NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Friday, February 5, 1999

INCIDENTS

98-113 - Lake Mead NRA (NV/AZ) - Follow-up: Fatal Boating Accident 

A high-performance 47-foot Fountain "cigarette" boat ran aground at high
speed in upper Boulder Basin east of Burro Point some time after midnight on
the morning of March 23, 1998.  Four of the seven occupants were killed;
three, including the operator, M.Y., were injured.  The deceased were
M.Y.'s wife, C.Y., 44, M.K., 26, E.C., 27, and Pearl
Ewens, 47.  On Monday, February 1st, M.Y. pled guilty to four counts of
manslaughter in Mohave County superior court in Kingman, Arizona.  He will be
sentenced in March.  Park criminal investigator Gary Sebade was the lead
investigator.  [Paul Crawford, LAME, 2/3]

98-705 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Follow-up: Serious Employee Illness

On the afternoon of November 3, 1998, park employee Don Ramsey was admitted
to an intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator for treatment of a
serious pulmonary infection.  Although critically ill for a long period of
time, Don made continued progress and was finally released from the hospital
on January 8th.  He continues to improve at home and hopes to return to work
within the next several months.  He deeply appreciates the outpouring of
cards, letters and good wishes sent to him by friends and members of the NPS
family.  You can write to him at his parent's home, where he's currently
staying: 4004 Vista Court, La Crescenta, CA 91214.  [Mark Harvey, DR, YOSE,
2/3]

99-31 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Bus MVA with Multiple Injuries

An Ernie's Tours bus was eastbound on the Big Oak Flat Road on January 23rd
when it rounded a curve on a downhill grade and came upon a stationary
vehicle partially blocking the roadway.  It was snowing heavily at the time,
and the driver of the stopped vehicle was installing chains.  The bus driver
locked his brakes while attempting to avoid the vehicle; the bus went off the
road, down a steep embankment, rolled, and came to rest on its side against a
tree approximately 70 feet below the roadway.  Rangers, firefighters and
maintenance employees mounted a parkwide response.  Seven of the 18
passengers were injured and required ambulance transport.  Three other
passengers, who initially denied being injured, were treated later that day.
Most of the passengers were from Indonesia and had to delay their return home
for several days because luggage and passports were inaccessible.  Removal of
the bus was impeded by continuing snowstorms.  The road therefore had to be
closed for two nights.  [John Roth, ACR, YOSE, 2/4]

99-32 - Yosemite NP (CA) - MVA with Multiple Injuries

On Monday, January 18th, the driver of a van traveling westbound on the Big
Oak Flat Road lost control of his vehicle in a snow and rain storm.  The
vehicle went over a steep embankment, rolled several times, and hit a tree
nearly 100 feet below the road.  All seven occupants of the van were injured
in varying degrees.  Rangers and firefighters responded, rescued and
evacuated all the patients to hospitals in Sonora and Modesto.  Weather
conditions and language difficulties with the Korean patients complicated the
incident.  [John Roth, ACR, YOSE, 2/4]

99-33 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Apparent Suicide

Maintenance employees in the Hodgdon Meadow campground heard a gunshot
shortly after noon on Saturday, January 30th, and discovered a man slumped
over in the driver's seat of a vehicle parked in a campsite.  Rangers
responded and found the victim dead, with massive chest trauma from a gunshot
wound.  A .243 rifle was resting between his legs. The motive for the
apparent suicide has not yet been determined.  The name of the victim will be
withheld pending further investigation and notification of his family.  He is
thought to be a fugitive from Florida; the car in which he was found was
stolen.  [John Roth, ACR, YOSE, 2/4]
 
                       [Additional reports pending...]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION

Denali NP (AK) - Wildlife and Resource Protection; Snowmobiles Use Closures

The NPS yesterday closed about two million acres in the center of the park to
snowmobiles use in order to prevent harm to park wildlife, wilderness, and
other values.  The area which has been closed includes the majority of the
former Mount McKinley National Park. The closure does not affect about four
million acres of park and preserve added in 1980, nor does it include a small
area of the "old park" near Cantwell which has seen modest amounts of
snowmobile use.  The closure is effective immediately and is in place for
twelve months.  Later this year, the National Park Service expects to issue
draft regulations regarding snowmobiles and other Denali activities.  That
proposal will be part of a backcountry plan for the park that considers the
long-term management of snowmobiles, other winter uses, aircraft use and
summer backcountry activities.  Snowmobiles have rarely been used in the
closed area, a roughly rectangular tract which includes most of the park road
leading from the George Parks Highway to Kantishna.  In the 1970s, snowmobile
use was illegal in the park.  After passage of the Alaska National Interest
Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA), however, snowmobile use became legal
as a means of access for traditional activities.  As a practical matter, few
people rode in what is now the wilderness core of Denali.  In the former
Mount McKinley National Park, there was no history of authorized general
public snowmobile use for any activity, traditional or otherwise.  The
enactment of section 1110(a) of ANILCA left this general prohibition of
snowmobile use in the old park area intact unless the snowmobile use was for
the purpose of conducting a "traditional activity."  Snowmobiling unconnected
with some "traditional activity" did not fall within the terms of section
1110(a) and thus, remains prohibited in the old park.  Under this section of
ANILCA and other laws, the National Park Service has an affirmative
responsibility to make sure that any new activity or any changes in the level
of existing activities will not have a detrimental effect on resource values
that are to be protected for future generations.  Section 1110(a) provides
for closure by the Secretary of the Interior if use "would be detrimental to
the resource values of the unit or area."  Said superintendent Steve Martin:
"This action prevents harm to park values, including wildlife, wilderness and
other natural resources, opportunities for quiet and solitude and the
undisturbed conduct of non-motorized activities...The possibility of
extensive and expanding snowmobile use in Denali presented a threat to one of
the most important ecosystems and wilderness resources on earth. We've seen
that snowmobile users can quickly move into new areas and reach a high
density. The potential for such rapid change places extremely important
resources _ such as caribou, bears, wolves and the prey they depend on _ at
risk."  In deciding to close most of the core park area to snowmobile use,
the National Park Service conducted four public meetings in late November,
1998, and prepared a 37-page statement of finding which reviews the legal,
scientific and public policy data.  [John Quinley, PIO, ARO, 2/4]
      
PARK DISPATCHES

No entries.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No entries.

MEMORANDA

No entries.

INTERCHANGE

No entries.

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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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