NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, October 22, 1998

INCIDENTS

98-612 - Gulf Islands NS (MS/FL) - Follow-up: Hurricane Georges

The park has asked for a Type II incident management team to assist with
clean-up efforts.  A regional team (Bob Panko, IC) was scheduled to begin
arriving last night.  A meeting with the superintendent will be held today to
work out a delegation of authority.  [Ken Garvin, SERO, 10/21]

98-684 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Special Event

The annual Bridge Day event was held on and in the area of the New River
Gorge Bridge on October 17th.  During the one-day event, the northbound lanes
of the bridge are closed to vehicles so that visitors can walk on the bridge
and view fall colors.  The main attraction, however, continues to be BASE
jumping from the 876-foot high bridge to the landing area in the park below. 
The park issues a permit to a parachuting organization to allow jumpers to
land in the park.  The weather this year was perfect - sunny, temperatures in
the mid 70s, and very little wind.  The 355 registered parachutists made 750
jumps from the bridge.  A world record was set when 16 people jumped from the
bridge together in an approved, choreographed jump.  The jump, which eclipsed
the previous record set at the same location in 1997, went off without a
hitch.  There were 230 water landings over the course of the day, up
significantly from last year.  These jumpers were rescued by watercraft. 
Only three parachutists landed in trees, and none sustained serious injuries. 
Overall, only nine people required treatment, all but three minor.  A group
of about 210 people from several organizations rappelled from the bridge on
21 rappel lines, the longest of which was about 800 feet.  None of the
rappellers was injured.  The event was managed under a unified incident
command system involving the park and several state, county and local
agencies.  [Rick Brown, IC, NERI, 10/20]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION

Great Smoky Mountains NP (NC/TN) - Discontinuation of Red Wolf Reintroduction
     
On October 8th, the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service
announced a joint decision to end the eight-year effort to restore a wild
population of red wolves to the park.  The decision was made because of
extremely low pup survival and the inability of wolves to establish home
ranges within the park.  This decision does not affect the Fish and Wildlife
Service's more successful population of reintroduced red wolves in
northeastern North Carolina.  Fifty to 100 red wolves are in that population. 
The goal of the recovery effort was to establish at least three self-
sustaining wild populations, one within the park.  Success in such efforts
depends on the released animals producing wild offspring that survive to
replace the deaths of other animals and increase the population.  This did
not occur.  None of the 28 pups known to have been born in the wild appear to
have survived.  Project biologists are not certain what caused all the pup
mortality.  Newborn pups are too small to wear the radio-tracking collars
used to monitor adult red wolves, so only a few pup carcasses could be
located and examined.  Biologists, however, suspect that disease, predation,
malnutrition, and parasites contributed to the high rate of pup mortality. 
Pathologists found parvovirus in the remains of one of a litter of four pups
that all died during the summer of 1993 and found the carcass of another pup
from a separate litter killed by coyotes that same year.  Biologists also
have documented malnutrition and heavy infestations of internal and external
parasites in pups and adults that have been captured.  The Fish and Wildlife
Service is in the process of relocating the park's six captive red wolves and
plans to recapture the remaining four free-ranging red wolves by late fall.
Biologists are analyzing information gathered as part of the restoration
project over the last 11 years to aid in the selection of future release
sites.  [Nancy Gray, GRSM, 10/15]

PARK DISPATCHES

No entries.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No entries.

MEMORANDA

No entries.

INTERCHANGE

No entries.

UPCOMING IN CONGRESS

The following activities will be taking place in Congress during coming weeks
on matters pertaining to the National Park Service or kindred agencies.  For
inquiries regarding legislation pertaining to the NPS, please contact the
main office at 202-208-5883/5656 and ask to be forwarded to the appropriate
legislative specialist.

HEARINGS/MARK-UPS

None scheduled.

FLOOR ACTION

The following bills were passed by Congress between October 1st and the 19th
and have been sent to the President for signature.  Note that in some places
the legislative process was expedited by adding several bills to one bill as
amendments.

o     S. 2241, acquisition of family lands at Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt
      NHS.
o     S. 2129, boundary adjustment at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
o     S. 1397, establishment of Centennial of Flight Commemoration.
o     S. 2272, boundary adjustment at Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS.
o     S. 3055, the Miccosukee Reserve Area at Everglades NP. 
o     S. 2240, boundary adjustment and name change for Adams National
      Historic Site.
o     S. 2246, boundary adjustment at Olmsted National Historic Site.
o     S. 1333, amendment to Land and Water Conservation Fund Act for Great
      Smoky Mountains NP and Lincoln Home NHS.
o     S. 2427, extension of Black Patriots Memorial.
o     S. 2468, naming of Dante Fascell visitor center at Biscayne National
      Park.
o     S. 2106, expansion of Arches NP.
o     S. 2285, establishment of Women's Rights Anniversary Commission.
o     S. 231, establishment of the Cave and Karst Institute.
o     H.R. 3903, boundary adjustment for hydro-electric plant, Glacier Bay
      NP.
o     S. 1693, the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (also known
      as "Vision 2020").
o     S. 1408, establishment of Lower East Side Tenement NHS, as amended to
      include H.R. 60, grants at Case Malpais NHL, and H.R. 351, roads at
      Pictured Rocks NL.
o     S. 1718, boundary adjustment at Weir Farm NHS, as amended to include
      H.R. 4230, a land exchange at El Portal in Yosemite NP, plus two
      unrelated bills.
o     H.R. 3910, establishment of Automobile Heritage Corridor, as amended to
      include H.R. 4287, concerning Grand Staircase NM (with a technical
      amendment); H.R. 4211, establishment of Tuskegee Airmen NHS; H.R. 3522,
      reauthorization of Blackstone Valley National Heritage Corridor; H.R.
      1042, extension of the Illinois and Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor;
      H.R. 3220, a Merced County School land transfer; H.R. 4483, a study of
      Rosie the Riveter NHS as an affiliated area; H.R. 3047, boundary
      adjustment at Fort Davis NHS; H.R. 1894, extending the Citizens
      Advisory Commission at Delaware Water Gap NRA; H.R. 2773, a boundary
      adjustment at Morristown NHS; S. 1665, reauthorization of the Delaware
      and Lehigh Navigation Canal National Heritage Corridor; S. 2086,
      authorization to acquire the Ferry Farm at George Washington Birthplace
      NHS; H.R. 3883, boundary adjustment at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHS;
      H.R. 576, Hawaii park studies; H.R. 3499, authorization of the Benjamin
      Banneker Memorial and acquisition authorization for Boston Harbor
      Islands NRA; and an unrelated bill. 
o     H.R. 2411, a land exchange and extension of the commission at Cape Cod
      NS.
o     H.R. 3830, Utah schools and lands exchange.
o     H.R. 4284, authorization for a Mahatma Gandhi Memorial.
o     S. 2232, establishment of Little Rock Central High School as a unit of
      the system.

The Senate also passed S. 2117 just before it adjourned.  Although S. 2117 is
primarily a water resources bill that doesn't affect the NPS, the amendments
included provisions on filming on public land, authorization for Thomas Cole
NHS and Minuteman Missile NHS, two El Camino Real trail bills, and the
reauthorization of the Historic Preservation Fund.  Its fate in the House is
uncertain, however.  The House was in recess at the time of the report
yesterday, subject to the call of the chair, but it wasn't clear whether or
not members would come back in to do some final bills under unanimous
consent.

Details of other legislation - including the massive appropriations bill -
will be provided as soon as particulars are known.

                                *  *  *  *  *

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

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