NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, December 5, 1995

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

95-574 - C&O Canal (Maryland/D.C.) - Follow-up on Assault on Ranger

T.R., 32, who was wanted for the August 26th assault on ranger John
Bailey during a car clouting incident, was arrested two weeks ago on unrelated
burglary charges by state and county officers.  T.R. was subsequently
indicted by a federal grand jury for the assault on Bailey.  On November 30th,
T.R. attempted to hang himself in his cell in the Washington County detention
center while awaiting trial in both cases against him.  He is currently in the
hospital and in critical condition.  [Kevin FitzGerald, CHOH]

95-674 - Bandelier (New Mexico) - Follow-up on Burglary Arrest

On September 22nd, rangers arrested A.P., 18, for the theft of over
$6,000 in climbing gear from park and local fire department SAR caches. 
Although A.P. was released pending court appearance on the federal charges,
he subsequently failed to appear in local court for theft of the county SAR
equipment.  He's also been arrested for theft of firearms in Sandoval and Santa
Fe counties, has recently appeared in federal magistrate's court on several
traffic violations, and is about to be charged for attempting to steal license
plates off a car in the Los Alamos area.  [Carl Newman, CR, BAND]

95-755 - North Cascades (Washington) - Flooding

The heavy rains which forced closure of parts of Mount Rainier on November 28th
also caused record flooding throughout North Cascades, Ross Lake and Lake
Chelan.  The Marblemount ranger station received over four inches of rain in a
24-hour period; some areas of the park have received more than three feet of
rain in the past 30 days.  Preliminary surveys of the east side of North
Cascades and the Stehekin area of Lake Chelan indicate that damage will exceed
that inflicted by the Thanksgiving Day floods of 1990.  Peak stream flows in
the Stehekin River were measured at 21,000 cfs; in 1990, they were recorded at
13,000 cfs.  Large sections of the recently repaired Stehekin Valley road were
swept away, the park maintenance shop had over a foot of standing water on its
floors, the Company Creek road and Harlequin Bridge areas were extensively
damaged, and at least four residences on private land were damaged.  On the
west side of the park, the flooding aggravated damage caused by floods that
struck the area in early November.  Roads, trails, bridges, campgrounds and
other park facilities received even greater damage.  Initial estimates indicate
that damage will exceed $1.3 million.  As at Mount Rainier, however, recent
snows have covered damage, making full assessments difficult.  Several
employees' private residences outside the park were damaged by the floods. 
[Pete Cowan, CR, NOCA]

95-757 - Denali (Alaska) - Assist; MVA with Four Fatalities

Just after 9 p.m. on November 22nd, the park received a request to assist with
a serious motor vehicle accident just north of the park's boundary.  Rangers
Kehrer, Habecker, and Eckert responded with the park ambulance and emergency
vehicle.  A Chevrolet Suburban had broadsided a Toyota Corolla, killing all
four occupants of the latter vehicle.  The three occupants of the Suburban
survived; one was flown to the hospital by military helicopter, and the others
was transported by ambulance.  Rangers assisted state troopers with the
investigation.  Icy conditions are thought to have been the major cause of the
accident.  [Ken Kehrer, CR, DENA]

95-758 - Arches (Utah) - Rescue

D.T., 13, of Magna, Utah, was running along the top of a sandstone fin
in Devils Garden campground on November 25th when he lost his footing and fell
75 feet to the ground, landing on sand between two rock outcrops, missing both
by inches.  D.T. suffered open fractures of a femur and humerus.  He was
stabilized by a visiting paramedic and evacuated by park staff to a waiting
ambulance.  [Jim Webster, CR, ARCH]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Rocky Mountain (Colorado) - Elk Census

On December 12th and 13th, staff from the park and from the Fort Collins office
of the National Biological Survey will undertake the first of three winter
aerial census surveys of elk.  The survey was originally scheduled for
November, but was postponed due to weather and the government shutdown. 
Weather conditions permitting, airplane and helicopter crews will concentrate
their efforts over the elk's winter range east of the Continental Divide in the
park's lower elevations and into the neighboring Estes Valley.  The census
effort is part of a five-year study, now in its second year, aimed at
developing elk management goals for the park.  Before determining these goals,
the park must identify the size of the elk herds.  Surveyors will also be
developing a model to improve the accuracy of aerial assessments in future
surveys.  These procedures will be used twice more this winter.  [Doug
Caldwell, ROMO]

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.

December 6

Senate Indian Affairs Committee (McCain): Oversight hearing on the
implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
(PL 101-601).

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (Murkowski): Markup of S. 985,
Rocky Mountain National Park; S. 342, Cache La Poudre River National Water
Heritage Area; S. 509, Rocky Mountain National Park cemetery.

December 7

House Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands (Hansen):
Hearing on H.R. 810, Revolutionary War battlefields; H.R. 848, Chickamauga and
Chattanooga NMP; H.R. 970, Women's Rights NHP; H.J. Res. 70, Martin Luther
King, Jr., Memorial.

House Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands (Hansen):
Markup of H.J. Res. 70, Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial.

December 8

House Resources Committee (Young): Hearing on H.R. 2677, National Parks Freedom
Act, a bill to require the Secretary of the Interior to accept from a State
donations of services of State employees to perform, in a period of Government
budgetary shutdown, otherwise authorized functions in any unit of the National
Wildlife Refuge System or the National Park System.

December 12

Senate Energy and Natural Resources' Subcommittee on Parks, Historic
Preservation and Recreation (Campbell): Hearing on S. 873, South Carolina
National Heritage Corridor; S. 944, Ohio River Corridor Study Commission; S.
945, Illinois and Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor; S. 1020, Augusta Canal
National Heritage Area; S. 1110, National Heritage Areas; S. 1127, Vancouver
National Historic Reserve (tentative); S. 1190, Ohio and Erie Canal National
Heritage Corridor.

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

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