Category Archives: News

Recent Snow Related Rescues – Reminder for Winter Recreation and Travel Preparedness

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FLAGSTAFF – CCSO Photo

– On February 17 at approximately 2:00 pm the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an adult skier and an adult snowboarder, both from the Phoenix area, who were lost outside of the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Area boundary. An approximate location was determined from their 911 call which indicated that they were east of Viet Springs at the top of a cliff. Two deputy sheriffs and the Search and Rescue Unit responded to the call and hiked into the pair’s location. Once on scene the skier and snowboarder were provided with some water and snowshoes and then escorted out to the Viet Springs trail head on Snowbowl Road. Neither the skier nor the snowboarder was prepared for conditions outside of the ski area boundary. The area was under a winter storm warning at the time of the incident which made the conditions potentially more hazardous for both the subjects of the search mission and the rescuers. The pair was reunited with family members on Snowbowl Road.

Skiers and snowboarders who plan to exit the ski area and ski or ride in the backcountry are required to have a free Kachina Peaks Winter Backcountry Permit issued by the US Forest Service at their offices or at the Agassiz Lodge Bar on weekend days. Backcountry users need to be aware that the backcountry is not regularly patrolled, and no avalanche mitigation is conducted outside of the ski area boundary. All winter backcountry users should carry equipment for backcountry travel including food, water, navigation equipment, headlamp, emergency shelter material, extra warm clothing, first aid kit, knife or multitool, fire starting kit or backpacking stove, and whistle for signaling. If traveling in avalanche terrain an avalanche transceiver, a backcountry shovel, and an avalanche probe should be carried. A trip itinerary detailing the travel plans should be left with a trusted person.

With the upcoming winter storm, skiers and snowboarders will be tempted to exit the ski area boundary to ski or ride in the backcountry. A large amount of snow over a short period of time presents a potential avalanche hazard. It is best to wait at least a day or two after a heavy winter storm before entering the backcountry. Skiers and riders who plan to enter the backcountry should have avalanche education which can be obtained through the Kachina Peaks Avalanche Center (www.kachinapeaks.org). Additionally, the Kachina Peaks Avalanche Center publishes weekly Snowpack Summaries which discuss the snowpack on the peaks and potential hazards for backcountry travel.

After completing the mission near the Snowbowl, Search and Rescue responded to the Skinner Ridge area east of Tusayan to rescue two stranded motorists and a dog. The motorists, from Minnesota, had been following their vehicle GPS from the Tusayan area to Cameron and the GPS indicated that they should take Forest Road 302 and Forest Road 301A. The forest roads were snow covered and snow removal is not conducted on those roads. As they traveled they slid off of the road and became stuck and unable to free the vehicle. Due to the winter storm affecting the area, conventional vehicles could not access the area. Search and Rescue responded to the location using two tracked vehicles. The motorists and their dog were provided with transportation to Tusayan where they obtained a hotel room.

The Search and Rescue Unit would like to remind motorists to not blindly trust vehicle GPS or smartphone mapping tools when traveling. It is important to pay attention to road signs and road conditions to determine if the route suggested is a practical one. In many cases, especially in the winter, the GPS and smartphone apps do not take into account the weather or road maintenance and many motorists following those apps become lost or stranded due to the conditions.

Seven-mile stretch of Lake Mary Road (FH-3) to close due to snowstorm

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FLAGSTAFF — The Coconino County Public Works Department will close a seven-mile stretch of Lake Mary Road, also known as Forest Highway-3 (FH-3), at 4 p.m. today, Feb. 20 due to high winds and drifting snow from a large snowstorm that will impact the area starting tonight.

During this closure traffic will detour along the West Side Mormon Lake Road, which loops Mormon Lake and goes through Mormon Lake Village.

The closure will be in effect at the north entrance of Mormon Lake (near the scenic overlook) to the south entrance of Mormon Lake, which is about 35 miles southeast of Flagstaff. This section of Lake Mary Road will remain closed until weather conditions allow for the County to safely reopen the roadway.

The closure is due to high winds and drifting heavy snow caused by wind. When drifting occurs, visibility becomes limited and there is an increased difficulty for snowplow operators to keep the road clear of snow. To ensure the safety of drivers, they will be detoured along the alternate route through Mormon Lake Village.

A Winter Storm Warning from the National Weather Service is in effect from 11 p.m. Wednesday until 5 p.m. on Friday, February 22. Total accumulations from this storm are forecast to be between 13 and 25 inches of snow around 7,000 feet with locally higher amounts approaching three feet of snow in some areas of the County. County Public Works crews will remain deployed to keep County roadways open and passable.

Snowfall during this storm is expected to be heavy and periods of blowing and drifting snow may lead to whiteout conditions with near zero visibility. Heavy snowfall will create dangerous travel conditions during this storm.

For questions about snow removal operations and related road conditions, please contact the following:

Coconino County: For County maintained roads, please call Public Works at 928-679- 8300 during normal business hours (7 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.).

Big storm Thursday

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WILLIAMS – A winter storm watch has been issued by the NOAA starting Wednesday night and running through Friday during the day. There is a possibility of 17″ to 28″ through Friday night. High winds are expected through out the period.

2″ to 4″ is expected to fall overnight Wednesday. 9″ to 13″ is expected Thursday during the day with 5″ to 9″ overnight. Friday during the day 1″ to 2″ more is possible clearing over Friday night. Flagstaff is predicted to have a few inches less than Williams over the same period.

8.5″ of snow from the last storm.

That, of course, is not the end of the story. The snow may be heavy at times so city crews may not be able to start snow removal until Friday at the earliest.

Starting now, it is time to get extra water and food for your family and animals. By Sunday travel should be getting back to normal. If you have no where to go, however, it might be a good idea to stay home.

The last storm left a beautiful blanket of snow, but made forest roads bad.

If you have extra power packs to recharge phones and pads, you may want to charge them up. Charge any batteries you have for alternate forms of communications. Get extra batteries for flashlights and radios. Anticipate power and cell phone outages.

Mystery of world record solved?

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PHOENIX — Have the redear sunfish at Lake Havasu really gone quagga crazy? Have these panfish that really can fill a pan, and are widely regarded as one of the better fish species to eat, found a surplus of invasive quagga mussels to munch?

A mystery remains: Redear sunfish at Havasu have been reaching world record sizes. But why, exactly? Let’s dive into this piscatory puzzle.

Five years ago, “panfish” took on a new meaning.

We’re at the time of year when Lake Havasu tacked its world-record pin on the fishing map. On February 16, 2014, Hector Brito caught a 17-inch, 5.78-pound world-record redear sunfish on a dropshot-rigged nightcrawler.

“I didn’t expect the record to last this long,” Brito said. “It’s amazing.”

This 45-mile fishing wonderland created by the Colorado River on the western-most strip of Arizona, adorned like a leather belt by the regal London Bridge, allows an angler to fish from the beach on the Arizona side and see the California mountains on the other. Some of those anglers said they witnessed a dramatic increase in the sizes of redear sunfish from 2009-2014 that — coincidence or not — occurred after invasive quagga mussels were first discovered in 2007 at Havasu.

In 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) did a study about the effects of redear and bluegill on quagga populations and found these sunfish do consume quaggas. Even more, the redear reduced quagga numbers by as much as 25 percent. The experiments of the study were conducted in field enclosures of Lake Havasu, as well as in the BOR’s Boulder City, Nevada Fish Lab. See the updated report.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department can’t verify that redear sunfish, also known as “shellcrackers” because of their pharyngeal teeth (teeth in their throat) that allow them to crush crustaceans such as snails, are reaching unprecedented sizes due solely to quaggas as an additional food source. Other biological factors include Havasu’s food base of grass shrimp and redswamp crawdads.

Regardless, Havasu is home to some of the biggest shellcrackers on the globe.

Kaibab National Forest kicks off third year of citizen science project

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Photo of a burrowing owl that was submitted as part of the Kaibab National Forest’s iNaturalist citizen science project. – Kaibab Forest Photo

WILLIAMS — Forest Service biologists are inviting eager naturalists, outdoor enthusiasts, and amateur scientists to join the citizen science team and help in documenting the plants and animals that inhabit the Kaibab National Forest. At the beginning of the year, forest specialists launched the Kaibab NF 2019 Citizen Science Project through the free online iNaturalist platform so that visitors can share pictures of flora and fauna they’ve discovered on the forest.

This is the third year that the Kaibab National Forest has promoted an iNaturalist citizen science project, and the observations recorded are helping to improve forest managers’ understanding of the abundance and distribution of species.

Photo of the Typocerus gloriosus beetle that was submitted as part of the Kaibab National Forest’s iNaturalist citizen science project. – Kaibab Forest Photo

“iNaturalist is an amazing platform that was created to document biodiversity throughout the world,” said Natasha Kline, forest biologist on the Kaibab National Forest. “While we’ve scaled it down to the forest level for our project, these observations are both improving forest management practices and wider scientific knowledge.”

When Kaibab National Forest visitors capture photos of plants or animals and share them through iNaturalist, they are contributing to a global biodiversity database. The iNaturalist platform shares findings with scientific repositories to help scientists around the world find and use data. They are also contributing to understanding species closer to home, as Kaibab National Forests biologists are monitoring project-specific findings and participating in helping to identify and confirm local discoveries.

Since the start of this citizen science effort, visitors and employees have made more than 5,000 observations across the Kaibab National Forest. This has included more than 800 different species of plants, birds, insects, mammals, reptiles, fishes and more. Unsurprisingly, due to its abundance in northern Arizona, ponderosa pine holds the top spot for most observations. Other discoveries, however, have proven much more telling about current forest conditions, leading to the potential to help inform future management approaches.

“We didn’t have any physical documentation regarding burrowing owls in the forest,” Kline said. “We’ve had verbal reports of people seeing them but not much else. Over the course of our citizen science projects, though, we have now received two photos of burrowing owls near the end of the breeding season. These kinds of unique observations, when verified, can lead to important scientific documentation.”

The Kaibab National Forest’s citizen science effort has also led to at least one rather remarkable discovery. In 2017, iNaturalist user “birding4fun” posted images of a distinct-looking beetle that turned out to not only be rare but also have no previous photographic evidence in the scientific literature. The insect was identified by a beetle expert on the platform as a Typocerus gloriosus beetle, one of the rarest longhorn beetles in the United States. The observation earned iNaturalist’s “Observation of the Week” title and caught the attention of a variety of media outlets.

Whether rare or common, observations shared as part of the Kaibab NF 2019 Citizen Science Project can help inform forest and wildlife management and provide information about species that might not have previously been known. The iNaturalist platform assists managers by documenting the presence of rare or introduced species so that actions can then be taken to help protect or eradicate them.

Forest managers encourage those interested to “See, Snap, and Share” their Kaibab National Forest discoveries through iNaturalist as part of the citizen science effort. iNaturalist offers the free app for both the iPhone and Android, which makes uploading observations easy. Through the platform, forest visitors can record and organize nature findings, meet other nature enthusiasts, and learn about the natural world.

“These citizen science projects enhance the visitor experience while providing the Kaibab with valuable information about our resources,” said Mark Christiano, GIS coordinator for the Kaibab National Forest. “In 2019, I’m looking forward to creating more educational and outreach opportunities for forest visitors, showing them how they can use iNaturalist to learn more about our forest’s amazing plants and wildlife. I’m hoping to encourage visitors to explore trails and document their fantastic observations.”

Through connecting different perceptions and expertise of the natural world, iNaturalist seeks to create extensive community awareness of local biodiversity and promote further exploration of local environments.

County offices closed in observance of Presidents Day

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FLAGSTAFF — All Coconino County administrative offices will be closed Monday, Feb. 18 in observance of Presidents Day.

While the administrative offices at the Sheriff’s Office will be closed, Dispatch, Patrol and Detention will be open. Records will be open on Monday Feb. 18, from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m., with limited staffing. Please dial 9-1-1 for emergencies. For non-emergencies, dial 928-774-4523 to connect with the non-emergency Dispatch number or to leave a message for one of the administrative offices.

In the event of a snow storm or other impactful weather during the holiday, County Public Works crews will be deployed to keep County roadways open and passable.

Coconino County’s parks and natural areas will remain open during the holiday, but administrative offices at Fort Tuthill will be closed and limited staff or services will be available. The Fort Tuthill Bike Park is currently closed. Please do not sled on the Fort Tuthill Bike Park or you will damage the features which were built specifically for cyclists to hone their skills on jumps and flow trails. Drinking water has been turned off at all parks, but bathrooms are still available at Raymond, Peaks View and Sawmill County Parks. Water and bathrooms are available at Louise Yellowman County Park, located in Tuba City.

Coconino County Public Health Services District (CCPHSD) Animal Management will have an officer on duty Monday, Feb. 18 from 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Contact the CCPHSD Animal Management office at 928-679-8756, leave a message and an officer will respond.

Preventative Search and Rescue to Assist Snow Boarding and Skiing Community

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FLAGSTAFF – The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team conducts operations to assist skiers and snow boarders in the back country.

Each ski season when there is ample snow fall, skiers and snow boarders enjoy back country runs out of the permit area of the Arizona Snowbowl. People leaving the ski area off the south or front face of the San Francisco Peaks often intend to ski back to the Snowbowl, but find the terrain pulls them down hill and away from the Snowbowl. Many skiers and boarders get lost, stuck or injured and call for help.

For several years, the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Unit has conducted what is known
as a Preventative Search and Rescue (PSAR) operations to mitigate the chances of people becoming lost or turned around. One such operation is to put a track from a snow cat on Forest Road 522,also known as the Freidlein Prairie Road. Should a person become lost, the track gives them a recognizable path back to Forest Service Road 516 (the Snowbowl Road) and has helped to reduce the number of search calls.

Last week, the Search and Rescue Unit conducted another preventative operation by
cutting snowshoe tracks along the Kachina Trail. The track was laid from Snowbowl to an area known as the “First Gully” in hopes of catching lost skiers earlier and higher up the mountain and giving them a path back to Snowbowl.

Out of bounds travel has some associated hazards. The backcountry is not patrolled,
and no avalanche mitigation is conducted in the backcountry. It is important that backcountry users be familiar with the conditions. Information about the snowpack is available from the Kachina Peaks Avalanche Center. The Kachina Peaks Avalanche Center also offers avalanche safety education.

A Kachina Peaks Winter Backcountry Permit is required for backcountry travel in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness when accessing the Wilderness from Arizona Snowbowl and along the Snowbowl Road at Viet Spring and Freidlein Prairie Road.The permit can be obtained for free from the U.S. Forest Service. More information about the permit can be found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/coconino/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=fseprd479744.

In addition to knowledge about the conditions, backcountry users should carry the 10 Essentials plus a charged cell phone and spare battery, avalanche transceiver, backcountry shovel and avalanche probe.

The 10 Essentials are:

  1. Food
  2. Water
  3. Extra Warm Clothing
  4. Shelter
  5. Material (tarp, large leaf bag, space blanket)
  6. First Aid Kit
  7. Knife/Multi-tool
  8. Fire starting kit/backcountry stove
  9. Signaling equipment (whistle/signal mirror/Radio)
  10. Navigation equipment (map, compass, GPS)

Public comments welcome on the ADOT Memorandum of Understanding to assume environmental review responsibility from Federal Highway Administration

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All highway projects require some level of environmental analysis to assess potential impacts. From installation of new roadside signs to construction of a new urban freeway, different levels of environmental review are required under the National Environmental Policy Act, which the Arizona Department of Transportation is required to follow when using federal funds.

To further streamline environmental review for federal-aid projects, Congress created the Surface Transportation Project Delivery Program, or “NEPA Assignment.” This program allows a state to apply for and assume decision-making and legal responsibility for meeting requirements of NEPA and other federal environmental laws otherwise administered by the FHWA for projects.

Recognizing that states are able to comply with federal environmental requirements on their own, while streamlining processes, and have waived their sovereign immunity in relation to federal court jurisdiction, ADOT is seeking environmental review authority and responsibility under NEPA Assignment for projects that require environmental assessments or the more rigorous environmental impact statements.

ADOT already has responsibility for certain NEPA decisions known as categorical exclusions, involving projects found not to have significant environmental impacts. ADOT entered into a separate agreement with the FHWA on January 3, 2018, to assume that responsibility.

To assume review authority for other levels of environmental review, ADOT has submitted a Draft Memorandum of Understanding and Final Application Notice to assume environmental authority and review responsibility from the Secretary of Transportation as required by NEPA for federally funded highway projects in Arizona and for local projects that are not part of the highway system but are also federally funded. This is part of a process to streamline environmental reviews for transportation projects, while fulfilling all federal requirements.

The Application addresses ADOT’s plan to assume environmental authority and review responsibility for federally funded state highway system projects, including interstates, U.S. highways and state routes and Local Public Agency projects that are not part of the state highway system in Arizona. ADOT is also applying to assume all of FHWA’s responsibilities for environmental review, resource agency consultation, and other environmental regulatory compliance-related actions pertaining to the review or approval of projects in Arizona.

The MOU Notice outlining the program under which the FHWA would assign environmental review authority and responsibility to ADOT is now available for review and comment. ADOT encourages members of the public to review and comment on the Surface Transportation Project Delivery Program MOU, also known as NEPA Assignment.

Please submit your comments online by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting comment.
For more information, visit ADOT’s Environmental Planning and NEPA Assignment website or contact ADOT NEPA Assignment Manager Steven Olmsted at SOlmsted@azdot.gov or by calling 602.712.6421.

International trucker safety training continues making Arizona roads safer

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PHOENIX – An innovative truck safety training program is continuing to make Arizona roads safer 18 months after Arizona Department of Transportation enforcement officers began taking their important messages to Mexican truck drivers south of the border.

More than 11,000 times in the past 18 months, Mexican truck drivers who have completed ADOT’s rigorous, two-day International Border Inspection Qualification have used the agency’s commercial ports of entry in Nogales, San Luis and Douglas. These qualified drivers have been stopped for significant safety violations just 31 times, or once in every 355 crossings.

ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division launched the program, the first by any state department of transportation to provide safety inspection training in Mexico, with a goal of making Arizona roads safer while supporting the flow of commerce. The state-certified law enforcement officers who staff ADOT’s commercial ports of entry along the international border teach drivers and mechanics from Mexico about the safety requirements for driving commercial trucks in Arizona.

The program has been a tremendous success by any measure, including the 576 drivers who have received the qualification, said Tim Lane, director of ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division.

“The improved safety record of drivers who have completed the training shows that our training program is very effective, and that the drivers attending our sessions are taking the process very seriously,” Lane said. “We are making a positive impact on safety on Arizona roads.”

There have been 25 two-day training sessions, and nine more sessions are scheduled over the next seven months. In addition, ADOT officers will offer seven requalification classes – one-day refresher programs for drivers who have completed the International Border Inspection Qualification.

Another innovation allows qualified drivers to communicate with ADOT officers before approaching the border using WhatsApp, a smartphone application. Drivers have used the app 233 times so far, with about 80 percent of those contacts revealing safety violations. Allowing truckers to perform repairs before approaching the border saves companies time and money.

Sheriff’s Office Investigates Flagstaff Police Officer Involved Shooting

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FLAGSTAFF – On February 3, 2019 at approximately 9:27 a.m., two Flagstaff Police Officers were leaving The Guidance Center in Flagstaff at 2187 N. Vickey Street on an unrelated call when an individual, identified as Henry Harold Russell, 47 years old, from Boise, Idaho, confronted the officers brandishing two knives. The confrontation escalated when Russell approached an officer having the knives raised toward the officer in a threatening manner. As the officer backed away from Russell, he gave Russell commands to drop the knives. Russell charged the officer with a knife in each hand, prompting the officer to discharge his weapon striking Russell. Officers on scene provided lifesaving measures until paramedics arrived. Russell was transported to the Flagstaff Medical Center and was later pronounced deceased.

The officers involved in the incident were not injured in the altercation. The Flagstaff Police Department Officer who discharged his weapon is identified as Officer Tyler Romney, a 3-½ year veteran of the department. Officer Romney is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, per department policy and procedure.

The Northern Arizona Officer Involved Shooting Team responded to the scene and immediately began the investigation, with the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office as the lead agency. Initial Investigation indicates three shots were fired by Officer Romney, striking the suspect twice.

An autopsy was conducted on February 4th and the medical examiner’s report is pending toxicology. The examination at the time of autopsy found that Russell was struck twice by gunfire, one wound in the right leg and one wound in the back.

A review of the officer’s body worn camera shows Russell was armed and aggressively charging towards Officer Romney. Romney fired, and all three shots were fired within one second. The video footage shows Russell reacted by immediately turning to his right. A shot hit Russell in the leg and another struck Russell in the back as he continued to fall to the ground. Romney ceased firing as Russell was falling to the ground.

CCSO Detectives are investigating Russell’s background. Russell was convicted in Idaho in 2005 for Sexual Abuse of a Child under 16 years old and has served time in prison multiple times. That conviction required Russell to register as a Sex Offender. Russell had not registered with local law enforcement as required by law. Russell had recently been released from the Idaho Department of Corrections on December 3rd, 2018. Russell had not requested permission to leave the state according to Idaho Department of Corrections Parole, which is a violation of his parole conditions.

Detectives have confirmed that Russell was not a patient of the Guidance Center and it is unknown why he was at that location on February 3. Investigators found Russell had stayed at Flagstaff Shelter Services on January 28th. It is still unknown exactly how long he had been in the Flagstaff area. Russell did not have any known family in Flagstaff or connections to the Flagstaff area.

Russell had no contacts with local law enforcement in and around the Flagstaff area prior to the shooting. Additional information indicated that Russell had been admitted to the Flagstaff Medical Center as suicidal and an overdose in mid-January.

The investigation is on-going and more information will be made available as the investigation continues.