NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, March 25, 1999

INCIDENTS

99-101 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Hazard Structure Removal

On March 10th, a contractor employed explosives to remove a hazard within the
park.  The Kaymoor tipple, originally built in 1900 and reconstructed in
1925, was a huge metal structure used to sort and load coal into railroad
cars for transport out of the gorge.  Deterioration to the structure since
the closing of the mines in the early 1960s has been dramatic, and the huge
complex was leaning precariously toward the active CSX railroad tracks some
300 feet below.  Some 30 trains each day, including an Amtrak passenger
train, pass directly below the structure.  Engineers from the Mine Safety and
Health Administration and DSC determined that the tipple was in imminent
danger of collapse and totally beyond rehabilitation.  With the support of
and clearance from the state historic preservation officer and the Advisory
Council for Historic Preservation, DSC contracted with Cleveland Wrecking
Company, which hired world-renowned implosion experts from Dykon Corporation
for a controlled implosion.  On March 10th, a total of five separate charges
designed for sequential ignition were placed on the failing support legs and
detonated.  A huge fireball - estimated to have been five stories in height -
was ignited by an accumulation of 75 years of coal dust on the upper floors
of the structure and rolled up the hillside dampened by falling snow.  The
fireball was anticipated and pre-suppression efforts kept residual burning to
a minimum.  The bulk of the structure came to rest on the ground with form
intact.  The tipple will be fenced and interpreted as a historic ruin.  The
incident was managed under the incident command system to address fire,
safety, EMS and media concerns.  [Rick Brown, IC, NERI 3/20]

99-102 - Mount Rainier NP (WA) - Rescue

On March 21st, E.D.E., 56, was solo climbing the Gib Ledge route at
12,400 feet in the company of a four-person climbing party when he lost his
footing and tumbled 1,900 vertical feet down Gib Chute.  He suffered multiple
fractures to his lower right leg and unknown internal injuries.  A member of
the climbing party used a cell phone to call for help, then climbed down to
E.D.E. and stayed with him while the other members of the group returned to
Camp Muir.  Rangers Steve Winslow, Debbie Brenchley and Dave Turner were
flown to the scene in an Aerocopters helicopter, while ranger Mike Gauthier
hiked from Paradise toward Camp Muir.  Tacoma Mountain Rescue provided a
ground team of rescuers, which was held in reserve.  E.D.E. was treated,
extricated and flown out to a hospital in Harborview.  [Rick Kirschner, IC,
MORA, 3/22]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION

Badlands NP (SD) - Update on Bighorn Sheep Translocation

Research on the home range, habitat utilization, demographics, foraging
ecology, disease ecology, and genetics of bighorn sheep was conducted in the
park between 1991 and 1995 as part of an NRPP bighorn sheep initiative.  In
1995, this data and GIS modeling revealed that only about ten percent of the
available habitat was being utilized.  This led to a management decision to
restore sheep to large unoccupied areas of the park.  The first translocation
took place October 12, 1996, when a dozen ewes and four young rams were
netgunned from the park's main herd by helicopter, then radio-collared and
transported to a release site about 18 miles from their original location. 
In 1997, the small band lost seven ewes and five of the ten lambs born that
spring.  Because of those losses, the park again conducted intensive ground
and aerial bighorn sheep surveys.  The findings revealed that the bighorn
population parkwide had declined by as much as 50 percent from 1994 levels
for unknown reasons.  A total of 16 sheep were accordingly radio-collared and
released in October, 1998, and again this month.  Medical samples were taken
in an effort to determine whether or not herd health is a major contributor
to the population decline.  The park has received a grant from Canon
Corporation to move as many as 50 sheep from Colorado in the winters of 2001
and 2002.  This action is dependent on the results of the medical assessment. 
[Bruce Bessken, RMS, BADL, 3/22]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No entries.

MEMORANDA

No entries.

INTERCHANGE

No entries.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Guadalupe Mountains NP (TX) - Larry Henderson, who has been superintendent at
the park for the past nine years, retires on May 3rd.  During his 37 years in
the NPS, he worked at Carlsbad Caverns NP, Wupatki NM, Sunset Crater Volcano
NM, Organ Pipe Cactus NM, Mount Rainier NP, and Petrified Forest NP.  A
retirement celebration will be held on May 8th.  For further information,
contact either Kathy Elmore at 915-828-3251 x100 or Sue West at 505-885-8884
x12.

Denali NP (AK) - Linda Buswell, a 30-year NPS veteran and deputy
superintendent of the park, retired on March 31st.  Today is her last day in
the office.  She recently received the meritorious service award for her many
achievements during her career in the NPS.  Prior to Denali, Linda had a long
and distinguished career in NCR, including Catoctin Mountain Park, Antietam
NB, and C&O Canal NHP.

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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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