NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Wednesday, May 24, 2000

ALMANAC

On this date in 1861, Union troops occupied "Arlington," Robert E. 
Lee's Virginia home overlooking Washington, D.C., following Virginia's 
secession from the Union and Lee's resignation from the U.S. Army to 
command its forces.  It is now designated Arlington House, The Robert 
E. Lee Memorial.

INCIDENTS

00-218 - Glacier Bay NP&P (AK) - Cruise Ship Fire

A fire started in crew quarters on the Holland America cruise ship 
S.S. Nieuw Amsterdam as it traveled through Tarr Inlet in the upper 
reaches of Glacier Bay at 9:11 a.m. on the morning of May 23rd. The 
704-foot ship was carrying approximately 1200 passengers and 566 crew 
members.   A 'mayday' distress call was broadcast and all passengers 
were evacuated to lifeboat stations as the crew fought the fire.  
Other large vessels in Glacier Bay, including a tour boat and another 
cruise ship, responded to the 'mayday', but no additional assistance 
was required. Park staff organized under ICS and dispatched the park's 
aircraft and ranger/pilot to the scene.  Park rangers onboard the 
Nieuw Amsterdam provided a radio communications link and assisted 
passengers during the onboard evacuation. The fire was contained and 
declared out by 11:15 a.m. Reports indicate severe damage to three 
crew cabins and moderate damage to 17 more crew cabins and passageways 
on the D deck, the first deck below the water line. One passenger 
suffered from chest pains, and was medivaced by helicopter to Juneau. 
No other injuries were reported. All of the ship's operational systems 
outside of the burned area remained functional and the vessel was 
permitted to travel approximately 50 miles to lower Glacier Bay and 
anchor.  A team of USCG and state of Alaska fire investigators and a 
park ranger boarded the vessel to make a determination as to whether 
the vessel could depart Glacier Bay for Seward. The vessel was 
released to continue on to Seward under its own power at 10 p.m. [Jim 
Capra, IC, GLBA, 5/23]

00-219 - Lake Mead NRA (NV/AZ) - Diving Fatality

J.C., 22, dove off a cliff on Middle Boulder Island into the lake 
on the afternoon of May 22nd. The water at this location was shallow, 
though, and he hit bottom. Bystanders called 911 on a cellular phone; 
the park was notified by local fire and rescue departments. J.C. was 
flown to a trauma center in Las Vegas, where he was pronounced dead on 
arrival. [Dispatch, LAME, 5/22]

00-220 - Hawaii Volcanoes NP (HI) - Drug Eradication

Rangers assisted in an interagency marijuana eradication mission in 
areas near the park's borders between May 7th and 12th. The task force 
located and destroyed 17,936 plants ranging in size from seedlings to 
fully mature and budding eight-foot plants. The street value has been 
placed at $35.9 million. Surveillance continues at one location. No 
booby traps were found; no arrests have yet been made. [Jeff Judd, CI, 
HAVO, 5/22]

00-221 - Home of FDR NHS (NY) - Special Event

President Clinton spoke at the Democratic Leadership Council meeting 
held at the FDR Library and Museum in the park on May 21st. The site 
was closed to the public for the afternoon. The visit was managed by a 
multi-agency task force. Over 150 people lined Route 9 in front of the 
park to view the motorcade. This was the president's third visit to 
the park. [Superintendent's Office, HOFR, 5/22]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

The preparedness level has dropped from Level III to Level II.

CURRENT SITUATION

One new large fire was reported in Wisconsin yesterday. Crews are 
approaching containment goals on the Cerro Grande fire, the remaining 
large fire in the Southwest.

The following resources were committed nationwide as of yesterday 
(changes from Tuesday's  numbers in parentheses): 57 crews (- 19), 654 
overhead (- 100), 127 engines (- 24), 34 helicopters (- 2), and 23 air 
tankers (+ 11).

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Arizona, New 
Mexico, Utah, Texas, California, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma.

NPS FIRES

Bandelier NM (NM) - A Type I incident management team (Gage] is 
assigned to the Cerro Grande fire. The fire has burned 47,650 acres 
(no change) and is 95% (no change) contained. Crews continue to mop-up 
and cold trail along the fire line between Santa Clara Canyon and 
Cerro Grande. Containment is expected today.

OUTLOOK

NICC has posted a FIRE WEATHER WATCH for unstable air, gusty winds and 
low relative humidity in the afternoon for the Florida Panhandle.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 5/24]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Law Enforcement Staffing Level Study - Mike Finley, chair of the IACP 
study team, is interested in obtaining information about the impacts 
that staffing levels have had on the ability of ranger divisions to 
carry out law enforcement programs at individual parks. The Service 
recently submitted a study to Congress - the so-called "Thomas 
Report" - which states the following: "In the 20 years between 1978 
and 1998, the National Park System grew by 84 new unites - 29% growth. 
During the same period, acreage in the system grew from 31.3 million 
acres to 83.4 million acres - an expansion of 166%. Total visitation 
grew from 283 million visits in 1978 to 435.6 million in 1998 - 53%. 
The number of permanent protection rangers, which was 1,168 in 1978, 
grew by 315 positions in 1998, or 27%. The growth results in a ratio 
of one new ranger to every 1,816,030 visits." During the past decade, 
permanent ranger staffing has remained relatively constant overall, 
but there have been fluctuations in ranger staff in individual parks 
and the number of seasonals has declined Servicewide despite an 
increasingly more complicated workload. Please take a few minutes and 
comment on how your park's law enforcement program has been affected 
by changes in staffing levels and workloads over the last ten years, 
particularly impacts on some or all of the following - detection, 
apprehension, education, prevention, investigation, and/or 
prosecution. Please limit your comments to one page, and be sure to 
include the following information to help formulate comparisons: size 
(acres) of your park, visitation, and staffing figures for the period 
you discuss. Comments should be sent by cc:Mail to Marti Leicester, 
ARD/Operation and Education, Pacific West Region, by close of business 
on June 16th. She will be working with Mike Finley and the PWR Ranger 
Advisory Committee on analysis of responses and preparation of a 
summary for the IACP study group. If you have any questions, please 
contact her by cc:Mail. (Note: Copies of the Thomas Report will be 
sent to all park superintendents for dissemination to their staffs).

RM-9 Forms Appendix - An appendix is going to be added to the new RM-9 
to include standardized forms for use by law enforcement programs 
throughout the system. A centralized collection point has been 
established to gather the best sampling of forms currently in use. 
Suggestions for new forms are also being solicited. All forms and 
suggestions received by June 30th will be considered by the committee 
for inclusion in the new appendix. Please transmit any standard LE 
program forms your park uses to Eric Inman via cc:Mail or mail them to 
him at P.O. Box 579, Death Valley, CA 92328.

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Washington Office - P.J. Ryan, noted raconteur and editor of 
"Thunderbear," the oldest alternative newsletter in the federal 
government" (226 issues and going strong), has decided to retire from 
the NPS (but not from editing and producing his newsletter).  For the 
uninitiated, Thunderbear is a nine-foot winged bear placed on Earth by 
God to look after the human species and, on the side, offer thoughtful 
insights on its inadequacies, particularly in the realm of 
environmental protection. Over the years, Ryan's newsletter has 
carried interesting and eclectic articles on a wide array of 
NPS-related topics; the most popular in all probability was the 
memorable "Raising Supervisors for Fun and Profit." Along the way, 
P.J. did tours at Jewel Cave, Bandelier, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, John 
Muir, Jean Lafitte and WASO; he also retraced John Muir's trip through 
Australia and Africa. There will be no retirement party as such, but 
he's offered to buy you a beer at the Willard Hotel (a couple of 
blocks from WASO) during a "last call" from 4 to 6 p.m. on June 2nd. 
You can also send him a farewell note via cc:Mail, call him at 
202-208-5213, or write to him at PO Box 2341, Silver Spring, MD 
20915-2341.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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