NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Wednesday, July 20, 1994

Broadcast: By 0930 ET

INCIDENTS

94-397 - Golden Gate (California) - Search and Rescue

A search was begun on the afternoon of July 17th for F.U., 78, of
Boston, Massachusetts, who failed to return from a hike on the Miwok trail
in Marin Headlands.  Reports indicated that F.U. had been taking lithium
for approximately 20 years to control manic depression, but that the
medication had controlled the condition and mental problems were not likely. 
Search efforts, which concentrated on trails throughout the Headlands
portion of the park, were suspended at 11:30 p.m. due to darkness, but were
continued and enlarged the following morning.  About 100 searchers from the
NPS and a half dozen other organizations participated.  F.U. was located
around 10:30 that morning.  He had apparently attempted to follow a social
trail that he believed would provide a shortcut to the residence adjacent to
the park where he'd begun his hike, but lost his footing and fell about 30
feet down a steep ravine.  He did not attempt to climb back to the trail,
even though he'd suffered only minor injuries and was within a quarter mile
of his destination, and instead spent the night there awaiting rescue.  When
found, F.U. was suffering somewhat from exposure, and was taken to a local
hospital for examination.  [Gil Soper, CR, GOGA, 7/19]

94-398 - Yellowstone (Wyoming) - Search and Rescue

A search was begun early on the morning of July 19th when N.V., 25,
an independent researcher, was reported overdue from a day hike to retrieve
project data from a register on the top of The Thunderer.  A ground search
was begun before daylight; the park's contract Lama helicopter was brought
in after sunup, and located N.V. about 200 feet below the summit of the
peak on the Cache Creek Side of the mountain.  He had fallen about 20
vertical feet while scrambling in steep terrain the previous afternoon and
had injured his left femur and elbow.  Because of the steep, unstable
terrain where he was located, helitack/rescuer Scott Beatty was dropped off
at the location by helicopter short-haul.  After Beatty packaged the patient
in a litter, both he and N.V. were short-hauled to the nearest landing
zone, where N.V. was moved to an ambulance and taken to a hospital in
Bozeman.  He is currently being treated there for a suspected femur
fracture.  N.V. is the son of Yellowstone employees J.V. and A.V. 
[Mike Murray, ACR, YELL, 7/20]

94-399 - Yosemite (California) - Multiple Car Clouts

During the afternoon and evening of July 12th and in the early morning hours
of July 13th, Yosemite Valley was hit ten times by auto burglars.  Reports
were taken at the Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite Lodge, Curry Village, and Camp 6
overflow parking lots.  The modus operandi in each of the cases was very
similar.  The vehicles which were hit were sport utility vehicles, such as
Explorers, Land Cruisers, and Cherokees, small four-door sedans, or vans
with sliding side doors.  Many were rentals.  Utility and four-door vehicles
were entered by prying on the window moldings until the window glass broke;
tool marks were consistent with a large flathead screwdriver.  Vans were
attacked on the sliding door window by prying at the glass.  Glove boxes
were left open and their contents thrown out on the vehicles' floors and
front seats. Other parts of the vehicles were disturbed if things were
hidden under blankets, deck covers, or similar coverings.  Items were stolen
from only three vehicles.  They included wallets, purses, cameras and video
equipment, portable video games, and an expensive set of golf clubs.  It
appears the main target may have been wallets in glove boxes.  Cellular
phones, stereos, CD's and tapes and other attractive items were not taken. 
Anyone who has had auto burglaries with similar MO's should contact
investigator Dan Horner, Valley District, at (209) 372-0215.  [Dan Horner,
CI, YOSE, 7/19]

94-400 - Zion (Utah) - MVA with Fatality

Around 10 p.m. on July 16th, M.D. of St. George, Utah, was westbound
on the park entrance road when he lost control of his motorcycle and
collided with the south wall of the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel.  M.D. was
pulseless, apnic and had fixed and dilated pupils when park medics arrived. 
Aggressive efforts to resuscitate him proved fruitless, and a doctor at
Dixie Regional Medical Center subsequently ordered them to cease their
efforts.  [Dave Buccello, DR, Frontcountry District, ZION, 7/18]

94-401 - Blue Ridge Parkway (North Carolina/Virginia) - MVA with Fatality

W.D. of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, was northbound on the parkway near
Mt. Pisgah on the afternoon of July 15th when he lost control of his
motorcycle as he entered the Fork Mountain tunnel, veered across the center
line, struck the corner of a southbound auto, then crossed the northbound
lane and struck the tunnel wall.  W.D. was evacuated by air to a hospital
in Asheville, where he was pronounced dead.  There were no injuries in the
auto.  [CRO, BLRI, 7/19]

94-402 - Sequoia/Kings Canyon (California) - Visitor Injury

On the evening of July 17th, visitor B.W. of Bensalem,
Pennsylvania, was injured when the top half of a white fir fell into her
van.  Neither W.'s husband nor her two children were hurt.  She was
placed on a backboard and taken to Kaweah Delta hospital in Visalia.  The
white fir was a standing dead snag about 15 feet off the roadway on Buena
Vista curve about a mile below Giant Forest village.  The W.'s vehicle
sustained about $10,000 in damages to its roof, windshield and right
passenger area.  [Tom Tschol, SEKI, 7/19]

94-403 - Lake Mead (Nevada/Arizona) - Drowning

J.W., 22, of Boulder City, went out to the water intake tower on
Saddle Island with several friends on July 15th to jump from the tower into
the lake.  After J.W. jumped in, his friends saw him surface and heard
him say something; he then briefly floated face down before disappearing
beneath the lake's surface.  A boat search proved fruitless.  No dive
efforts were made because the lake is too deep in the area where J.W.
drowned.  [Terri Greene, LAME, 7/18]

94-404 - Lake Mead (Nevada/Arizona) - MVA with Fatality

A.G., 52, of Henderson, Nevada, was driving on Lakeshore Road
when he failed to negotiate a curve.  His car left the roadway, flew about
65 feet through the air, then struck a small hill.  A.G. was killed on
impact.  Alcohol was a factor in the accident.  This was the park's 29th
fatality this year.  [Terri Greene, LAME, 7/18]

FIRE ACTIVITY

The fire report is not available this morning.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (Maryland/D.C.) - Mine Closures

During the week of July 11th to the 15th, park resource management,
maintenance and interpretive staff and volunteers built bat gates in the
entrances of Roundtop mines numbers five, six and seven near Hancock,
Maryland.  The Roundtop complex includes seven limestone mines on park and
nearby state lands which produced lime for a cement plant which operated
from 1837 until the early 1900s.  Three species of bats are known to
hibernate in the mines; three others, including the Indiana bat, a federal
endangered species, and the eastern small-footed bat, a candidate for
federal listing, have been recorded there by researchers.  Six rare aquatic
cave invertebrates, including two isopods and an amphipod known only to
these mines, also occur here, as do troglobytic (cave-adapted) spiders and
springtails of an unknown species.  Artifacts from the mining period are
also present.  The mines were closed for public safety, protection of cave
fauna and cultural resources, and to allow bat populations to increase. 
[Dianne Ingram, RMS, CHOH]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

1) 6(c) Claims - A reminder to 6(c) coverage applicants: Additions to 6(c)
claims for most of you are due to the Department by August 6th.  The
Department has clarified that they will accept timely documentation
submitted to them for positions you claimed in your original cases and any
periods of service since your initial claims.  It is not necessary to submit
evidence for a covered benchmark law enforcement positions to which you have
been reassigned, nor for the position from which you were immediately
reassigned.  You should also be aware that secondary positions that may have
been recommended must be immediately preceded by an approved primary
position to confer coverage.  

2) Operation Opportunity - The operation is well underway in assisting with
the placement of central office personnel into park vacancies created by the
buyout and restoring FTEs and funding.  Other vacancies are also being
listed in an effort to reduce the number of FTE in our central offices. 
This is critical to meeting our goals of streamlining.  A few questions
which park managers have raised include: 

Q. Our park has a vacancy that we are going to list through Operation
Opportunity.  How can we be sure that those interested will apply?

A. Interested central office employees may have contacted you in the past
knowing you had a vacancy.  You may want to contact each of those who
have expressed interest and let them know what week you will advertise
your vacancy through Operation Opportunity.  That way they can be
ready and be looking for it.  You can also spread the word yourself by
using cc:mail.

Q. I am in a park and want to see the list.  How do I do that?

A. While there is no reason park personnel cannot see the list, our most
critical need is to get the list in the hands of the 765 central
office personnel who need to decide if they should apply.  Some parks
are receiving a copy of the list directly from their Regional
Personnel or EO offices which also receive all vacancy lists.

Q. If I advertise a vacancy and there is little or no response, what's
next?

A. You can re-advertise a position another week if you like.  Or, you
could advertise another vacancy and if you place a central office
employee in that job the FTE and funds will be restored for your
original buyout vacancy.  If a non-buyout position was advertised and
there was little or no interest, you could advertise through AVADS as
you normally would.  Currently, between 1/3 and 1/2 of the vacancies
listed through Operation Opportunity are attracting interested central
office applicants.  We hope to increase that percent as time goes on.

The Operation Opportunity team can be reached at 202-219-9233 from 7:30 a.m.
to 5:30 p.m. from Monday through Friday.  There fax number is 202-273-2446;
there cc:Mail address is WASO Opportunity 1.  If you're in Washington, drop
by Room 3329 in the Department of Interior.  

MEMORANDA
No memoranda.

Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities

Telephone: 202-208-4874
Telefax:   202-208-6756
cc:Mail:   WASO Ranger Activities
SkyPager:  Emergencies ONLY: 1-800-759-7243, PIN 2404843