- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Tuesday, October 29, 1996
- Date: Tues, 29 Oct 1996
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Tuesday, October 29, 1996
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
96-639 - Lava Beds NM (California) - Mushroom Poaching
On October 9th, chief ranger Terry Harris escorted sheriff's deputies and
state highway patrol officers into mushroom hunter camps on private lands
adjacent to the park. The intent was to evict mushroom hunters who were
trespassing on those private lands and to address complaints from citizens
concerning threats to forest users by armed mushroom hunters. Those evicted
immediately moved onto Forest Service lands adjacent to the park. All were
armed with weapons ranging from handguns to semi-automatic rifles. On the
10th, ranger Kirk Gebicke and Forest Service officers contacted armed
mushroom hunters entering the park and directed them to alternate routes
around Lava Beds. On the 14th, Harris discovered evidence of commercial
mushroom collecting inside the park's southwest boundary and contacted seven
armed mushroom hunters adjacent to the park. On the 15th, Harris and
superintendent Craig Dorman contacted the occupants of two vehicles in the
park; each vehicle was found to contain weapons, mushrooms and harvesting
tools. It's estimated that between 500 and 550 mushroom hunters are
collecting within a 15 mile area adjacent to Lava Beds. All persons
contacted to date have been armed. A number of the mushroom hunters have
stated that they've moved into the area due to the violence occurring in
southern Oregon forests. [CRO, LABE]
96-640 - Joshua Tree NP (California) - Deer Poaching
A month-long investigation of mule deer poaching and water hole baiting in
Joshua Tree by the rangers and state and local officers culminated on October
25th in searches of three residences and a business. Evidence seized
included blood, hair and meat samples, weapons, photographs, and materials
used to construct and bait the watering hole. Most of the evidence will be
processed through the Fish and Wildlife Service's crime lab in Ashland,
Oregon. [Todd Swain, CI, JOTR]
96-641 - Prince William Forest Park (Virginia) - Disorderly Conduct
Beginning on October 12th, park staff began receiving reports of a man
running along park trails in the nude. Sightings were also reported on each
of the next two days, but rangers were unable to pinpoint the man's direction
of travel or the point where he was last seen. Reports were again received
on October 19th and 20th. Ranger Ric Taylor subsequently sighted the man on
the South Valley trail, but he escaped by running into the forest. Taylor
eventually found him hiding in the trees near a parking area and placed him
under arrest (after permitting the man to put his clothes back on). The
suspect, Army sergeant T.H., was charged with disorderly conduct
and will appear in court on a mandatory appearance. His rationale for
jogging in the buff was that it relieved job-related stress. [George
Liffert, SPR, PRWI]
96-642 - Great Basin NP (Nevada) - Special Event
The park celebrated its tenth birthday on Sunday, October 27th. Senator
Harry Reid and Steve Hobbs, The Nature Conservancy's state director, spoke at
the event. Photojournalist Galen Rowell autographed his posters of the park,
and the local postmaster canceled mail with the tenth anniversary
commemorative stamp, designed by artist Robert Moore, wife of the former
superintendent of Lehman Caves. The choir from the neighboring community of
EskDale sang and participants partook of a birthday cake. This was the final
event in a series of tenth anniversary programs, including Shoshone and
Paiute presentations, history talks by local residents, and a presentation in
Las Vegas with Lake Mead on the state of Nevada's national parks. The park's
enabling legislation was amended this year to allow grazing permits to be
donated to the Secretary of Interior and then be terminated. The Nature
Conservancy is raising the funds to buy out the permits. The project has the
full support of all three cattle ranchers who hold permits in the park. For
more information on this process, contact The Nature Conservancy at 702-737-
8744 or Becky Mills at NP--WR. [Becky Mills, GRBA]
96-643 - Cumberland Gap NHP (Kentucky/Virginia/Tennessee) - Special Event
The opening ceremony for the Cumberland Gap tunnel took place on Friday,
October 18th. Approximately 4,500 people attended despite heavy rains and
cold weather. The ceremony marked the completion of the 17-year-long federal
highway project to reroute U.S. 25E traffic through two 4,800 foot tunnels.
Attending the ceremony were the governors and Congressional delegations from
Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. A unified command (NPS and Kentucky and
Tennessee state police) was employed to handle incidents. Supporting the
event were NPS employees from numerous nearby parks, deputies from
surrounding sheriff's offices and numerous local volunteer organizations.
There were no significant incidents. [Charlie Chadwell, SPR, CUGA]
96-644 - Minute Man NHP (Massachusetts) - Special Event
On October 26th, the park held its annual Battle Road Fall Festival, a day of
celebration and discovery of the park and its role in local communities.
About 1,000 people attended the event. The day's activities included guided
walks and talks throughout the park which were presented by area experts on
archeology, historic architecture and natural history. Numerous volunteer
groups also presented programs on colonial living. The main event was a
ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the new Battle Road trail, a
five-and-a-half mile long multi-use, ADA compatible interpretive trail, which
is scheduled for completion next July. Superintendent Nancy Nelson thanked
the many community groups and individuals for their contributions to the
three years of planning for the trail. Congressman Marty Meehan, deputy
field director Sandy Walter, and many local and state officials attended.
[Dan Dattilio, CR, MIMA]
FIRE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II
LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY
Sun Mon % Est
State Unit Fire/Incident IMT 10/27 10/28 Con Con
CA Los Padres NF Sur T2 4,430 4,430 55 10/31
San Bernadino NF Waterman #3 -- 600 600 100 CND
Heading Notes
Unit -- Agency = BIA area; NF = national forest; RU = CA state resource
or ranger unit; RD = state ranger district; District = BLM
district; NWR = USFWS wildlife refuge
Fire -- * = newly reported fire (on this report); Cx = complex; LSS =
limited suppression strategy; CSS = containment suppression
strategy
IMT -- T1 = Type 1; T2 = Type II; ST = State Team
% Con -- Percent of fire contained
Est Con -- Estimated containment date; NEC = no estimated date of
containment; CND = fully contained; NR = no report; LPS = limited
protection status
NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FIVE DAY TREND)
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Thursday, 10/24 0 1 3 0 21 8 33
Friday, 10/25 40 0 0 0 28 5 73
Saturday, 10/26 0 0 0 0 17 3 20
Sunday, 10/27 0 0 0 0 25 3 28
Monday, 10/28 0 0 0 0 59 4 63
TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FIVE DAY TREND)
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Thursday, 10/24 149 335 32 17 851
Friday, 10/25 124 183 18 10 137
Saturday, 10/26 141 251 25 9 658
Sunday, 10/27 204 401 24 10 735
Monday, 10/28 111 87 16 2 245
CURRENT SITUATION
Initial attack activity in California was moderate yesterday. Favorable
weather conditions continued. Resource mobilization through NICC remained
minimal, and demobilization continued on fires in southern California.
NATIONAL OUTLOOK
A cold front will move into California, bringing rain and snow showers with
increased west winds in the mountains. Temperatures will be unseasonably
cool, with highs ranging from the 30s to the 50s in the mountains and the 60s
to 70s elsewhere.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
CIRS Update - Approximately 90% of the parks in the system are now using the
criminal incident reporting system (CIRS) software. Efforts are now underway
to get the remaining parks on board, but some hardware needs have hampered
attempts to meet that goal. Parks needing equipment to run CIRS or training
to implement the program should contact Bob Reid via cc:Mail. The LAN
version of the software should be ready by December and will be disseminated
to parks needing this version. The NIBRS receiving computer was to be up and
running by October 1st, but problems occurred in setting up the system. Work
is underway to resolve them. Several requests for CIRS help and for
information on other computerized incident reporting systems have been
received. The CIRS computer program is the standard that the Service is
striving to implement. If you need information or assistance with it, please
contact either Kathy Clark or Bob Reid via cc:Mail. They will be glad to
help you in any way they can. [Bob Reid, RAD/WASO @ SEFA]
MEMORANDA
"Changes to the Centralized Seasonal Employment Program," signed on October
7th by J. Lynn Smith, leader, Human Resources Group, and sent to all human
resources managers. The text follows:
"Some significant changes have been made to the centralized seasonal
employment program based in the Washington headquarters office. The goal of
these changes is to improve our service to parks by expanding the recruitment
with additional job series, offering a choice in the certification method,
providing electronic copies of certifications, and gathering additional
information from applicants which is needed by parks. However, there are no
changes to the policies on the rehiring of seasonal personnel.
"A small task force composed of field personnel met in Washington, DC, on
July 15-17, 1996, to discuss the centralized seasonal employment. They had
solicited input from other parks and field offices. In addition, they
discussed issues related to the new software developed last year. The task
force work resulted in the following modifications.
"The centralized seasonal recruiting has been expanded. After considering
the field input on additional series for the centralized hiring process,
Guide and Visitor Use Assistant were selected. Beginning with the summer
1997 season, the application will include Park Ranger, GS-025-3/4/5/6/7;
Guide, GS-090-3/4/5; and Visitor Use Assistant, GS-303-4/5. The Biological
Technician and Forestry Technician series were also considered for inclusion.
If this expansion of the application is successful, these series can be added
in the future.
"Two significant changes have been made to the certifications for seasonal
hiring. First, the seasonal certificates can now be forwarded to parks and
system support offices electronically, rather than being mailed. The
completed seasonal applications will still be mailed separately as not all
information is captured on the certifications.
"Second, parks may now choose either the ranked or the unranked method for
each centralized certification. As the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
has eliminated the NPS excepted service authority (Sch A 2133110(f)2)) for
hiring seasonal park rangers, we must use the competitive hiring process (5
CFR 316.401(a)). Within the regulations for the competitive hiring process,
two certification methods are available: 1) ranked method (rule of three);
and 2) unranked method (priority grouping). On the weighted criteria form
for each position, parks will also indicate a preference for either a ranked
certificate or an unranked one. A different method (ranked or unranked) may
be chosen for each certificate. However, once a certification method has
been chosen and the certification generated, it cannot be redone using the
other method.
"In the ranked method, applicants are given scores based on their self-rated
experience and the weighted criteria sent in for the specific position.
Selections must be done using the rule of three. In 1995 and 1996, seasonal
certifications were issued using this method. In the unranked method, there
are no score groups. The certificate contains all qualified applicants for a
particular position and park. As before, parks may request one screen-out
from the skills list and required specialized licenses/certifications, such
as a law enforcement commission. From the qualified, screened candidates,
all veterans are automatically placed at the top of the certification list,
in alphabetical order with no scores attached; all non-veterans are below
them, also in alphabetical order with no scores attached. Selections are
made from the unranked certificate in the following order:
1. Any CP (Compensable Veteran) must be selected (or declined) prior to
the selection of any other veteran unless there are less than 3 CPs
left on the certification list.
2. After all Cps have been selected, declined, or there are less then 3
left on the certification list, any other veteran may be selected.
3. After all veterans have either been selected or declined the position,
any non-veteran on the certification list may be selected. No
non-veteran may be selected if a qualified and interested veteran is
still on the certification list.
"There are other program and application changes. The time frame for
submission of centralized summer seasonal applications will be November 15 -
January 15, rather than September 1- January 15. At the request of the
parks, several sections have been added to the form. The availability date
section has been included; these dates will print on the certification. A
section on housing availability/needs has been added and under the
Experience/Employment section, the reason for leaving the job as well.
Applicants will be required to explain all level 5 skills or knowledges which
they indicate on the form. The seasonal application form has been revised to
reflect these changes. The software problems identified last year have been
corrected.
"Beginning in the summer 1997 season, parks have the option of using the
centralized hiring process. The centralized seasonal employment unit will
compile a list of parks using the centralized process. Applicants will be
informed which parks are hiring directly so that they may contact the
appropriate office individually.
"The new applications (tangerine colored) will be forwarded to parks for
distribution in October. Please do NOT send out earlier versions as they
cannot be accepted; they should be recycled. We will also send a notice for
ICTAP/CTAP candidates which should be included with all packets.
"We look forward to working with you on the centralized seasonal employment
program. Please make park managers and personnelists aware of these
programmatic changes to the centralized seasonal employment program. If
there are any questions or suggestions about the changes discussed or on
other topics related to centralized seasonal employment, please call the new
coordinator for the centralized seasonal employment unit, Maureen Foster.
She may be reached at 202-208-5074."
EXCHANGE
Pagers - All of the Motorola pagers and chargers offered by Indiana Dunes in
the October 11th Morning Report have been claimed. The park extends its
thanks for the many quick responses to the offer.
* * * * *
Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed by park,
office and/or field area cc:Mail hub coordinators. Please address requests
for the Morning Report to your servicing hub coordinator.
Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
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