A Woodstock Early Bird let us know that a young man from Woodstock may be deployed by the National Park Service this week to help clean up possible damage caused by Hurricane Isaac. We’ve heard of medical incident responders and fire incident responders and even death incident responders (DMORT teams) but hadn’t heard of this particularly relevant disaster response idea.
Jordan McGee, who we only know as a rather reserved man with a good sense of humor, is currently working as a laborer with Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park. However, he tells us he has just completed his first year of a special NPS arborist program coordinated by the Olmsted Center in Boston.
Since gaining skills through the program, McGee says he has also just joined up with an NPS incident response team of people armed not just with chain saws but with an education about trees and how to best protect them.
We asked Jordan’s boss at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park — Facilities Manager John Gilbert — to provide us with a few more details about the program and the incident response team. And, that he did:
Jordan McGee, a MABI maintenance employee, is waiting for official notification to fly to the southeastern United States as a member of the NPS Arborist Incident Response Team, to assist parks damaged in the wake of Hurricane Isaac.
Jordan McGee is a member of the NPS Arborist Incident Response team. The Arborist Incident Response (AIR) program was established in 2011 in response to a recognized need for skilled personnel who could respond to all-risk incidents, resulting in severe tree damage, and provide hazard mitigation and resource protection.
The program consists of six regional teams (within the continental United States) comprised of NPS certified tree care professionals who are mobilized to serve as technical specialist – arborists through the National Park Service Emergency Incident Coordination Center (EICC) at Shenandoah National Park.
Each team provides assessment and stabilization to incident damaged areas in accordance with professional arboricultural standards, to improve life safety and where applicable, preserve park resources in accordance with the “The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Proprieties: Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes”.
Over the past several decades, National Park Service (NPS) sites have experienced a variety of natural disasters including hurricanes, floods, ice storms, etc. that have resulted in severe tree damage, often impeding park operations and adversely impacting high value resources. These all-risk incidents were met with sawyers and other well meaning personnel through the Incident Command System (ICS), who often lacked skills in hazard tree assessment, preservation arboriculture, and had little to no training in addressing complex storm damage conditions.
WEB Note:
Good luck, Jordan! Be Safe!
Julia Carlisle
Woodstock Early Bird 