NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, March 15, 2001

INCIDENTS

99-361 - Voyageurs NP (MN) - Follow-up: Demonstration

On July 3, 1999, a planned public protest by the Borderland Boaters 
Association (BBA) occurred within park waters. The BBA coordinated a 
"Freedom Brigade" of powerboats and jet skis to protest and test the 
authority of the National Park Service, Voyageurs National Park's 
jurisdiction over waters within park boundaries, and the temporary 
closure prohibiting the use of personal watercraft within the park. 
Approximately 50 boats and 13 jets skis participated in the protest 
flotilla. District rangers Chuck Remus and Dennis Kaleta obtained 
registration numbers and video footage of all operators. As planned, 
no citations were issued or arrests were made on site. Mandatory 
summons were instead issued. On March 7th, a trail was held before a 
federal magistrate for eight defendants. Seven of the eight were found 
guilty; the eighth failed to show and a bench warrant was issued for 
her arrest. Each was fined $100. The defendants plan to appeal. The 
July, 1999, protest was the fourth attempt by Carl Brown and his 
sister, Nancy McHarg, to test the Service's authority and jurisdiction 
on the park's waters. Last summer, the Supreme Court refused to hear 
Brown's petition and let stand lower court rulings that confirmed NPS 
authority and jurisdiction. Success in the trail has been attributed 
to work by Remus, Kaleta, and AUSA Cliff Wardlaw. [Jim Hummel, CR, 
VOYA, 3/9]

01-084 - WASO (DC) - Follow-up: Comprehensive Condition Assessment 

Since the incident is essentially concerned with day-to-day management 
of operations program(s), current and future updates from the incident 
management team will appear in Operational Notes (below). [Editor]

01-090 - Prince William FP (VA)/Antietam NB (MD) - Storm Impacts

High winds struck the two parks on the night of Tuesday, March 13th. 
Prince William lost power, and many park roads were blocked by downed 
trees. Clean-up is in progress and power is being restored. The park 
is open to visitors. At Antietam, the main park entrance sign in front 
of the visitor center was knocked out of its foundation, and some of 
the park's wooden fences were knocked down. A spruce tree over 100 
years old at the national cemetery snapped and damaged one of the 
headstones. Limbs and branches also littered the cemetery. [Blair 
Williamson, Dispatch, NCR Communications Center, 3/14]

                    [Additional reports pending...]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Plan

Tim Hartzell, director of Interior's Office of Wildland Fire 
Coordination, and Lyle Laverty, the Forest Service's National Fire 
Plan coordinator, testified yesterday before a joint session of the 
House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Interior and Related 
Agencies regarding implementation of the National Fire Plan.

DOI agencies are currently recruiting for firefighters and for other 
fire-related positions. Through funding provided by Congress, the 
Service will hire additional temporary, career/seasonal, and permanent 
positions. As of today, the NPS has filled 365 out of 832 temporary 
positions, 187 out of 277 career/seasonal positions, and 255 out of 
416 permanent positions.

Fire Programs

The Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC) and NWCG's 
Safety and Health Team recently produced updated and revised 
information and training materials about the wildland fire shelter. 
These are now available through the publications management system at 
the NIFC cache in Boise and replace ALL earlier shelter training 
materials. The new items are:

o       "Your Fire Shelter, 2001 Edition", NFES 1560, color pamphlet, 
        $.59 each.
o       "Using Your Fire Shelter, 2001", NFES 1568, 27-minute video, 
        $1.91 each.

These two items should be used to update all line fire personnel 
during mandatory annual refresher training, as there are significant 
differences from earlier training materials. These include increased 
warnings about direct flame impingement and resultant off-gassing and 
additional practical deployment information. An MTDC "tech tip" with 
additional information will be distributed shortly through agency 
channels.

Park Fires

No fires reported.

[Debee Schwarz, NPS Fire Information, WASO, 3/15; Paul Broyles, NPS 
FMPC, 3/14]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR SERVICES

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Comprehensive Condition Assessment Follow-up - The Service's national 
Type I IMT is developing a system to validate and verify deferred 
maintenance cost estimates in response to President Bush's commitment 
to reduce the National Park Service maintenance backlog. Yesterday, 
operations staff revised several draft papers to reflect comments 
received during yesterday's 25% review.  Implementation and training 
plans were also begun. Discussions were held with representatives from 
the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Infrastructure and the 
Constructed Environment regarding the statistical validity of the 
condition assessment framework. They agreed to assist, but recommended 
that a private consultant conduct the actual statistical analysis 
because of the imminent due date. There are currently 11 overhead 
personnel and 29 subject matter experts assigned to the incident. 
[Greg Stiles, Plans Chief, IMT]

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

INTERCHANGE

Point Reyes NS (CA) - The park is seeking information on illegal 
mountain bike trail constructions - specifically, the incidence and 
the long- and short-term monetary and ecological impacts from such 
trails. The park has a deadline looming, so would greatly appreciate 
the timely sharing of any information on this matter. Contact Karyl 
Yeston at 415-464-5175 or Michael Baldree at 415-464-5179 or via 
cc:Mail. [Karyl Yeston, PORE]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

WASO (DC) - The mid-level intake program vacancy announcements opened 
on March 12th and will remain open until April 11th. A table of the 22 
positions in the program and a direct link to each vacancy 
announcement on the USA Jobs web site can be found at these two sites 
(the first is internet, the second is intranet):

        www.nps.gov/training/current.html
        http://165.83.20.43/Amoeba/APC/APC_Homepage.nsf

The table contains a separate column for vacancy announcements 
applicable to external candidates (non-status, all sources) and 
internal candidates (merit promotion). The announcement are also 
available on the USA Jobs web site. All of the announcement numbers 
begin with "NPS Midlevel Intake." The web sites also include 
information on the status of filling the positions, where to obtain 
application forms, who to call for additional info, etc. [Deb Burton 
Orton, APC/Human Resources Franchise]

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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