RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
                           MORNING REPORT

Attention: Directorate
           Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
           Ranger Activities Division Information Network

Day/Date:  Monday, April 26, 1993

Broadcast: By 0830 ET

INCIDENTS

92-451 - South Florida Areas (Florida) - Follow-up on Hurricane Andrew

Eight months have now passed since Hurricane Andrew came ashore in south
Florida and recovery efforts are still underway.  Everglades just finished
its winter visitor season, during which it employed some innovative
techniques and opportunistic interpretive themes.  While awaiting completion
of the "interim temporary visitor center", park naturalists set up an
orientation table in the parking lot - much like the contact station seen in
early pictures of the park.  The main visitor center, which is to be
demolished, was enclosed in chain link fence to protect visitors from their
curiosity, and a challenging maze of fence and handrail was constructed to
provide access to the bathrooms.  The new, temporary visitor center is now
open and serving visitors.  The conceptual design for the new permanent
visitor center is done, and teams are now working on other projects,
including hurricane exhibit design, signing and other building
modifications.  Long Pine Key campground remains closed, partly due to
administrative use and partly because work must still be done there.  Both
Long Pine Key and the Chekika area should open for the 1993-94 winter
season.  The Anhinga boardwalk is more than two-thirds finished and has been
the site of many photos of the hurricane's impacts.  The tree islands and
hammocks have lots of new foliage, but reportedly look like giant bonsai
because the leaves cluster at the ends of the main trunks and the few
remaining branches.  The Flamingo facilities were opened to visitor use when
the main park entrance reopened last December 15th, but tourism in the
hurricane area has dropped as much as 45 percent below previous winter
seasons.  Biscayne is also open.  Staff moved into the new headquarters and
maintenance buildings on March 25th.  The furniture arrived the next day. 
Telephone service, however, remains limited.  A&E contracts have been
awarded to replace facilities.  The Elliott Key harbor complex is open; all
other islands remain closed.  The concessioner has one boat operating for
the glass-bottom, snorkel and scuba tours, but visitation was down 75
percent in the first quarter of 1993.  Resource recovery appears promising,
except for the red mangrove forest, which may take 15 to 20 years for
regrowth from base roots.  Homestead is still in bad shape.  Although
progress in cleaning up the area has been made, mountains of debris still
line the streets.  Many shopping facilities, particularly strip malls, are
being demolished.  Many park people have been able to move back into their
homes, but others continue to live in temporary quarters.  The park also
passed on the following: "Sometimes (Hurricane Andrew) seems a lifetime ago,
particularly when we talk of how things used to be or how we used to think
and plan.  Sometimes we feel as if it is still with us, especially when a
howling storm awakens us in the middle of the night.  Sometimes we
acknowledge that we are still too close to the event to objectively assess
where we are in the recovery process.  To all of the people who came to
south Florida as part of the emergency response team, we can say that the
progress has been truly remarkable.  A significant amount of the credit -
especially during the early weeks when many of us were still catatonic -
belongs to you.  You not only did the dirty work under the worst possible
conditions - August and September in the Everglades is no picnic under the
best of circumstances - but you also brought spirit and shared you strength
and determination to overcome when we had none of our own.  The hurricane
relief fund passed the $200,000 mark, and 177 people have received
desperately needed help from your generosity.  One of the facts we must face
very quickly is the onset of the 1993 hurricane season on June 1st.  Many of
the lessons learned must be put into practice, but its difficult to react
with any sense of urgency.  It seems too soon to worry about that
possibility.  Yet, worry we must - and prepare.  As we revise our hurricane
plans to meet the present conditions, we begin with developing objectives -
the basic principle of all-risk management and the incident command system. 
We have seen how it works and we have experienced its effectiveness.  The
legacy of Andrew is the institutionalization of ICS as THE management system
of choice for emergency events.  It worked because of the organization and
the people it brought us.  Thank you from the south Florida parks.  So say
we all!"  [Pat Tolle, PIO, EVER, 4/22]

93-207 - Death Valley (California) - Apparent Suicide

On April 21st, rangers found the body of B.C., 56, of Columbia,
California, in her car.  She had apparently committed suicide with a
revolver which was found in her vehicle.  B.C. had been reported missing
by The Tuolumne County sheriff's office; the report also indicated that she
was on medication and had suicidal tendencies.  The vehicle had been
observed in the area for three days, but the body was out of sight of
patrolling rangers, who believed that the vehicle had been left there by
someone on a hike.  The Inyo County sheriff's office is conducting the
investigation of the incident.  [CRO, DEVA, 4/23]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No field reports today.

STAFF STATUS

Division Chief: No leave or travel scheduled.

Branch of Resource and Visitor Protection: Halainen at meeting with uniform
contractor (4/26).

Branch of Fire and Aviation: Gale, Botti and Berg conducting park fire
program review (4/25-4/29); Clark instructing extreme fire behavior course
(4/26-4/29).

Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities

Telephone: Branch of R&VP - 202-208-4874
           Branch of F&A (WASO) - 202-208-5572
Telefax:   Branch of R&VP - 202-208-6756
           Branch of F&A (WASO) - 202-208-5977
cc:Mail:   Branch of R&VP - WASO Ranger Activities
           Branch of F&A (WASO) - WASO Fire and Aviation