- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Monday, July 30, 1990
- Date: Mon, 30 Jul 1990
RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
MORNING REPORT
Attention: Directorate
Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
CC: RAD Information Net
Day/date: Monday, July 30, 1990
INCIDENTS
90-204 - Channel Islands (California) - Follow-up on Shipwreck Looting Case
In October of 1987, 19 individuals and one corporation were charged with
violating both federal and state laws protecting submerged cultural
resources within the park. A total of 52 complaints (32 criminal and 20
civil) were filed against members of the California Wreck Divers Club and
the owners of the dive boats involved in the incident. The information for
the complaints resulted from a three-day undercover operation by two park
rangers. Over the last two and a half years, the defendants' attorneys have
filed writs, demurrers, and jurisdictional and constitutional challenges to
the application to these laws. The pretrial hearings and motions to have
the criminal cases dismissed ended in January, 1990, with final rulings by
Superior Court in favor of the government. Last April, 12 defendants in
Ventura County pled guilty to 21 criminal charges. Each defendant was fined
$750, sentenced to two years' probation, and ordered not to dive on
shipwrecks in the park without providing the NPS with prior notification. On
June 6th, one defendant's case went to jury trial; after five days of
hearing and two days of jury deliberation, a mistrial was declared due to a
hung jury (nine voted for a guilty verdict, three voted for a not-guilty
verdict). The Ventura County District Attorney's Office has subsequently
decided not to re-try the case. Three other defendants who reside out of
state have failed to appear and bench warrants have been issued for their
arrest. One defendant who pled guilty was required to return a two and a
half dollar gold coin (circa 1843) which was taken from the wreck site. The
defendants who went to court in Santa Barbara also pled guilty, were fined
$750 each, were sentenced to three years probation, and may not dive on
wrecks within the park without prior notification to the NPS. One case was
dismissed for insufficient evidence and one defendant pled guilty to
trespass rather than to (charges of damaging historic objects as part of the
plea bargain with the District Attorney. In June of 1988, 12 defendants in
the Federal Civil cases prosecuted by the NCAA General Counsel's Office
settled their cases by payment of penalties ranging from $20,000 for the
dive boat owners to $1,000 for some individuals. In August of 1988, the
remaining defendants requested a hearing before the administration law
judge. The hearing lasted over three weeks and written arguments and
rebuttals were subsequently submitted. To date, the judge has not issued a
ruling in these seven civil cases. (Chief Ranger, ChTS, via CompuServe
message from RAD/WRO).
90-205 - Colorado NM (Colorado) - Suicide
On July 18th, the local sheriff's office received a request to attempt to
find G.S., 32, of Boise, Idaho and advised the park. G.S.'s vehicle
was subsequently located near the Coke Ovens trail. A suicide note was
found within, and G.S.'s body was found at a nearby overlook. The cause of
death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. G.S. is thought to have been
infected with HIV virus. (John Painter, COLM, via telephone message from
RAD/RMRO, 7/20).
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) PREPAREDNESS IEVEL - II
One geographic area experiencing high fire danger. Numerous Class A, B,
and C fires occurring and a potential exists for escapes to larger
(project) fires. Minimal mobilization of resources from other geographic
areas occurring. The potential exists for mobilizing additional
resources from other geographic areas.
2) FIRE SUMMARY
State Agency Area Fire Acres Status
ID NPS Crater of Moon *Split Butte 800 Yes
WA NPS North Cascades *McCallister 150 None
USFS Wenatchee *Canoe Creek - T2 309 CN 8/6
OR USFS Deschutes *Wake Butte - T2 200 None
ID BLM Boise *Rattler 1,113 CN 7/30
AZ NPS Grand Canyon *Topeka 200 None
USFS Coconino *Encinoso - T2 60 CN 7/29
AK FWS Yukon Flats A-197 - T1 127,260 None
Upper Yukon A-143 65,000 None
BLM Tok Area 013026 831 None
Tanana Zone A-235 24,000 MN
A-270 23,600 None
A-421 6,000 None
Southwest Area 004069 900 None
004068 4,170 None
Galena Zone A-168 2,900 None
NPS Denali A-148 46,000 MN
A-374 1,300 MN
A-255 22,600 MN
A-406 11,000 MN
A-413 5,000 MN
A-327 1,900 MN
A-350 67,280 MN
Army - A-133 14,000 None
AK Tok Area 013021 - T1 90,300 None
013035 11,500 None
Tanana Zone A-233 1,000 None
A-414 13,200 None
Delta Area 012054 7,000 None
Native Southwest Area 004066 170 None
Upper Yukon A-412 35,640 None
Alaska also has 32 fires unstaffed under modified suppression
strategy for a total of 1,012,389 acres and 48 fires under limited
suppression strategy for 666,537 acres.
NOTES:
- Fires - Asterisk indicates newly reported fire (on this
report). T1 and T2 indicate assigned Type I and Type II Teams.
- Status - Containment/control dates are estimates; CN means
contain, CL means control, MN means the fire is being
monitored; MS means the fire is being managed under a
modified suppression strategy; "none" means no estimate; "yes"
means the fire has been contained.
3) NPS NARRATIVES -
- Denali (Alaska) -
* A-350 Fire - The fire is burning approximately 10 miles south to
southwest of the Yoder Lake Fire and has spread into the preserve.
* A-148 Fire - Activity on the fire continues to be low. About five
percent of the perimeter is smoldering.
* A-406 Fire - About 15 percent of the perimeter is actively smoking.
Fire activity is low.
* There is no further information on the other fires burning in the park.
- Craters of the Moon (Idaho) -
* Split Butte Fire - The fire was contained at noon on the 26th and
controlled later that day. The Forest Service was to turn the fire
back over to the park on Saturday, the 28th.
- North Cascades (Washington) -
* McCallister Fire - The fire is burning in steep terrain in a designated
wilderness area. Four Type I crews have been committed.
- Sequoia/Kings Canyon (California) -
* Avalanche 1 RX Fire - The fire has burned 135 acres within prescription
and is being closely monitored. A video team from BIFC is shooting the
fire for the park, the Branch of Fire Management, and BIFC's prescribed
fire and fire effects working team.
- Grand Canyon (Arizona) -
* Topeka Fire - The fire has been converted from a prescribed fire and is
being managed as a wildfire under containment strategy. Progress is
slowly being made toward containment.
4) FIRE ACTIVITY - 113 fires for 54,896 acres in past 24 hours.
5) NPS FIRE DANGERS - The following parks are experiencing high to
extreme fire danger this morning:
High Very High Extreme
Padre Island Sequoia/Kings Joshua Tree
Redwoods Craters of the Moon Cumberland Island
Everglades Death Valley
Lassen Volcanic
Great Basin
Lava Beds
El Malpais
Bryce Canyon
Scotts Bluff
Grand Canyon
Whiskeytown
6) ANALYSIS - Moderate fire activity continues throughout the West, but
high to extreme indices continue to be reported in many areas. Several
fires in Alaska have received rain or are reporting higher humidities,
which has led to slowing fire spread. A few fires, however, continue
to burn quite actively.
As of Saturday, the parks reporting to the NPS Branch of Fire Management
in Boise had 21 firefighters, six monitors and 15 overhead personnel
committed to fires nationally. Five NPS helicopters and six engines
have also been committed.
7) PROGNOSIS - Fire activity is expected to increase in the West as a result
of high temperatures, lower humidities and dry lightning activity. Fire
activity is expected to moderate in Alaska with the onset of cooler
temperatures and higher humidities.
(CompuServe report from Hallie Locklear, Branch of Fire, Boise, 7/28; NICC
Intelligence Section, Fire Management Situation Report, 0530 MDT, 7/30).
OFFICE NOTES
1) The morning report did not came out last week due to problems in
transmitting it from New Hampshire. It seems that the phone lines in some
rural locations in the U.S. are not yet able to handle 1990's style
telecommunications. It was not possible to get through the entire back log
of incident reports this morning; they will appear over the course of the
coming week.
2) Please note that the Branch of Fire in Ranger Activities in WASO now has
its own CompuServe terminal. The address is WASO-FIRE-WO, and it will be
listed at the end of each morning report with our other office numbers.
Except for fire-related matters, all messages to RAD should still be sent to
WASO-RANGER.
3) Jim Loach is now on a 120-day detail from Ranger Activities to serve as
an assistant to the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and
Wildlife and Parks for the Department of Interior.
4) Special pay rates have been approved for rangers working in Los Angeles
and Ventura Counties in California. The new rates substantially increase
the salaries of rangers working in those counties - up 30% for GS-4's and
GS-5's, 23% for GS-7's, 10% for GS-9's, and 3.3% for GS-11's.
5) Clark Bavin, the chief of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Law Enforcement
Division here in Washington, died the week before last of complications
stemming from a stroke which he'd recently suffered. His funeral was on the
18th.
STAFF STATUS
- Division Chief: No travel scheduled.
- Branch of Resource & Visitor Protection: Kreis in SL; Farabee on SL.
- Branch of Fire: Norum on AL (7/24-8/4); Gale on AL (7/25-8/4); Botti
on AL (7/30-8/10); Erskine on AL (7/30); Hallie Locklear from SWRO
on detail to Branch of Fire Management (7/23-8/4).
Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities
Telephone: FTS 268-4874/6039 or 202-208-4874/6039
Telefax: FTS 268-5977 or 202-208-5977
CompuServe: WASO-RANGER (Branch of R&VP); WASO-FIRE-WO (Branch of Fire)
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