RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
                           MORNING REPORT

Attention: Directorate
           Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
           CC: RAD Information Net

Day/date:  Wednesday, July 26, 1989

INCIDENTS

89-196 - Voyageurs - Bear Poaching

On July 12th, Sand Point District Ranger Bruce Maloy found a dead adult
black bear floating in the waters off Fox Island in Namakan Lake. An
examination of the carcass revealed that the bear had been shot at least
twice with a firearm. Several campers in the area were interviewed and
stated that they'd heard shots fired on the previous evening. Further
investigation led to the issuance of citations to J.S. of Fort Worth,
Texas, for the unlawful taking of wildlife and the unlawful possession of a
loaded weapon, and to D.S. for the unlawful possession of a loaded
weapon. Three handguns and 94 rounds of ammunition were confiscated from
the two men. (N. Pavek, VOYA, via CompuServe message to RADA2ASO).

FIRE ACTIVITY

1) FIRE SITUATION

Planning level II.

2) FIRE: SUMMARY

State  Agency       Area                  Fire              Acres   Contain

TX     NPS      Big Bend NP               N.S. Muerto       2,253     Yes
       NPS      Big Bend NP               Heath             1,050     Yes

ID     USFS     Nez Perce NF             *Jnsn. Butte - T2  2,000     7/29
       USFS     Nez Perce NF              Cape Horn - T2      200     7/27
       USFS     Boise NF                 *Red Mountain - T2   100     None

WA     USFS     Okanogan NF              *Lodgepole - T2      200     None

NOTES:

- Agencies - All BLM areas are districts; CDF is California Department of
  Forestry.
- Fires - Asterisk indicates new fire.
- Areas - Tl and T2 indicate assigned Type I and Type II Teams.
- Contain - Containment dates are estimates; "none" means no estimate;
  "yes" means the fire has been contained.

3) SIGNIFICANT FIRES

* Johnson Butte Fire - Nez Perce NF:

Additional manpower was added to the 340 firefighters currently working
on the fire after it broke through containment lines on Monday and swept
across 500 acres of grass and scattered stands of ponderosa pine.
The fire burned another 1,000 acres yesterday. Because of the difficulty
of establishing lines in the steep, rugged terrain, firefighters are now
predicting that the fire will burn 5,000 acres before it is contained.
About a third of the nine miles of line needed has been cut so far.

* Unnamed fires - Saskatchewan and Manitoba:

Hundreds of fires have burned more than 2.2 million acres of forest in
the northern parts of the two provinces, and 19,000 people have been
evacuated from area communities.

4) FIRE ACTIVITY - 208 fires for 1,357 acres in last 24 hours.

5) ANALYSIS - Higher humidities and scattered precipitation have moderated
fire activity throughout the West. A FED FLAG WATCH has been posted for
low humidities end northwest winds from 15 to 30 mph in the Oregon
Cascades and for dry lightning in eastern Washington.

6) PROGNOSIS - Initial attack efforts on new ignitions should continue to
be effective under current weather conditions. No resource shortages
are anticipated.

(NIFCC Intelligence Section, 0530 MDT, 7/26/89; supplemental information on
Johnson Butte and Canadian fires from /Associated Press).

OFFICE NOTES

1) The Office of Personnel Management has sent the Department a letter
approving DOI's request for special salary rates for rangers in New York
(New York City and Suffolk and Nassau Counties) and New Jersey (Essex,
Monmouth and Morris Counties). This special rate authorisation will be
published in an FPM supplement, but the July 25th letter provides the
Department with the authority to make necessary pay adjustments until the
authorization is published. This authorization took effect on July 22nd.
Other areas preparing such packages for submission to OPM at this time
include Boston and Philadelphia. Although space precludes publication of
the entire pay table, here are some special rate figures for key grades,
with regular salary rates in parentheses: GS-5/1 - $20,463 ($15,738); GS-
7/1 - $24,043 ($19,493); GS-9/1 - $26,231 ($23,846). (Mario Fraire,
Division of Personnel/WASO).

STAFF STATUS

Hodapp on travel, Healy on leave.