follow:

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island – Debris removal continues. Team members assessed the administration building with representatives from the Department of Health. Mechanics worked on repairing machinery that had been submerged. Exterior cleaning of screening tents at Battery Park continued.

Governors Island – The site remains closed for the season. Gas and telecommunications have not been restored to headquarters.

Castle Clinton – Castle Clinton remains closed until further notice.

Gateway – Crews are working throughout the park’s Jamaica Bay, Staten Island and Sandy Hook Units:

• Jamaica Bay Unit – Trail work is continuing at the refuge. Debris cleanup continues at Frank M. Charles Memorial Park and Hamilton Beach Park. A security fence was installed around the Canarsie Pier concessions area.
• Staten Island Unit – Woody debris removal continues along the USS North Carolina Road on Staten Island. Debris removal continues at Great Kills and Fort Wadsworth. Resource advisors are working on a sand redistribution plan. Parts were ordered for boilers at Miller Field. Saw and chip operations continue at Great Kills.
• Sandy Hook Unit – Crews started on clearing Holly Forest Trail, continued clearing sand and debris from the North Beach and Gunnison Beach bath houses and plazas, and worked on the Old Dune Trail at the visitor center, clearing downed trees and brush, rehabbing trail tread, re-grading and filling washouts, and removing trash and debris from the trail and surrounding woods. Crews are also working on the water system, isolating the water main, charging the system and flushing lines; continuing work at the sewage treatment plant; continuing to collect trash and debris around buildings and roadways; employing heavy equipment to push back road berms; working on removing equipment from the north maintenance complex; winterizing buildings, campground and bath houses; and facilitating transport of needed supplies and equipment to other crews. Cultural resources and interpretive staff are working on inventory, cleaning and drying of historical archives.

Fire Island – The east end adjacent to Smith Point County Park has been partially reopened, providing pedestrian access to the beach. The adjacent wilderness area (Otis Pike) remains closed. Visitors may walk to the breach at Old Inlet, but entering the water is prohibited. Crews continued with boardwalk removal around the lighthouse. Breach and overwash assessments continued. Hazardous materials removal continued. Maintenance staff continued the restoration of the lighthouse annex. Concession operators are beginning recovery effort on their facilities.

Morristown National Historical Park – The New Jersey Brigade and Cross Estate sites opened yesterday. Fort Nonsense, Washington Headquarters Museum and Ford Mansion are open. Jockey Hollow remains closed due to power- and phone-line issues.

More information on the response can be found at these websites:

• Hurricane response and recovery – A webpage with current information on the NPS response to Hurricane Sandy.
• Resource needs shopping list – A ”shopping list”  of incident management team positions that still need to be filled, updated daily.
• Hurricane Sandy relief fund – E&AA has set up a relief fund web page where you can make donations in support of employees who were affected by the storm.
• Facebook – A Facebook page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.
• Twitter – A Twitter page managed by the IMT with updates on the response.
• Flickr – A Flickr page managed by the IMT with images of the response.

Uniform Donations – National Park Service employees overwhelmingly supported the request for uniform donations for employees affected by Hurricane Sandy. We received such great response that we no longer are in need of donations. The employees affected by the Hurricane greatly appreciate your generosity.