NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, March 21, 1995

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

94-455 - Canyon de Chelly (Arizona) - Follow-up on Assault on Ranger

On March 16th, the trial of Ph.C. and C.C. for their assault on
ranger William Yazzie last August concluded in federal court in Phoenix.  Both
C.s were found guilty of felony assault on a federal officer, and are to be
sentenced on May 22nd.  A third defendant, Pa.C., pled guilty in February
and is to be sentenced next month.  The maximum possible sentence for this
offense is ten years in prison.  [Dale Thompson, Superintendent, CACH, 3/20]

95-111 - Colonial (Virginia) - Attempted Suicide; Life Saved

On the evening of March 19th, ranger Ken Doak monitored a broadcast on county
police radio advising officers to be on the lookout for a woman from a nearby
jurisdiction who'd threatened to commit suicide.  A few minutes later, Doak
came upon the vehicle in a pullout along Colonial Parkway and found E.F.,
39, unconscious from a drug overdose.  Doak provided basic life support
until local ambulances arrived on scene; ranger Bob Whiteman assisted.  E.F.
was taken to a local hospital and is expected to recover.  It is very unlikely
that she would have survived without Doak's timely intercession.  [Jim Burnett,
CR, COLO, 3/20]

FIRE ACTIVITY

Ozark (Missouri) - The park continues to combat fires both within its
boundaries and in nearby areas.  Between March 16th and the 19th, they
responded to a dozen fires - two in the park (both less than ten acres) and the
balance outside.  Lack of rain, gusty winds and unseasonably high temperatures
have exacerbated the situation.  Extreme fire behavior has been witnessed on
many fires.  [Tim Blank, OZAR]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Lake Mead (Nevada) - Endangered Species Protection Project

A multi-agency effort is underway in the park to save the endangered razorback
sucker.  Lake Mohave, which is within the park, supports the largest remaining
population of the species.  Close monitoring has revealed that their population
declined from 60,000 fish in 1988 to 25,000 in 1992.  This year's goal is to
collect 20,000 larvae from spawning beds around the lake.  The larvae are being
reared in area laboratories and fish hatcheries, then transplanted in protected
backwater ponds along the lake.  The fish are then tagged and released into the
lake when they reach about 30 cm in length.  Between March 13th and 17th, adult
razorbacks were captured by trammel net and electroshock, then weighed,
measured and tagged.  Previous tags were also noted in order to develop overall
population estimates for the lake.  Biologists from the NPS, Bureau of
Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, state game agencies, and area
universities are participating in this effort.  [Nancy Yoder, LAME]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

1) Sales Regulations - The final regulation governing the sale of certain items
related to First Amendment activities on park land within the National Capital
Region are expected to be printed as early as this week in The Federal
Register.  They will become effective 30 days after publication.  In general,
the regulation limits sales on Federal park land to books, newspapers, leaflets,
pamphlets, buttons and bumper stickers, and sets standards for sites,
stands and structures used in such sales.   By this amendment, the
National Park Service also rescinds a sales enforcement guideline which
allowed the sales of T-shirts that contained a message directly related
to a cause or activity.  This final rule is adopted because such sales
have adversely impacted federal park land in ways described....resulting
in discordant commercialism and creating a 'flea market' atmosphere in
the National Parks of the National Park Service."

Since the proposed regulation was printed last May, more than 2,500 
applications have been received by the NCR Public Events Office for
demonstrations involving T-shirt sales.  Many of these applications are for
multiple park sites.  For instance, on February 28th, 50 applications were
received in one day; 31 of them applied for single locations and 19 applied for
multi-locations range from three to 12 sites for a total of 114 locations. 
(Sandra Alley, Public Affairs, NCR)

2) Fraudulent Solicitation - On February 21st, the Morning Report contained a
note admonishing parks to be aware of a firm from Hamburg, Germany that has
been sending requests for information to public agencies in the Pacific
Northwest.  After sending information to the firm, the parks have received
dunning letters for payment of $900 in fees for advertising in their
publication, and have responded to several letters trying to cancel the "ad"
with demand payment statements.  Since then, the parks have received more
threatening letters.  The regional solicitor in Pacific Northwest Region has
accordingly sent the company a letter regarding this matter.  Key paragraphs
from the solicitor's letter follow:

 "As National Park Service officials (have) previously advised you, the
involved employees had no intent to enter into a contract with you, and
no authority to enter into a contract on behalf of the NPS.  The elements
of an express contract with the Federal government are (1) mutuality of
intent to contract, (2) lack of ambiguity, (3) offer and acceptance, (4)
that the officer whose conduct is relied upon had actual authority to
bind the government, and (5) consideration.  Clean Giant, Inc v. U.S. 19
Cl.Ct. 390 (1990), Petrini v. United States, 19 Cl.Ct. 41 (1989).

 "We are advised that one or more of the employees who received your
request for campground information has or will soon refer this matter to
the Consumer Fraud Division of the Attorney General's Office, State of
Washington."

If you run into such letters, please contact Mark Forbes in PNRO for further
details on how to respond.

MEMORANDA

No memoranda.

UPCOMING IN CONGRESS

The following activities will be taking place in Congress during coming weeks
on matters pertaining to the National Park Service.  If you would like further
information on any of these hearings or bills, please contact WASO Legislation
at 202-208-3636.

March 23

House Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands (Hansen):
Markup of H.R. 260, to provide for the development of a plan and management
review of the National Park System and to reform the process by which areas are
considered for addition to the National Park System; H.R. 1091, to improve the
National Park System in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

March 28

House Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands (Hansen):
Hearing on draft legislation which would establish a process for designating
heritage areas.

March 29

House Resources Committee (Young): The committee will meet to consider pending
business.

March 31

House Appropriations' Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies (Regula):
NPS FY96 budget.

April 4

Senate Appropriations' Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies (Gorton):
NPS FY96 budget.

Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.


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