NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Thursday, September 14, 1995

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

95-610 - Glacier (Montana) - Follow-up on Employee Injured in Bear Mauling

Park carpenter Lester Ashwood, 38, is recovering at the Kalispell Regional
Hospital after undergoing surgery to clean puncture wounds he sustained in a
surprise encounter with a grizzly bear on Tuesday morning.  Ashwood and his
wife had camped at Fifty Mountain on the night of September 11th.  He had taken
off by himself for a day hike early the next morning, and was identifying
wildflowers along the trail about a mile north of the camp when he looked up
and saw a grizzly charging him from about 150 yards away.  Ashwood dropped into
a fetal position just as the bear reached him.  During the attack, which lasted
no more than 20 seconds, the bear bit him on his head, neck, shoulder, hands
and buttocks.  After the attack, the bear sat on Ashwood's legs for several
minutes, then left the area.  Ashwood made it back to the campground around
8:45 a.m., where he received first aid from a camper trained as an EMT.  
Ashwood's wife, Rita, later hiked the twelve miles south to Granite Park Chalet
to get help, arriving at 6:30 p.m.  Ashwood was subsequently picked up by an
ambulance and taken to the hospital.  Ashwood, who had viewed grizzlies from
the Granite Park Chalet where he'd worked all summer as a historic restoration
carpenter, described the bear as small, medium to dark brown in color, and
possibly a sub-adult.  He did not see any cubs.  Rangers will continue to
monitor the area to determine when it should be reopened to hikers and
backcountry campers.  Once the investigation into the incident is complete, the
park will determine what action, if any, to take regarding the bear.  [Amy
Vanderbilt, PAO, GLAC]

95-616 - Natchez Trace (Mississippi/Alabama/Tennessee) - Structural Fire

The equipment storage building in the Ridgeland District maintenance compound
was found fully engulfed in flame in the early morning hours of September 13th. 
Local fire units responded, but were unable to save much of the building.  A
dump truck, winch truck and wildland fire engine were destroyed.  Other losses
included a tractor and bushhog and a low-boy trailer.  The cause of the fire is
unknown, and the investigation is continuing.  The damage has been estimated at
$500,000.  [Tim Francis, ACR, NATR]

95-617 - Grand Canyon (Arizona) - Search and Rescue

Rangers received word around 10 p.m. on the evening of August 31st that F.J.,
a German visitor, was overdue from a hike on Grandview trail.  Just
before 1 p.m. that day, F.J. told a friend that he was going to hike in the
canyon.  Although his friend argued that it was too late in the day for such a
hike and that F.J. was not prepared (he had no food, water or equipment),
F.J. replied: "No risk, no fun."  Rangers conducting an aerial hasty search
found F.J. in the Cottonwood Creek drainage at 2 p.m. the following
afternoon.  He was evacuated by helicopter and taken to the park clinic, where
he was treated and released.  F.J. was then given a bill for $1,400 for the
medevac, which he paid.  [CRO, GRCA]

95-618 - Assateague Island (Maryland/Virginia) - EMS Response; Life Saved

On September 4th, a surfer found J.M., 42, floating below the water
with a surf board attached to his leg.  J.M. had no pulse and was not
breathing.  The surfer brought him to shore, attempting to administer CPR in
the process.  Responding rangers Scott Kalna, Doug Murphy, Scott Higgins and
Clay Bunting found that J.M. still had no pulse or respirations, and
administered CPR until local EMS personnel arrived.  J.M. was taken to a
nearby hospital, where doctors determined that he'd suffered a contusion under
his chin and a "cardiac event", and had nearly drowned.  The order of these
events could not be determined.  J.M. was released from the hospital
yesterday after several days in intensive care and a successful angioplasty. 
[Scot McElveen, SPR, ASIS]

95-619 - Yosemite (California) - Gang Activity

Rangers Keith Lober and Brent Taylor contacted a man engaged in disorderly
conduct at the Curry Village amphitheater on August 26th.  The large crowd
present mandated a call for additional assistance, and rangers Brian Smith,
Cameron Sholly and Chris Gomez responded.  Initial efforts to keep the crowd
under control were successful, and the man was arrested for possession of
marijuana.  As the rangers attempted to get him into a vehicle, they were
suddenly surrounded by about 60 people, most of whom new the man who'd been
arrested.  Two of them turned to the others and said that they weren't going to
allow anyone to be arrested; one of them employed gang signs indicating a
challenge to fight rangers as he blocked the path of the patrol vehicle.  The
crowd was ordered to disperse.  Additional rangers arrived and formed a
skirmish line.  One of the men inciting the crowd to riot was placed under
arrest after he successfully blocked the arrest of another instigator.  The
skirmish line moved the crowd backward and escorted the patrol vehicle out of
the area.  The crowd then quickly dispersed; several people wanted by rangers
were able to evade arrest by blending into the crowd.  At about the same time,
a visitor entering the bathroom at Lower Rivers campground was confronted by
six men who he verbally challenged for defacing the building with gang
graffiti.  The man was struck across the head with a flashlight or metal pipe. 
He was taken to the park clinic and treated.  The six men were described as
males in their late teens or early 20s, all with shaved heads and baggy
clothing.  Their gang initials, BSK, have been connected with three different
southern Californian gangs.  While stopping and identifying possible suspects
in the assault on the following day, ranger Mark Harvey was able to get ten
gang members from the near riot at Curry Village to stand and pose while making
their respective gang signs.  These two incidents were among many involving
gang or suspected gang activity that have occurred in Yosemite in recent
months.  [Brian Smith, Valley Patrol, YOSE]

FIRE ACTIVITY

1) NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level I

2) LARGE FIRE SUMMARY

                                                   Wed      Thur   %   Est
State    Area                Fire         IMT      9/13     9/14  Con  Con  

 NY   Gateway NRA        Big-E-Pond        --       221      211   96  CN 9/13

 MA   State              Shatterack        --       500      500   50  CN 9/13

 ID   Boise NF           Whiskey           T2       200      370   30  CN 9/15

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            1       9        9       0       249       14        282 
Acres Burned      0      40        5       0     1,718       78      1,841

4) COMMITTED RESOURCES -

               Crews     Engines     Helicopters     Airtankers     Overhead

Federal            7         9            5               0             10
Non-federal        6         9            0               0              0

5) COMPARATIVE SUMMARY -

                                      CY 1995            Five Year Average
                                    Year-to-Date           Year-to-Date

Number of Fires - U.S.                 73,664                  59,306     
Acres Burned - U.S.                 1,658,236               2,720,900 
Number of Fires - Canada                7,997                       -
Acres Burned - Canada              17,519,075                       -

6) SITUATION - Fire activity remained moderate yesterday.

7) OUTLOOK - Activity is expected to remain moderate.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 9/14]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No field reports today.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No notes.

OBSERVATIONS

Most of the observations that have appeared in this section over the past few
weeks have come from either "Quotable Quotes", a small pamphlet issued in
March, 1951, by Director Newton Drury, or "Conservation Quotes", a sequel
issued in January, 1953, by Director Connie Wirth.

In his introduction to the latter, Director Wirth says that the quotes in the
two publications were collected "primarily to provide additional tools to those
folks in the National Park Service who might find a use for them."  He also had
this to say about some of those uses: "We had in mind that a lot of these
'quotes' would come in handy for speakers who were looking for just the right
thing to say, and so they have.  But we have found also that, purely as reading
matter and nothing more, they have been helpful and inspiring.  They have
strengthened convictions already held and they have, undoubtedly, helped the
groping to reach conviction."  

We hope that these and other quotes that appear in this section will do the
same.  In any case, a host of selections from the two pamphlets will appear
over the next few weeks; unlike those that have already appeared, many of these
will be by people whose names are no longer familiar (free subscriptions to the
Morning Report to those who can identify them).  We will then turn to the
numerous pending submissions from the field.

Today's entry - brief, but nicely said:

"The term 'National Park' ought to be like the word 'sterling' is to silver. 
It ought to indicate outstanding merit."

                                                    Louis C. Cramton

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

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