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 When an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in North America appeared imminent in 2001, NPS emergency operations staff worked with other divisions to quickly develop plans to protect park ungulates, including deer and elk, such as tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore. Although the immediate threat passed, the planning process was a unique approach that drew praise from around the country. Peter Dratch Kris Fister
Back to Chapter 5: Managing Risks Articles Preserving endangered night skies By Dan Duriscoe and Chadwick A. Moore Protecting American ginseng By Janet Rock An overview of invasive exotic plant management strategies in the Northeast By Kathleen Kodish Reeder Eradicating rats from Anacapa Island By Kate Faulkner, Gregg Howald, and Steve Ortega Other Developments Focus on toxic airborne pollutants Mosquito surveillance in the National Capital Region Battling alien fish in Yellowstone Lake Award-winner Profile - Hawaii Volcanoes resource manager honored |
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 By Peter Dratch and Kris Fister When 10 million farm animals were slaughtered in the United Kingdom in 2001 to control foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), an outbreak in North America looked imminent. Although the disease occurs in hoofed animals in many parts of the world and is not usually fatal, what concerned U.S. officials about the outbreak that began in England and spread to mainland Europe was the potential economic impact. Federal departments, from the USDA to the FBI, met in Washington, D.C., to plan how the United States would manage an outbreak of the disease. The focus of the National Park Service during the crisis was the threat to hoofed wildlife such as deer and elk, and the outcome was a unique approach that drew praise from around the country. Craig Axtell, chief of the NPS Biological Resource Management Division, requested that the NPS director delegate authority to the NPS National Incident Management Team to develop plans for dealing with foot-and-mouth disease. There were compelling reasons for using the Incident Command System to respond to a disease that was not yet even in the country. Timeliness was critical: if foot-and-mouth disease arrived in North America, a plan needed to be in place. The disease spreads so rapidly that NPS managers would be under intense pressure to make critical decisions affecting park resources and visitors. “I also saw it as an opportunity,” Axtell said, “to integrate emergency operations specialists from the NPS Incident Management Team with scientists from the Natural Resource Program Center to pull together on a big problem with a short deadline.” Also, if there were an FMD outbreak near a national park, an Incident Management Team would probably be called to respond. As the team assembled in April 2001 in Fort Collins, Colorado, the city’s newspaper, The Coloradoan, carried a story on how foot-and-mouth disease would be an ideal agent for terrorists. The delegation of authority given to Incident Commander Greg Stiles made the time frame clear: 16 days, including travel, to develop and distribute a plan that would provide pertinent information and guidelines if the disease occurred in or near a national park unit. Biological Resource Management Division staff and NPS personnel from around the country began the assignment, using planning methods previously employed on incidents such as Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the Yosemite flood in 1996. It soon became clear that dealing with the threat of foot-and-mouth disease far from a national park required a different approach from an occurrence of the disease in a park or on its boundary. Two documents would be needed: a prevention plan and a response plan. The Interim Prevention Plan recommended that national park units designate a coordinator to communicate with other agencies in the area, provide pertinent information to employees and the public, and evaluate the potential threat to park resources. The Interim Response Plan focused on securing the area in accordance with the recommendation of disease experts, conducting a situation analysis that included the risk to wildlife from infected livestock, and preventing panic by communicating clearly to the public that the disease is not fatal to humans. Throughout the process the team was in close contact with representatives from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior National Wildlife Health Center. Drafts of the plans were sent for review by subject-matter experts, including federal and state officials, veterinarians, and NPS personnel from both the operations and natural resources directorates. In light of the comments, significant changes were made to both plans. An executive summary was included in each plan to provide park superintendents with clear guidance on how to evaluate the FMD risk and the appropriate response. The interim plans were submitted to Craig Axtell on May 9, 2001. The following week, the incident commander provided a briefing on the FMD plans to U.S. Department of the Interior staff in Washington, D.C. The threat of foot-and-mouth disease from an accidental exposure or a bioterrorist act remains, but with the distribution of these plans the National Park Service is in a proactive position to protect its resources. |
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This material is from Natural Resource Year in Review--2001, published by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in May 2001 (publication D-2255) /YearInReview/yir/yir2001/05_risks/05_3_dratch.html Last Updated: |
