National Park Service Volunteer Dies After Accident on Anacapa Island

Wysocki fell off the landing dock ladder as he was boarding the National Park Service (NPS) vessel Ocean Ranger at about 3:15 pm and sustained a serious head injury.

NPS staff, volunteers, and a park visitor responded by pulling Wysocki out of the water and onto the park vessel to render emergency response. A Ventura County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue helicopter responded with a paramedic team. Following unsuccessful resuscitative efforts Wysocki was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 1600 hours.

A volunteer for Channel Islands National Park since November 2011, Wysocki was highly valued for his skills as an audio visual technician and camera operator for the park’s distance learning program Channel Island Live. He also served as a park naturalist, a position that he first held for several years in the mid-1990s.

A man of many talents, Wysocki was a long time sailor, boater, dive instructor, photographer, and videographer. He spent his career working as a physicist at a research lab in Malibu, CA. At 65 years of age he leaves behind his wife, family and friends including his NPS family.

This publication is available on line at: www.nps.gov/chis/parknews/newsreleases.htm