NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Monday, May 10, 1999

INCIDENTS

99-166 - Great Smoky Mountains NP (TN/NC) - Search; Downed Aircraft

A search began on Thursday, May 6th, for a missing single-engine airplane
that crashed south of the Appalachian Trail.  Park officials were notified by
the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) that a light blue Cessna 172 dropped from radar
around 6:40 a.m. and subsequently did not complete its flight plan.  The
aircraft went off radar south of the Tennessee/North Carolina state line near
the Jenkins Ridge Trail.  Two Bell-206 helicopters from the Knox County
Sheriffs Office tried to search the area on Thursday, but high altitude winds
prevented an effective search.  Just before dark, a CAP fixed-wing aircraft
and a military helicopter located the crash site about two miles south of the
Appalachian Trail.  The wreckage of the aircraft was reportedly spread over a
wide area.  Ranger Randy Scoggins and four CAP members spent the night on the
Appalachian Trail at the Spence Field shelter, about three miles from the
site. A ground team of ten was headed up the trail from Cades Cove at the
time of the report (Friday morning), along with a smaller group of rangers
from Deep Creek.  The Knox County helicopter was going to attempt to direct
ground teams into the crash site if the weather cooperated.  The incident
commander is Cades Cove district ranger Jack Piepenbring.  [Jason Houck, CR,
GRSM, 5/7]

99-167 - Glen Canyon NRA (UT/AZ) - Hazardous Material

Visitors from Salt Lake City found a wooden, lead-lined box in Lost Eden
Canyon near Bullfrog in late April.  Within the box was another, smaller
lead-lined box which contained a "wafer" with a handle on it.  They left the
wooden box in the area where it was found and took the small box and wafer
back home with them.  On May 2nd, they returned to Lake Powell to retrieve
the wooden box.  When they returned to the scene, they found not only the
original wooden box but also a canister-like object that was approximately
seven inches tall, seven inches in diameter, and weighed 60 to 70 pounds.  
The wooden box and the canister were taken to the Halls Crossing Ranger
Station and turned over to rangers Russ Miller and Steve Luckesen.  The Utah
State Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Radiation Control,
arranged to have a Utah Highway Patrol hazmat responder pick up the objects
and transport them to Salt Lake City for further investigation.  The
investigators determined that the containers held medical-grade gamma
radiation nodes used in radium therapy.  The technology used for this type of
treatment is between 40 and 50 years old. It's possible that these boxes were
left in the canyon before the creation of Lake Powell. Both the canyon area
and the NPS ranger station showed no signs of contamination and have been
reopened. State officials say that there is no evidence that radioactive
contaminants got outside of the packages.  Preliminary investigation reveals
that the amount of radiation exposure by individuals who had contact with
these items is not much more than what would be received from natural
background radiation.  [Cindy Ott-Jones, CR, GLCA, 5/6]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY 

                                                      Wed      Sat   %   Est
State      Unit              Fire/Incident   IMT      5/5      5/8  Con  Con

VA   Shenandoah NP           Shop Run         T1    3,211    3,229  100  CND

FL   State                   New Grade        --      450      450  100  CND

GA   Okefenokee NWR          Hickory Island   --   14,128   14,128   40  -- 

MI   State                   Tower Lake       --    6,000    6,000  100  CND
                           * Troll            --        -      875   80  5/8

NM   Cibola NF               Roberts          --      115      175   80  5/8

TX   Big Bend NP           * Casa Grande      --        -      230  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 (FOUR DAY TREND)

                    NPS    BIA      BLM     FWS    States   USFS     Total

Wednesday, 5/5       0      2         0       0      108      7       117
Thursday, 5/6        1      1         0       0       66     12        80
Friday, 5/7          0      0         0       0       21      2        23
Saturday, 5/8                -- Sunday report not available --

TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND) 

                  Crews     Engines    Helicopters    Airtankers   Overhead

Wednesday, 5/5      53         66          18            10           375
Thursday, 5/6       43         60          17             6           385
Friday, 5/7         43         53          14             3           388
Saturday, 5/8                -- Sunday report not available --

CURRENT SITUATION

Fire activity moderated in the South and East over the weekend.  The province
of Ontario had eight large fires burning as of Saturday; together, they had
burned 321,000 acres.

Very high and extreme fire indices were reported in California, New Mexico,
Michigan, Maine, Texas, Arizona, Mississippi and Georgia.  [NICC Incident
Management Situation Report, 5/7-9]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION

No entries.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No entries.

MEMORANDA

No entries.

INTERCHANGE

No entries.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

No entries.

MEETINGS, CONFERENCES AND EVENTS CALENDAR

Two calendars alternate in the Morning Report on Mondays - this one, which
contains meetings, seminars, conferences and events, and a second, which
contains workshops and training courses.  If you know of a conference,
meeting, workshop or training session with Servicewide interest and
implications, please send the information along.  

Entries are listed no earlier than FOUR months before the event, EXCEPT in
instances in which registration dates close much earlier.  Asterisks indicate
new entries; brackets at end of entry indicate source of information. 
Brevity is appreciated.

Dates:      May 18 - 20
Conference: Current Topics in Labor and Employee Relations
Location:   Annapolis, MD
Details:    Discussion of current issues in labor and employee relations,
            feature speakers/instructors from MSPB, FLRA, OSC and DOI. 
            Labor, management and other interested parties are invited to
            attend.
Closes:     April 30th
Contact:    Paula Platz
Phone/fax:  202-208-4581; 202-208-6038
E-mail:     Paula Platz at NP-WASO-POPS
Submitter:  Dave Davies, WASO

Dates:      May 18 - 20 
Conference: Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project Symposium:
            Presenting Five Years of Research Results
Location:   Missoula, MT
Details:    The symposium will have a strong field component to highlight the
            actual activities and results of the research project, and
            includes a community meeting to give attendees a chance to
            interact with residents of the valley.
Closes:     April 30th
Contact:    Christine Ross, University of Montana
Phone/fax:  406-243-4623; ---
E-mail:     www.umt.edu/ccesp/c&i/nrm/bemrp
Submitter:  Sue Consolo-Murphy, YELL

Dates:      June 21 - 24 *
Conference: Fire and Grit: Working for Nature in Community
Location:   Shepherdstown, WV
Details:    Conference sponsored by The Orion Society.  Focus on the
            environmental movement, on its effectiveness at the community
            level, and on mapping a comprehensive vision for conservation in
            the 21st century.  Speakers include Bruce Babbitt, Barry Lopez,
            Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams and Peter Matthiessen. 
            There will be plenary talks, facilitated collegiums, dialogues
            and special events.  
Closes:     ---
Contact:    The Orion Society
Phone/fax:  --- ; ---
E-mail:     orion@orionsociety.org, or www.orionsociety.org
Submitter:  Kathy Jope, PNRO

                                *  *  *  *  *

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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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