- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Wednesday, August 30, 1995
- Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Wednesday, August 30, 1995
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
91-6 - Great Smokies (North Carolina/Tennessee) - Follow-up on Poaching Arrests
On August 28th, T.W., 37, and C.N., 35, both of Fort
Pierce, Florida, who previously pled guilty to possession and use of a silenced
weapon to poach deer in the park, were each sentenced to 18 months'
incarceration in a federal prison and 24 months' supervised probation. The
charges were filed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. T.W.
and C.N. were arrested by rangers in 1991 for poaching in the Cades Cove
district, were found guilty on those charges later that year, and have already
served time in prison, performed extensive community service, paid fines and
restitution charges, and forfeited weapons and the Ford Bronco used in the
incident. The two men, both firefighters from St. Lucie, Florida, had driven
to the area and taken a room in a local motel. Each night, one of them would
drop the other off at the Cades Cove loop road before it closed, survey the
area, then kill a trophy buck with a silenced weapon. When summoned by CB
radio, the partner would then return for the pickup. Before heading off on
their trip, however, C.N. and T.W. made the mistake of telling their co-
workers about their plan to come to the park to shoot trophy bucks. One of
them called the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's toll-free number for
reporting poachers, and TWRA in turn notified the park. Rangers confirmed
their registration at the motel, staked out the area, and caught them on their
way out of the park with a deer - the second they'd taken. District ranger
Jack Piepenbring led the investigation. [Jason Houck, CR, GRAM]
94-562 - Western Parks - Follow-up on Theft Arrests
During a seven-month period in 1993, M.E. and J.S.-E.,
his now ex-wife, stole money from donation pipe safes at NPS, USFS and BLM
sites, passed fraudulent checks to agencies and businesses, and employed stolen
credit cards and checks taken from cars and tents in campgrounds throughout the
West. Among the areas the couple hit were Yellowstone, Wind Cave, Bryce
Canyon, Zion, Grand Teton and Grand Canyon. The E.s were arrested
separately in Akron, Ohio, and Seneca, South Carolina, last September. They
both admitted guilt during subsequent interviews and revealed many more
violations, including theft of firearms, stolen money, pawning of stolen items,
and a previously unknown and similar crime spree in 1992 which added many more
parks to the list of areas which they'd struck, including sites in Georgia,
Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, California, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada and Mexico.
They subsequently pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and theft of government
money. Under a plea agreement, M.E. was sentenced earlier this summer to six
months in federal prison and three years' supervised probation; ordered to pay
$7,500 in restitution to the NPS and a $1,000 fine; and required to undergo
drug and alcohol rehabilitation. J.S.-E. is expected to receive similar
sentencing. [Erny Kuncl, SA, IFAO]
95-42 - Sequoia/Kings Canyon (California) - Follow-up on Employee Illness
Mike Warren, the park's fire management officer, has again been hospitalized at
Kaweah Delta Hospital in Visalia for complications resulting from a severe case
of cocci-meningitis which struck him last January. Although Mike was able to
return home for a month earlier this summer, he was recently admitted to the
intensive care unit in critical condition for hydrocephalus secondary to valley
fever. Cards and expressions of support can be sent to him care of the park.
[Debbie Bird, CR, SEKI]
95-572 - San Antonio Missions (Texas) - Arrest; Possible Car Clouter
On August 25th, rangers at Mission San Juan noted a suspicious vehicle in the
parking lot - one that was believed to have been used in at least five car
clouts at the mission, the most visited area in the park. Ranger Gina Cumming
contacted the two occupants and determined that the driver did not have a valid
license. The two were detained, and it was soon determined that the driver was
wanted on a felony warrant and nine municipal warrants. San Antonio police
arrested both persons and the vehicle was impounded. The investigation of the
car cloutings is continuing; the two individuals remain the primary suspects.
[Dan Steed, CR, SAAN]
[Additional reports tomorrow...]
FIRE ACTIVITY
1) NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II
2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY
Mon Wed % Est
State Area Fire IMT 8/28 8/30 Con Con
NY State Sunrise Cx T1/T2 5,050 5,050 100 CND
CA Cal Desert Dis. Bailey -- 400 xxx NR NR
Cleveland NF El Monte T1 400 2,610 40 CN 9/3
AZ AZ Strip Dis. Tom & Cull -- 100 100 100 CND
UT SLC Dis. Redlam T2 200 33,500 12 CN 8/30
State * Cherry Creek -- - 1,000 90 CN 8/30
* Kanara Creek -- - 300 100 CND
OR State * Whopper ST - 186 90 CN 8/29
HEADING NOTES:
Fire * = newly reported fire (on this report). Cx = complex.
IMT T1 = Type 1; T2 = Type II; ST1 = state Type 1; ST2 = state Type 2.
% Con Percent of fire contained.
Est Con Estimated containment date. NEC = no estimated date of
containment; CND = fully contained; NR = no report.
3) FIRES YESTERDAY -
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Number 0 6 8 0 18 19 49
Acres Burned 0 46 23,044 0 1,021 17 24,128
4) COMMITTED RESOURCES -
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Federal 45 80 19 12 268
Non-federal 30 38 10 0 58
5) COMPARATIVE SUMMARY -
CY 1995 Five Year Average
Year-to-Date Year-to-Date
Number of Fires - U.S. 62,468 57,589
Acres Burned - U.S. 1,571,543 2,508,569
Number of Fires - Canada 7,494 -
Acres Burned - Canada 16,898,099 -
6) SITUATION - Large fires continued to burn in California and Canada
yesterday, and NICC mobilized resources to both areas.
7) OUTLOOK - Moderate fire activity and resource mobilization are expected to
continue.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 8/30]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Yellowstone (Wyoming) - Grizzly Bear Deaths
Three male grizzly bears were recently killed after coming into contact with a
downed powerline in the Hayden Valley area. The deaths were reported by
visitors horseback riding in the area on August 21st, and probably occurred
between August 10th and 20th. Investigating rangers, resource managers and
Montana Power personnel found the bodies of a 200- to 250-pound subadult male,
a 260-pound adult male, and a 350-pound adult male. Evidence indicates that
the deaths occurred on separate days. Montana Power found that a tree had
fallen on the powerline; the line was stretched until it was approximately a
foot and a half from the ground, but was not broken. Since there was no power
disruption, the company was unaware of the downed line. Powerline corridors
are often used by bears and other wildlife as travel routes. Bear management
biologists speculate that the first bear might have been traveling in the
corridor and was attracted to the noise of the downed line. The second and
third bears may then have been attracted by either the noise or the odor of the
first bear's carcass. [Kerry Gunther, YELL]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
No notes.
OBSERVATIONS
Quotes submitted for consideration for the Morning Report should pertain to
either the National Park Service or closely related issues, such as wilderness
and conservation, and should include the author and the date and source of the
quote. A mailing list has been created for periodic dissemination of the
master list of quotes to date to interested parties. If you'd like to be on
that list, please send a note to this address.
Here's today's entry - actually a double entry, as it contains both excerpts
from President Clinton's radio address to the nation from Jackson Hole last
Saturday and a citation from President Teddy Roosevelt:
"There's an old Native American saying that goes: In all our deliberations we
must take into account the well-being of the seventh generation to follow. The
wisdom of those words has come alive to me during my family's Wyoming
vacation...I'm more grateful than ever that those who came before us saw fit to
preserve this land for the enjoyment of future generations of Americans. That
was the intent of Congress when it established the National Park Service 79
years ago today. I can think of few things that mean more to the national life
of our country than our national parks...
"[If] we want to maintain our national heritage for our children and our
grandchildren, we have to do more than preserve our national parks; we've got
to preserve our environment...For a long time now, the American people have
stood together on common ground to preserve our environment. At the beginning
of this century, Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, began a fervent call for
conservation. In 1905, he said, 'There can be nothing in the world more
beautiful than a Yosemite, the groves of giant Sequoias and Redwoods, the
Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of Yellowstone, its three Tetons. And our
people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their
children's children forever.'
"Well, I second that emotion. And after spending the last week in Wyoming, I
have an even deeper commitment to fulfilling it. So let's end this century by
meeting the challenge Teddy Roosevelt set for us at the beginning. We've made
a lot of progress in the protection of our environment and our national
heritage. But the future can be even brighter.
"Do we need reforms? Yes. Should we reverse course? Not on your life. It's
up to us."
President William Clinton,
August 26, 1995
Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
Telephone: 202-208-4874
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