NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Tuesday, February 13, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-048 - Crater Lake NP (OR) - Serious Employee Injury

W.W., a program assistant in the Resource Preservation and 
Research Division, was seriously injured in an off-duty motor vehicle 
accident near Klamath Falls on February 9th. W.W. lost control of her 
vehicle on a patch of ice; it was then struck by an oncoming vehicle 
and rolled down a small embankment. She sustained injuries to the 
arteries supplying her brain, which compromised circulation to the 
brain and led to swelling and left-side paralysis. W.W. has undergone 
surgery to relieve the swelling and is currently on life support and 
in critical condition. Doctors have not been able to give a long -term 
prognosis for her recovery.  Although W.W. cannot receive flowers or 
plants, she would appreciate cards and letters. Send them to her at 
Legacy Emanuel Hospital, WWICU, 2801 N. Gantenbein Avenue, Portland, 
OR, 97227. [David Brennan, CR, Crater Lake]

01-049 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Rockslide

A rockslide occurred along El Portal Road about a half mile east of 
the park boundary around 2:30 a.m. yesterday morning. A slab of 
granite of unknown size fell about a thousand feet to the road, 
breaking into many smaller pieces and damaging the roadway. The 
entrance into the park at Arch Rock has accordingly been closed until 
further notice. There were no injuries. Highways 41 and 120 remain 
open, albeit with chain restrictions. Photos of the rockslide can be 
seen at http://www.nps.gov/yose/rockslide.htm. [Public Affairs, YOSE, 
2/12]

                [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Plan

No decision has been made yet on the request for exemption from the 
hiring freeze for Department of the Interior firefighting and fire 
management positions. The Forest Service was granted an exemption last 
week for GS-12 and lower firefighting positions.  

Meanwhile, preparations are continuing for the National Fire Plan 
collaboration coordinators' meeting in Denver next week.

[Debee Schwarz, NPS Fire Information, WASO]

Park Fires

No fires reported.

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR SERVICES

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Delinquent Government Card Accounts - Salary offsets are beginning for 
delinquent government card accounts. The first salary offset included 
those employees whose accounts had been "charged off" by the bank; 
that is, they had not been paid for 210 days. The NPS had 22 accounts 
with past due balances offset in PP 01. Salaries will continue to be 
offset biweekly until the balance due to the Bank of America is paid 
in full. Beginning in February, all accounts with balances that are 90 
or more days past due will be placed into salary offset. Unless 
account holders pay their balance in full or establish an acceptable 
payment agreement with Bank of America, their wages will be offset 
beginning 60 days after notification from Payroll Operations Division. 
As of January 28th, Bank of America also began phasing in credit 
bureau reporting of delinquent individually billed amounts on 
government charge accounts. They began with the reporting of all 
charged off accounts (accounts more than 210 days past due), and in 
April will begin reporting of all cancelled accounts (accounts with 
balance unpaid 96 calendar days after the date of the statement of 
account on which the charge first appeared). [Sue Masica, 
AD/Administration, WASO]

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

INTERCHANGE

No submissions.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Pictured Rocks NL (MI) - Superintendent Grant Petersen will retire on 
March 3rd, closing out a 36-year career with the National Park 
Service. He began as a seasonal ranger at Coulee Dam (Lake Roosevelt) 
NRA in 1963. Since then, he has served in varying positions - ranger, 
recreation resources specialist, environmental education specialist, 
and management assistant - at Grand Canyon NP, Glen Canyon NRA, Fire 
Island NS, and the Chicago Field Office, and has done tours as 
superintendent at Herbert Hoover NHS and Pictured Rocks NL. A 
recognition dinner is scheduled for Friday evening, March 9th, at 
Sydney's Restaurant in Munising.  Information regarding the dinner can 
be obtained by contacting park chief ranger Larry Hach at 
906-387-2607.

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 (February 5th): 

o       H.R. 36 (Bereuter, NE), a bill to amend the National Trails 
        System Act to authorize an additional category of national 
        trail known as a national discovery trail, to provide special 
        requirements for the establishment and administration of       
        national discovery trails, and to designate the cross country 
        American Discovery Trail as the first national discovery 
        trail.
o       H.R. 37 (Bereuter, NE), a bill to amend the National Trails 
        System Act to update the feasibility and suitability studies 
        of four national historic trails and provide for possible 
        additions to such trails.
o       H.R. 38 (Bereuter, NE), a bill to provide for additional lands 
        to be included within the boundaries of the Homestead National 
        Monument of America in the State of Nebraska, and for other 
        purposes.
o       H.R. 107 (Hefley, CO), a bill to require that the Secretary of 
        the Interior conduct a study to identify sites and resources, 
        to recommend alternatives for commemorating and interpreting 
        the Cold War, and for other purposes.
o       H.R. 146 (Pascell, NJ), a bill to authorize the Secretary of 
        the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of 
        designating the Great Falls Historic District in Paterson, New 
        Jersey, as a unit of the National Park System, and for other 
        purposes.
o       H.R. 158 (Regula, OH), a bill to provide for the retention of 
        the name of Mount McKinley.
o       H.R. 182 (Simmons, CT), a bill to amend the Wild and Scenic 
        Rivers Act to designate a segment of the Eight Mile River in 
        the State of Connecticut for study for potential addition to 
        the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other 
        purposes.
o       S. 49 (Stevens, AK), a bill to amend the wetlands regulatory 
        program under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to 
        provide credit for the low wetlands loss rate in Alaska and 
        recognize the significant extent of wetlands conservation in 
        Alaska, to protect Alaskan property owners, and to ease the o  
        burden on overly regulated Alaskan cities, boroughs, 
        municipalities, and villages.
o       S. 139 (Bennett, UT), a bill to assist in the preservation of 
        archaeological, paleontological, zoological, geological, and 
        botanical artifacts through construction of a new facility for 
        the University of Utah Museum of Natural History, Salt Lake 
        City, Utah.
o       H.R. 400 (Hastert, IL), a bill to authorize the Secretary of 
        the Interior to establish the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home 
        National Historic Site, and for other purposes.
o       H.R. 452 (Hansen, UT), a bill to authorize the establishment 
        of a memorial to former President Ronald Reagan within the 
        area in the District of Columbia referred to in the 
        Commemorative Works Act as 'Area I', to provide for the design 
        and construction of such memorial, and for other purposes.
o       H.R. 464 (McNulty, NY), a bill to establish the Kate Mullany 
        National Historic Site in the State of New York, and for other 
        purposes.
o       H.R. 488 (Shays, CT), a bill to designate as wilderness, wild 
        and scenic rivers, national park and preserve study areas, 
        wild land recovery areas, and biological connecting corridors 
        certain public lands in the States of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, 
        Washington, and Wyoming, and for other purposes.
o       H.R. 510 (Murtha, PA), a bill to authorize the design and 
        construction of a temporary education center at the Vietnam 
        Veterans Memorial in the District of Columbia.
o       S. 281 (Hagel, NE), a bill to authorize the design and 
        construction of a temporary education center at the Vietnam 
        Veterans Memorial.

NEW LAWS

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

No new laws.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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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