NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Thursday, June 22, 1995

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

95-321 - Lake Clark (Alaska) - Aircraft Crash; Five Fatalities

On the afternoon of June 21st, the Port Alsworth field office received reports
of an aircraft accident on the Tazamina River.  Rangers flew to the site and
found wreckage of two planes in the river just inside the park's boundary.  A
local lodge transported them to the scene by jet boat, where they confirmed
that there had been five fatalities and no survivors.  Rangers interviewed
witnesses at the scene, who reported that the two planes had struck each other
in a near head-on collision.  State troopers arrived on scene two hours later;
extrication and recovery was completed by 1 a.m. the following morning.  A
joint NPS, state and NTSB investigation is underway.  [Joe Fowler, CR, LACL,
6/21] 

95-322 - Denali (Alaska) - Rescue

On the evening of June 19th, two members of a Japanese snowboarding expedition
were attempting to snowboard the Messner Couloir, a 45 to 48 degree, funnel-
shaped slope that begins at 19,400 feet and terminates at the 14,200 foot
level, when one of them - 24-year-old Y.T. - triggered and was
caught in an avalanche.  Y.T. was swept 2,400 feet over an ice fall and came
to rest at the 14,800 foot level of the mountain.  The avalanche missed his
partner, who slowly continued down the mountain.  Rangers and volunteers from
the camp at 14,200 feet responded and were able to reach Y.T. in less than
an hour.  A volunteer physician and rescuers were able to stabilize and
transport him by sled to their camp, where he was treated for hypothermia, a
pneumothorax, a femur fracture and spinal injuries.  Treatment included
insertion of a chest tube, administration of IV fluid therapy, warming, and
splinting of his leg.  The park's Llama helicopter evacuated him from the camp
at 3 a.m. on June 20th and took him to a lower camp, where he was transferred
to an ANG Pavehawk helicopter and taken to a hospital.  Y.T. is currently in
stable condition, but paralyzed from the waist down.  [Ken Kehrer, CR, DENA,
6/21]

95-323 - Glacier (Montana) - Rock Slide; Fatality

A rock slide triggered by an avalanche took the life of 24-year-old L.B.
of New York City on June 21st while she and two friends were hiking
off-trail above Avalanche Lake.  The three had stopped along the trail to look
out over the lake when a rock hit L.B. in the back of the head, knocking
her unconscious.  Neither of her companions were trained in first aid; one
stayed with her while the other went for help.  Meanwhile, dispatchers received
a phone call from a visitor who reported seeing the avalanche and rockslide
from across the lake.  A rescue effort was begun which involved many rangers
and trail crew members.  When rangers arrived at the scene, they found that
other hikers in the area had begun CPR on L.B.; such efforts had been
underway for about 90 minutes by the time rangers established a phone patch
with emergency room physicians at Kalispell Regional Hospital, who advised that
CPR be discontinued.  The survivors were evacuated from the area by helicopter. 
There was no indication that the group triggered the slide.  The park received
a great deal of rain in June, which may have caused the fall.  [Steve Frye, CR,
GLAC, 6/21]

95-324 - Big South Fork (Kentucky/Tennessee) - Assault on Ranger

Ranger Lowell Dolen and McCreary County deputy Terry Mason were spotting
marijuana from the air as part of a state task force eradication effort when
they observed an unusual looking patch in the national forest adjacent to the
park's boundary, landed, and walked in to confirm their observation and plan
for surveillance of the area.  While on their way out, Dolen and Mason were
fired upon between two and four times.  They only got a glimpse of their
assailant, however, and no shots were fired in return.  Neither man was
injured.  A search for the assailant was begun, but no arrests have yet been
made.  The nearly 6,000 seedling marijuana plants at the location were seized
and destroyed.  [CRO, BISO, 6/21]

95-325 - Jefferson National Expansion (Missouri) - Shooting

Rangers on duty in the Arch parking garage heard a single gunshot just after
midnight on June 18th.  The four responding rangers found a woman on the
pavement with her male companion kneeling next to her.  The woman had been shot
once through the neck; on the ground nearby was a two-shot .38 caliber
derringer.  The man was arrested, and emergency aid was provided to the woman
by an EMT until the ambulance arrived.  Through remarkable good fortune, the
round missed all critical areas in her neck, and she was released from the
hospital less than 12 hours after the shooting.  City police assisted at the
scene.  Both parties said that the gun discharged after it fell out of the
man's waistband and was entirely accidental.  Discrepancies were noted in their
separate statements, however, and a joint investigation is being conducted. 
Charges may be filed in both federal and city courts.  [Deryl Stone, CR, JEFF,
6/19]

FIRE ACTIVITY

The NIFCC Incident Management Situation Report was unavailable as of Morning
Report release time.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Badlands (South Dakota) - Follow-up on Black-Footed Ferret Reintroduction

A group of 14 radio-collared ferrets were released in the park's wilderness
area on June 5th as part of an planned experimental release of two groups of
four- and five-year-old animals.  It's believed that all of them were killed by
predation, most likely by coyotes, in less than a week.  Two of the four
objectives of the experimental release were realized, but the other two were
not attained because of the rapid demise of the group.  The second planned
release was accordingly canceled.  Researchers will be considering
recommendations regarding preconditioning protocols, timing of ferret releases,
predator avoidance conditioning, and on-site predator exclusion or reduction. 
An intensive spotlight survey will be conducted in July to search for black-
footed ferrets within the Conata Basin/Badlands prairie dog complex to
determine how many released animals have survived to date.  [Bruce Bessken,
BADL]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

1) Patrol Vehicle Equipment - Big thicket would like to hear from any areas
using 1994 or 1995 Ford Explorers for patrol vehicles, as they are trying to
find a source for vehicle partitions compatible with them.  If you can help,
please contact BITH Fire by cc:Mail or call 409-283-5824.  Charles Boettcher,
BITH]

OBSERVATIONS

"The problem of maintaining the standards of the national park system is ever
present, and while all sites that qualify should be brought in, those that
don't should be left out...The matter of standards is inevitably personal, and
at times geographical.  An area that seems superbly qualified for national park
status east of the Mississippi, in a region heavily populated, might seem less
significant in one of the Western states.  Congressmen have been known to
recommend areas containing scenery that at best could be described as anemic,
and local boosters constantly push for legislation to establish some minor
curiosities as national parks purely for the financial bonanza of having the
National Park Service designation on the Esso road map...Claims are often made
for historic sites, ranging from the purely insignificant to the hilarious,
most of which are clearly worthy of oblivion...Probably the greatest danger to
the integrity of the national park system is not, however, the occasional
substandard area that somehow slips through.  Those that aren't quite good
enough present the gravest problem.  If the park system began to include these
areas, which are pleasant and moderately attractive, the distinction between
truly national significance on the one hand and local pride on the other would
be increasingly blurred, and the original idea of national parks would steadily
erode toward mediocrity."

                                                 NPS historian William C.
                                                 Everhart, "The National Park
                                                 Service", 1972

[Do you have a favorite quote about the NPS?  If so, send it along for possible
inclusion in a future Morning Report...]

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

Telephone: 202-208-4874
Telefax:   202-208-6756
cc:Mail:   WASO Ranger Activities
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