NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Monday, January 3, 2000

ALMANAC

On this day in 1863, Confederate troops under Gen. Braxton Bragg retreated after fighting 
outside Murfreesboro, Tennessee, allowing Union forces under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans to 
occupy the city.  Stones River National Battlefield contains a portion of that battlefield.

VISITOR PROTECTION/PARK MANAGEMENT INCIDENTS

99-657 - Systemwide - Follow-up: Special Event - Millennium 2000

The incident management team staffing the NPS Y2K "Day One" command center in 
Washington received no incident reports directly related to a Y2K problem between 8 a.m. on 
Friday, December 31st, and 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 1st. The only report passed on to the 
center concerned a structural fire in Yosemite NP (see below). No date rollover failures were 
detected by the NPS computer system's automated route monitor. The firewall and hacker 
intrusion monitors on the citizen service web site (nps.gov and rec.gov) did not detect any 
major increase in hacker activity. Mission critical systems were tested and found to be fully 
functional. The check-in calls from the points of contact in regional offices and other NPS 
facilities and systems were made in a timely manner and the required reports were made to the 
DOI command center. The NPS command center will be staffed until 6 p.m. today. [Kris Fister, 
IO, IMT, 1/1]

99-757 - Yellowstone NP (WY) - Snowmobiling Fatality

F.B., 57, of Putnam Valley, New York, was killed late on the afternoon of December 
30th when the snowmobile she was riding tipped to one side while crossing the parking area at 
the winter warming hut at Mammoth Hot Springs.  She jumped or fell off, landed in a rocky 
area, and sustained major traumatic and internal injuries.  CPR was begun immediately.  She 
was taken to Mammoth Clinic, where she was pronounced dead about 40 minutes after the 
accident occurred. F.B. was nearing the end of a trip from Flagg Ranch to Mammoth Hot 
Springs with her husband and two other couples when the accident occurred.  She was 
wearing a helmet. It was her first snowmobile trip. [Public Affairs, YELL, 1/1]

00-001 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Structural Fire

A structural fire broke out in a private, unoccupied residence in Wawona around 3 a.m. on 
January 1st. The fire was contained, but one residence was destroyed, a second was a 95% 
loss, and an outbuilding was a 50% loss. No estimate of damage is yet available. The 
investigation into the cause is underway. [Ed Walls, CM, YOSE, via Type I IMT, WASO, 1/1]

RESOURCE PROTECTION INCIDENTS

99-758 - Redwood N&SP (CA) - Poaching Arrests

An observant off-duty park employee saw and reported a poaching incident in the Bald Hills 
area of the park on Christmas day. Rangers Paige Ritterbush and Dave Barland-Liles 
responded. As they approach the suspect vehicle, the driver sped off at a high rate of speed. 
The rangers pursued the truck for about six miles, but it failed to stop and fled into the Hoopa 
Reservation, which adjoins the park. Tribal and county police were notified. State park ranger 
Javier Morales and NPS ranger Al Fieldson, who were responding together as backup, came 
upon a juvenile male walking along the road and determined that he'd been dropped off and 
abandoned by the fleeing suspects. Rangers found a recently shot bull elk and other evidence 
at the scene. The suspect pickup truck was found in Hoopa. The operator consented to a 
search by rangers, tribal police and deputies. A rifle and corroborating evidence linking the 
truck to the site of the killing were found and seized and taken to the FWS forensics lab in 
Ashland. On December 27th, rangers, wardens and tribal police found the third person involved 
in the incident. State and federal charges are being sought, including evading/fleeing rangers, 
waste of game, taking an elk out of season, discharging a firearm from the road, resource 
damage, off-road travel, careless operation, reckless endangerment, giving false information, 
and other possible charges.  [Bob Martin, CR, REDW, 12/31]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No submissions.

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

INTERCHANGE

No submissions.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

No submissions.


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Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed by park, office and/or 
regional cc:Mail hub coordinators.  Please address requests pertaining to receipt of the Morning 
Report to your servicing hub coordinator.  The Morning Report is also available on the web at 
http://www.nps.gov/morningreport

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

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