NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Wednesday, December 13, 1995

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

95-759 - Grand Canyon (Arizona) - Follow-up on Probable Drowning

On December 9th, park personnel located the body of T.F. while
conducting a helicopter search along the Colorado River.  T.F. had been
missing since he disappeared while attempting to swim the river downstream from
the Phantom Ranch boat beach on November 25th.  His body was found below Hermit
Rapids, eight miles from the point last seen.  River rangers Dave Desrosiers
and Dave Trevino were inserted by helicopter upstream, kayaked down the river,
and transported T.F.'s body to Boucher Rapids, where it was extracted by
helicopter.  [Ken Phillips, SAR Coordinator, GRCA]

95-772 - White Sands (New Mexico) - Search and Rescue

Two hikers taking sunset photographs in the park failed to return to the
vehicle by park closing time on the evening of December 5th.  Ranger Kathy
Denton, assisted by resident volunteers, began a search for the two men.  After
tracking them for two-and-a-half hours, it became apparent that they were
heading away from the road and into a remote, roadless desert.  Winds were
increasing, and temperatures dropped to a low of 37 degrees.  Ranger Barry
Maijala joined the search and coordinated patrols of the park's perimeters with
military police from the adjacent base.  The two men appeared to be heading
towards an area known to be littered with unexploded military ordnance. 
Maijala located the two hikers just after 10 p.m. as they were crossing the
park boundary into that area.  One of the men wore hiking shorts; both were
dressed lightly, with no water, food or extra clothing.  Although they were in
good condition and unharmed, they were extremely thirsty and tired.  The two
men had carried a tripod and heavy camera gear through 13 miles of soft sand
after becoming disoriented and discovering that their compass was
malfunctioning.  They were still five miles from the nearest installation when
they were found.  The hikers were in good physical condition and travelled
faster than average, which contributed to the urgency of the search.  [Kathy
Denton/Barry Maijala, WHSA]

95-773 - Organ Pipe Cactus (Arizona) - Drug Seizure

On December 10th, Border Patrol agents requested assistance from rangers in
stopping a vehicle that had turned around on them and was heading south into
Mexico.  Rangers successfully utilized "stop sticks" (tire deflation devices)
and were able to stop the vehicle.  Although the vehicle's occupants were able
to flee the area due to low light conditions, the rangers seized the 1982 XLT
Ford Bronco and 92 bundles of marijuana weighing just over 600 pounds.  Street
value is placed at about $500,000.  Smugglers frequently race back to the
border when officers attempt to stop them; this stop and seizure would not have
been possible without utilization of the tire deflation devices.  [Aniceto
Olais, CR, ORPI]

95-774 - Canyon de Chelly (New Mexico) - Burglary

The park's maintenance shop was burglarized early on the morning of December
9th.  Thieves entered through the skylight, broke two interior windows, and
stole two portable radios and chargers and a Jeep Cherokee.  There was little
other damage to anything else in the building.  The Jeep was recovered two days
later; it had suffered some damage.  The investigation continues. 
[Superintendent, CACH]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Great Smoky Mountains (North Carolina/Tennessee) - Reintroduced Wolf Killed

A female red wolf, one of several being reintroduced into the park, was found
dead in the southwestern section of Smokies late last month.  A mortality
signal was received from the radio collar on November 25th; the body of the
wolf was subsequently found within the park about a mile-and-a-half from the
boundary.  The wolf had been shot.  A joint NPS-FWS investigation is underway. 
[John Mattox, CI, GRSM]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No notes.

MEMORANDA

No memoranda.

OBSERVATIONS

Here's today's entry, submitted by Bruce Heise of WASO:

"Parks are first-aid - also prevention.  They prevent more law-breaking than
policemen; cure more than physicians, give more ideas than sermons; more
development than schools.  The pace and pressure of modern life, its daily
duties and examinations, require that everyone must be steadily refreshed, and
for this sustaining and ever-invoking refreshment nature is a perennial,
cheering source.  Nature takes mind and body and puts them at their best.  Here
one comes to know himself and to be the self he would like to be.  Nature is
the lifesaver of the race; the great out-of-doors is the lifesaving station of
the nation.  Probably the best way to delay death, the best medicine to
lengthen life, is to take to the woods.  This life-sustaining prescription is
most effective as a preventive and should be regularly used.  Like a sermon, it
should be taken once in a while whether needed or not.  It is Mother Nature's
cure-all, and there are no substitutes just as good..."

                            Enos Mills, "father" of Rocky Mountain NP, ca. 1920

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

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