RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
                           MORNING REPORT

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

Day/Date:  Wednesday, December 22, 1993

Broadcast: By 0900 EDT

INCIDENTS

92-342 - Death Valley (California) - Follow-up on Butterfly Poaching

On December 14th, three people were indicted in federal court in northern
California for poaching federally protected butterflies between 1983 and
1992 in Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Death Valley, Point Reyes and Golden Gate. 
More than 2,200 butterflies, including 210 protected under the Endangered
Species Act, were taken for commercial gain over the past nine years.  The
case was developed after U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents and Grand Canyon
rangers and investigators began an investigation last year into poaching of
a rare species of butterfly from the park.  If convicted, each defendant
faces five years federal imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and a term of
supervised release.  [Carl Christensen, RAD/WRO, 12/21]

93-860 - Petrified Forest (Arizona) - Armed Robbery

A female Fred Harvey service station employee at Painted Desert was robbed
at gun point by a male teenager around 2:30 p.m. on December 18th.  The
attendant was able to provide the vehicle's license number and an excellent
description of it to rangers.  About ten minutes later, Arizona DPS officers
spotted the car heading westbound on Interstate 40 about 12 miles from the
park.  A vehicle stop was made a few minutes later.  One of the car's
occupants, a 17-year-old male from Garden City, Kansas, was identified as
the person who actually committed the armed robbery.  The suspect, along
with his two companions, a 17-year-old female and an 18-year-old male, made
statements admitting to the crime.  Items found in the car included two .357
magnum revolvers with ammunition and the $112 in cash taken in the robbery. 
The suspect stated that he'd planned on using a gun to resist arrest even if
it meant killing or being killed, but had given up because he didn't want
the woman to get hurt.  Rangers Minnerath, Pappas and Richmond were involved
in the pursuit and investigation.  [Mike O'Neal, RAD/WRO, 12/21]

93-861 - Point Reyes (California) - Rescue

On the afternoon of December 19th, park dispatch was advised that two 13-
year-old boys were stuck on a cliff just north of Arch Rock, a frequently
used hiking area in the park's South District.  Rangers responded and found
both boys on a ledge about 125 feet down the cliff.  A Coast Guard
helicopter was summoned to help with the rescue effort.  Rangers and
volunteers set up a lowering system on the top of the cliff and the Coast
Guard put a swimmer on the beach below to receive the boys as they were
individually lowered.  Both boys were then placed in a basket, raised up to
the helicopter, and deposited on the top of the cliff.  The boys were
suffering from minor hypothermia, but were otherwise okay.  The stepmother
of one of the boys, who had been observing the incident, also suffered from
minor hypothermia and was treated on site by paramedics.  [Carl Christensen,
RAD/WRO, 12/21]

93-862 - Golden Gate (California) - Attempted Suicide; Rescue

Rangers, Park Police officers and representatives from several cooperating
agencies responded on December 13th to a report of a vehicle down a steep
hillside in the Marin Headlands.  They found a vehicle upside down about 300
feet down the slope, and an injured victim between 150 and 200 feet below
the road.  The victim, a despondent 40-year-old man from San Rafael, had
been ejected from the vehicle and sustained injuries to his back and face. 
He as stabilized and placed on a backboard, hauled up the steep hillside on
a litter by a technical rescue system, then transported by helicopter to a
hospital for treatment.  Several rescuers suffered extensive poison oak
exposure during the rescue.  Employee of the National Park Service and the
Presidio Fire Department had just completed technical cliff rescue training
minutes before the incident occurred.  [Norm Simons, GOGA, 12/13]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico) - Lechuguilla Cave Exploration

Several exploration groups recently made major new discoveries in the North
Rift, Needle Park Maize and Outback sections of the cave.  The find in the
Outback area extends the surveyed areas of the cave to within approximately
600 feet of the NPS/BLM boundary, and several leads trending north were left
unsurveyed.  The exact length of the cave has not yet been calculated, but
it should top the 70 mile mark.  Several new discoveries of large rooms were
also made on this expedition.  The most notable of these was off of Needle
Park Maize, where explorers found a large room containing calcite
chandeliers similar to those of the famous Chandelier Ballroom.  Several
pristine pools were also discovered which contain the subaqueous helictite,
the speleothem unique to Lechuguilla Cave.  The discovery of leads to the
north placing the cave near BLM land were particularly important because of
gas leases proposed in the area north of the park and the recent enactment
of the Lechuguilla Cave Protection Act.  [Jason Richards, Cave Specialist;
Tim Stubbs, ACR; CACA]

STAFF STATUS

Division Chief: No leave or travel scheduled.

Branch of Resource and Visitor Protection: Sisto and Marriott on AL (12/20-
12/23); Dickerhoof on AL (12/23).

Branch of Fire and Aviation: Clark on AL (12/23-12/30); Cook on AL (12/22-
12/30).


Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities

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