NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Sunday, June 25, 2000

ALMANAC

On this date in 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea, 
beginning the Korean War.  The Korean War Veterans Memorial in 
Washington, D.C., honors those Americans who served in the three-year 
conflict.

INCIDENTS

00-299 - Denali NP (AK) - Follow-up on Employee Fatalities

The funeral service for seasonal ranger Cale Shaffer, killed in last 
week's air crash in Denali, will be held at 1 p.m. on June 28th at the 
United Methodist Church in Madisonburg, Pennsylvania. Cale's parents, 
Carol and Ron, have extended an invitation to any National Park 
Service people who want to attend. They would like have those 
attending wear their summer dress uniforms. [Jane Tranel, PIO, DENA, 
6/24]

99-756 - Cape Hatteras NS (NC) - Follow-up on Poaching Case

On December 8, 1999, ranger Rick Roberts received a tip that 
white-tailed deer had been poached in the park the previous evening 
and that morning. A joint investigation was begun with the state, 
county and FWS. R.L., 20, and W.C., 35, both of 
Buxton, were interviewed and confessed to spotlighting and shooting 
seven deer in the park, reputedly to obtain enough meat for a barbecue 
for all their friends. They were both charged with taking of wildlife, 
possessing unlawfully taken wildlife, use of artificial light to view 
wildlife, and illegal possession of weapons in the park. They plead 
guilty to all charges in federal district court in February. On June 
12th, R.L. was sentenced to four years of supervised probation, 
payment of $1,500 in restitution to the park, and prohibited from 
entering the park during his probation. W.C., a previously 
convicted felon, was sentenced to six months in prison for 
spotlighting, six months in prison for illegal possession of a weapon 
in the park, five years of supervised probation, payment of $1,500 in 
restitution to the park, and prohibited from entering the park during 
his probation. [Paul Stevens, LES, CAHA, 6/15]

00-311 - Pea Ridge NMP (AR) - ARPA Conviction

On September 5, 1999, maintenance employee Bill Clark came upon and 
talked with a man in the Leetown battlefield area. While doing so, he 
spotted a metal detector and shovel lying in the grass in front of his 
car; Clark attempted to contact rangers, but was unable to do so. By 
the time he reported the incident, the man had left the area. Clark, 
however, was able to describe both the man and the vehicle and had the 
car's registration number. He was identified as J.R. of 
Rogers, Arkansas. Ranger Robert Still found an area nearby that had 
been freshly disturbed. He and ranger Sam Martinsen from Wilson's 
Creek NB maintained surveillance on the site until the early morning, 
but J.R. did not return. MWAC archeologist conducted a site damage 
assessment on September 9th. On the 10th, rangers from the park, 
Wilson's Creek NB and Buffalo NR, together with county officers, state 
police and FBI agents, served a search warrant on J.R.'s house and 
found the artifacts taken from the battlefield and the equipment he'd 
employed to find and excavate them. J.R. admitted to digging in the 
park. The value of the damage was placed at $10,704. On March 27th, 
J.R. pled guilty to the ARPA violation. Sentencing was scheduled for 
this past Thursday. [Bruce Cunningham, LES, MWRO, 6/23]

00-312 - Pea Ridge NMP (AR) - ARPA Case

On Saturday, January 22nd, ranger Robert Still saw a pickup truck 
parked along the north side of Highway 62 inside the park. Still had 
previously seen the same truck parked at about the same location and 
had received another report of the truck's presence there within the 
previous two weeks. Still asked park safety officer Sheri Nodine to 
keep an eye on the truck from a safe location while he attempted to 
find the driver in the woods. When the driver returned, Nodine 
notified Still, then followed it until Still was able to catch up and 
make a stop. The driver, who had his 12-year-old daughter with him, 
said he'd been metal detecting and produced 18 artifacts, mostly 
bullets that he'd collected that day. Of these, 15 were later 
identified as Civil War bullets. The man denied knowing he was inside 
the park, although he had passed park signs, parked between two 
boundary markers, knew several key things about the park, and had 
twice previously visited the site to find and excavate artifacts. He 
later surrendered 81 other artifacts that he'd taken on those two 
occasions. Rangers Sam Martinsen (WICR), Chuck Carlson and Jay 
Bullington (BUFF), Jon Liakos (GWCA), Jody Beth Towery and Bill 
McKinney (OZAR), and SA Guy Whitmer (MWRO) were brought in to assist 
in the investigation). Soil samples and evidence have been submitted 
to the state crime lab for comparison. The case is still under 
investigation and has been turned over to the U.S. attorney for 
prosecution. MWAC archeologist Doug Scott has placed the dame at more 
than $37,000. [Bruce Cunningham, LES, MWRO, 6/23]

                  [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE SITUATION

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

CURRENT SITUATION

One new large fire was reported yesterday; initial attack was moderate 
in the South and light elsewhere.

The following resources were committed nationwide as of yesterday 
(changes from yesterday's numbers in parentheses): 81 crews (+ 27), 
387 overhead (+ 57), 156 engines (+ 14), 41 helicopters (+ 1), and 
four air tankers (+ 4).

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Arizona, 
California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, 
Oregon and Utah.

NPS FIRES

No reports. 

SIGNIFICANT NON-NPS FIRES 

Prineville District, BLM (OR) - The Harpham Fire (three miles 
southeast of Maupin) has burned 800 acres and forced the evacuation of 
a campground.

OUTLOOK

NICC has issued a RED FLAG WARNING for strong winds in southeast Idaho 
this afternoon.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 6/25]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Yellowstone NP (WY) - Study of Grizzlies and Cutthroat Trout

The park's cutthroat trout population may be considerably more 
important to grizzly bears than was previously believed, according to 
preliminary findings of research conducted by the Interagency Grizzly 
Bear Study Team (IGBST) and the park.  Biologists have employed recent 
advances in DNA wildlife research technology to determine that a 
minimum of 84 different grizzly bears visited streams around 
Yellowstone Lake during cutthroat trout spawning runs over the course 
of the three-year study.  This new estimate is almost twice as high as 
previous estimates.  Earlier estimates used bear track measurements to 
determine that approximately 30 to 48 grizzly bears fished for 
cutthroat trout annually in these Yellowstone Lake tributaries.
In 1997, with funding provided by Canon U.S.A., the USGS Biological 
Resources Division, and the NPS, biologists prepared small barbed-wire 
"corrals" (simply strands of barbed wire stretched strategically among 
trees) to non-intrusively snag a small amount of the hair of passing 
bears (in some cases, a scented attractant was hung beyond the bear's 
reach to draw it into the area). Collected hair samples were subjected 
to DNA analysis, providing biologists with the unique "DNA 
fingerprint" of each bear, and allowing them to arrive at a total 
number of individual bears. Estimates now suggest that 15 to 20 
percent of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Area use the 
cutthroat trout, which are one of the highest sources of digestible 
energy available to bears in this ecosystem.  The trout are rich in 
fat and protein and are available to bears during the spring and early 
summer, which makes them valuable in overcoming the bears' nutritional 
losses incurred during hibernation. Of the 124 tributary streams to 
Yellowstone Lake, at least 60 are known to have cutthroat trout 
spawning runs. Over the course of the study, more than 45 percent of 
the known streams used by grizzly bears were surveyed. It is important 
to understand grizzly bear use of the native cutthroat trout because 
the trout are threatened by the illegal introduction of non-native 
lake trout, first discovered in 1994.  Lake trout are efficient 
predators on cutthroat trout and, in the absence of aggressive 
management, could eventually reduce the native cutthroat trout 
population by as much as 90 percent. Lake trout spawn in deep water, 
and will not serve as a replacement food for bears if they further 
reduce the cutthroat trout population. Data from recent research 
suggest that lake trout are a probable cause for the observed declines 
in numbers of spawning cutthroat trout in the West Thumb area of 
Yellowstone Lake.  Biologists are concerned about the potential for 
similar declines in the rest of Yellowstone Lake, where lake trout 
have also been discovered.  The NPS has been developing and refining a 
lake-trout netting program that, in concert with angler catches, may 
suppress the lake trout population and control its impact on the 
cutthroat trout. The development of DNA fingerprinting technology 
(a.k.a. polymerase chain reaction process) was made possible due to an 
enzyme named Taq polymerase, initially isolated from the microorganism 
Thermus aquaticus, which was first discovered in one of Yellowstone's 
thermal pools in the 1960s.  The use of the Taq enzyme in the 
polymerase chain reaction process gives biologists the ability to make 
multiple copies of genes from DNA within living cells, facilitating 
the process known as DNA fingerprinting. Canon U.S.A. provided funding 
for the grizzly bear project through their Expedition Into the Parks 
program.  Expedition Into the Parks, a unique collaboration among the 
National Park Service, the National Park Foundation and Canon, was 
established in 1995 to help address critical conservation and 
restoration challenges across the National Park System.  Since 1995, 
Canon U.S.A. has provided more than $5 million in funding and 
equipment to 80 different research projects throughout the National 
Park System.  [PIO, YELL, 6/15]

INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR SERVICES

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No submissions.

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

INTERCHANGE

No submissions.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

No submissions.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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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