NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, October 19, 2000

ALMANAC

On this date in 1781, British forces under Lord Cornwallis surrendered 
to George Washington's American forces and their French allies at 
Yorktown, Virginia, in the last military engagement of the American 
Revolution.  Yorktown Battlefield is part of Colonial National 
Historical Park.

INCIDENTS

00-656 - Alaska Support Office (AK) - Death of Employee

Fishery biologist Ross Kavanagh, 56, passed away on October 14th after 
a year-long struggle with cancer. Ross spent his entire 25-plus years 
in public service in Alaska and its parks and conservation areas, and 
was the first fishery biologist with the NPS in Alaska. He leaves no 
immediate family, as both his mother and father preceded him in death 
and he had no brothers or sisters. Condolences may be sent to his 
stepmother, F.K. or to his long-time close friend D.C.
Ross had many friends, colleagues and close co-workers in the 
NPS, USGS Biological Resource Division and other agencies and 
institutions. Many of them provided care and attention during his 
medical treatment and hospitalization and were his family in Alaska. 
Ross specified that there be no memorial service and that his remains 
be spread in an area of Alaska that he loved and where he gave so much 
to protect the state's wild fish and water resources. [Alex Carter/Jay 
Liggett, ARO, 10/16]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR SERVICES

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No submissions.

MEMORANDA

"Wildland Urban Interface Initiative," signed on October 12th by 
acting Associate Director, Park Operations and Education Chris Andress 
and sent to all regional directors and superintendents, marked to the 
attention of FMO's. A reply is due by November 6th. The full text 
follows - attachments are NOT included on the Morning Report:

"The draft FY 2001 Appropriations Bill provides $120 million for the 
Department of the Interior to 'accelerate treatments, planning 
efforts, and collaborative projects with non-federal partners in the 
wildland urban interface.'  The primary focus of this section of the 
bill is 'the removal of hazardous fuels to alleviate immediate 
emergency threats to the wildland urban interface.' It is anticipated 
that the National Park Service will receive approximately $18 million 
specifically for these actions.  Congress has mandated specific 
timeframes, reporting requirements and accountability for all funds 
associated with this bill.

"This creates an additional work load under short timeframes, but it 
also provides the opportunity for the NPS to proactively address fuels 
management so that resource management objectives can be accomplished 
while providing for firefighter and public safety.  Our response to 
this initiative will affect the future of NPS fire management for 
years to come. We will need to show immediate accomplishments in the 
next 12 months, as well as begin the planning for projects for FY 2002 
and FY 2003.

"Please provide the following information to your Regional Fire 
Management Officer by November 6, 2000:

"All park units with burnable acres need to prepare a list of wildland 
urban interface communities/areas at high risk from wildfires 
originating on NPS lands (Attachment 1).  

"List your ongoing hazard reduction projects in the wildland urban 
interface (Attachment 2). 

"Parks are requested to identify hazard reduction projects (this 
includes prescribed fire and mechanical treatments) that reduce the 
threat of wildland fire to wildland urban interface areas at high 
risk. Please identify projects that can be substantially completed in 
FY 2001.  Please list projects where the planning can begin in FY 2001 
and the project can be implemented in FY 2002 or FY 2003 (Attachment 
3).  Instructions (Attachment 4) for using the project template 
(Attachment 3) are included.  Please save and print these instructions 
before using the template.

"Please contact your Regional Fire Management Officer if you have any 
questions regarding these requests."

INTERCHANGE

No submissions.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Pinnacles NM (CA) - The park has extended the closing date for its 
announcement for a term supervisory forest technician. The 
announcement (PGSO-00-113-DEU) now closes on November 1st. Shared 
dormitory housing is available. For more information, please contact 
Lori at 831-389-4485 ext 227.

UPCOMING IN CONGRESS

The following activities will be taking place in Congress during 
coming weeks on matters pertaining to the National Park Service or 
kindred agencies.  

For inquiries regarding legislation pertaining to the NPS, please 
contact the main office at 202-208-5883/5656 and ask to be forwarded 
to the appropriate legislative specialist. For additional information 
on specific bills (full text, status, etc.), please check Congress's 
web site at http://thomas.loc.gov.

HEARINGS/MARK-UPS

No hearings or mark-ups scheduled.

LEGISLATION INTRODUCED

The following bills either directly or indirectly pertaining to the 
NPS have been introduced since the last Morning Report listing of new 
legislation (October 10th): 

o       H.R. 5408 (Spence, SC), a bill to authorize appropriations for 
        fiscal year 2001 for military activities of the Department of 
        Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities 
        of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths 
        for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other 
        purposes.  Note: This bill will actually replace H.R. 4205.  
        H.R. 5408 incorporated both the low-level flight training and 
        the Marine Corps Heritage Center language previously in the 
        House and Senate defense authorization bills.
o       S. 3179 (Lincoln, AR), a bill to promote recreation on federal 
        lakes, to require federal agencies responsible for managing
        federal lakes to pursue strategies for enhancing recreational 
        experiences of the public, and for other purposes. 
o       H.R. 5446 (Olver, MA), a bill to establish the Freedom's Way 
        National Heritage Area in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
        and in the State of New Hampshire, and for other purposes.

NEW LAWS

The following bills have passed Congress and been signed into law by 
the President: 

o       Public Law 106-278 - The law creates the Lackawanna Valley 
        Heritage Area and Schuylkill River Valley NHA. Title I 
        authorizes the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority as the 
        management entity responsible for developing a management plan 
        for the heritage area. Title II authorizes the preservation 
        and interpretation of lands and structures associated with the 
        early development of the cultural, political and industrial 
        development of the United States in the Schuylkill River 
        Valley in Pennsylvania.
o       Public Law 106-290 - This public law amends P.L. 101-377 to 
        expand the boundaries of Gettysburg National Military Park to 
        include the Wills House. Its inclusion must be authorized 
        because it is not adjacent to the park.
o       Public Law 106-291 - This is the FY 2001 appropriations 
        legislation for the Department of Interior.

SPECIAL NOTE

There are only 50 copies left of the compilations of laws affecting 
the National Park Service. They are free and available from the Office 
of Legislative and Congressional Affairs. If you'd like a copy or if 
you already have a set and would like an additional set, please 
contact them. There are still just the three volumes available at this 
time - a hard-bound volume with laws from the 96th through 98th 
Congresses (1979-1984); a soft-bound volume with laws from the 104th 
Congress (1995-1996); and a soft-bound volume with laws from the 105th 
Congress (1997-1998).  These volumes are available on a first-come, 
first-served basis.  To obtain a copy, please contact Beverly 
Davenport via cc:Mail or at 202-208-3636. Please include your address 
if your copy needs to be sent via parcel post. The office is 
continuing work on two other hard-bound volumes with laws from the 
99th through 103rd Congresses (1985-1994).  It's expected that one of 
these volumes will be available from the printer in the fall of 2000, 
with the other coming out in either the spring or summer of 2001.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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