NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, November 7, 1995

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

95-721 - Capitol Reef (Utah) - Death of Employee

Kent Jackson, 47, the park's orchard manager, died on November 5th after
fighting cancer for several months.  Although he officially began working for
the NPS as a temporary technician in 1973, Kent's service actually extended
back to his childhood in the 1950s, when, as a young boy, he worked along side
his father, Worthern Jackson, who managed several park orchards which were then
under private ownership.  Kent began running the orchards in 1973, when the
park took them over.  He managed the largest orchard in the system, tending
some 3,000 apple, cherry, apricot, peach, pear, plum, walnut, and nectarine
trees.  His many years of service and intimate knowledge of the community made
him a tremendous resource to park historians and landscape architects.  Kent's
willingness to share his knowledge was instrumental in the designation of
Fruita's orchards, irrigation canals, and homesteads as the Fruita rural
historic district, now being nominated to the National Register of Historic
Places.  Condolences can be sent to Kent's wife, Miriam, at P.O. Box 105,
Fremont, UT 84747.  Funeral services are scheduled for 1 p.m. on November 9th
at the L.D.S. Church in Loa. [Rick Nolan, CR, CARE]

95-722 - Olympic (Washington) - Rescue

T.A., 22, of Seattle, Washington, sustained ankle, leg and other
injuries when he fell about 20 feet while climbing rocks on the seastacks near
the Chilean Memorial on the afternoon of November 4th.  T.A. was one of the
leaders of a private high school group which was on a coastal backpacking trip. 
His ankle was splinted and he was carried to the group's camping area, where he
spent the night.  Rangers were notified the following morning, but could not
reach the area in the park's zodiac due to high coastal surf, with waves
estimated at over 20 feet in height.  The Coast Guard was contacted, but also
felt that it would not be safe to attempt an approach to the rocky beach area. 
The incoming surf also cut off any land access, thereby making a litter
carryout impossible.  Since the Coast Guard's Dauphin helicopter was too large
to land near in the area, a local contract Hughes 500 was called in to evacuate
T.A..  He was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for ligament
damage and sundry bumps and bruises.  [Larry Nickey, OLYM]

95-723 - Allegheny Portage (Pennsylvania) - HazMat Spill

On October 24th, a park employee driving through a remote area of the park came
upon four, 55-gallon drums overturned and leaking an unknown material.  The
waste had been dumped on a slope less than 80 feet from two major water
reservoirs which service local communities, including the city of Altoona.  All
four barrels had been deliberately opened in an attempt to drain them.  Altoona
hazmat teams and rangers responded and the spill was quickly cleaned up.  There
was no contamination of the water supply.  Investigation revealed that the oily
and sludgy material was residual waste from a local car dealership.  Rangers,
FBI agents and special agents from the Pennsylvania attorney general's office
are cooperating in the joint investigation.  [Chris Burke, ALPO]

95-724 - Colonial (Virginia) - Attempted Suicide; Life Saved

A visitor called the park on the afternoon of November 3rd to report a man
threatening suicide at an overlook along the parkway.  Rangers Byrd Ewell and
Ken Doak responded and found W.M., 55, sitting outside his vehicle. 
When they approached him, W.M. took out a pocket knife and began to cut his
wrists and chest.  He initially refused to comply with orders to drop the
knife, challenging the rangers to shoot him, but eventually surrendered the
knife to them.  He was taken to a local hospital, then voluntarily entered a
psychiatric facility.  [Jim Burnett, CR, COLO]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

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

On October 25th and 26th, 31 black-footed ferrets - 28 juveniles and three,
three-year-old mothers - were backpacked into release sites in the park's
wilderness and released.  The animals were all pre-conditioned, having spent
several weeks in outdoor artificial prairie dog towns, thereby providing them
with the opportunity to kill their primary prey.  All of this fall's ferrets
sport whip antennas and wool neckerchiefs holding small radio transmitters in
order to track them.  The animals were released in the general vicinity of the
location where three female adults and five juveniles were released last fall. 
Below zero temperatures, winds of 20 to 40 mph, blowing snow, and free-roaming
bison limited nighttime ground telemetry during the first week after their
release, but crews have gathered information on 22 of the 26 radio-collared
ferrets.  One animal observed several hours after its release had shed its
collar, a not unusual occurrence for animals with little circumferential
difference among head, neck, and body parts.  Four juvenile animals have been
verified as mortalities; they were probably killed by coyotes, but a final
determination and additional expert opinion from the Wyoming State Veterinary
Center is pending.  Aerial and ground radio telemetry are planned for the next
three months.  Two or three more ferrets will be released in the next week, and
about ten more ferrets are scheduled to join their free-roaming cousins early
next year.  [Bruce Bessken, BADL]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No notes.

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 Stacey Rickard in
WASO Legislation at 202-208-3636.

November 7

House Resources Committee (Young): Hearing on H.R. 2560, to provide for
conveyances of certain lands in Alaska to various Native groups; H.R. 2561, the
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve Boundary Adjustment Act; H.R. 1342, to
provide for conveyance of certain lands within Cook Inlet Region for
reconveyance to village corporations under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act.

House Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands (Hansen):
Markup of H.R. 2107, to amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act to
improve the quality of visitor services provided by Federal land management
agencies through an incentive-based recreation fee program.

November 14

House Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands (Hansen):
Hearing on H.R. 2528, to require the Secretary of the Interior to renew to the
heirs of permittees permits for historic cabins located in the Mineral King
addition of Sequoia NP; H.R. 1666, to amend the act establishing Sleeping Bear
Dunes NL to permit certain persons to continue to use and occupy certain areas
within the lakeshore.

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
SkyPager:  Emergencies ONLY: 1-800-759-7243, PIN 2404843

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