NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Tuesday, April 10, 2001

                           *** NOTICE ***

         There was no Morning Report on Monday, April 9th.
 
INCIDENTS

00-744 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Follow-up: Illegal BASE Jumping 

On the afternoon of December 9, 2000, visitors in the Fayette Station 
area of the park called 911 via cellular phone and reported that 
several parachutists had just jumped off of the New River Gorge Bridge 
and landed on park property below.  The visitors took photos of two of 
the parachutist in mid-air, then called 911 again with vehicle 
descriptions when the jumpers drove off. Rangers and officers from 
several other law enforcement agencies responded and stopped both 
vehicles.  Four men - J.K. of Landsdowne, Pennsylvania, R.W. 
of Alexandria, Virginia, D.M. of Louisville, 
Kentucky, and D.B. also of Louisville - were issued 
mandatory appearance violation notices for illegal aerial delivery. On 
April 6th, all four pled guilty in magistrate's court. Each was fined 
$600. [Rick Brown, ACR, NERI, 4/8]

01-036 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - BASE Jumping Injury

S.M., 33, of Wadsworth, Ohio, parachuted from the New River 
Gorge Bridge at 1:40 a.m. on April 7th. It was dark and overcast at 
the time of the jump and very foggy within the gorge. S.M. was 
evidently unable to see his landing zone and landed in treetops below 
and upstream from the bridge. He then released himself from his 
parachute harness and fell 40 feet, landing on the rocky ground below. 
Two companions - J.M., 37, and A.P., 20, also from 
Ohio - called 911 for assistance. Rescuers found him about 45 minutes 
later. He was semi-conscious and had a fractured arm and extensive 
head trauma. A multi-agency team comprised of rangers, county police, 
and fire and EMS personnel stabilized S.M. and transported him up 
the steep slope to a waiting ambulance. He was taken to a hospital, 
then transferred to a trauma center in Charleston, West Virginia, 
where he is listed in critical condition. Alcohol may have been a 
contributing factor. S.M. will be charged with illegal aerial 
delivery; J.M. has been charged with aiding and abetting. An 
investigation is underway. [Rick Brown, ACR, NERI, 4/8]

                   [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Plan

At the Fire Management Leadership Board meeting last week in Boise, 
regional FMOs provided the Fire Management Program Center with an 
updated list of wildland urban interface (WUI) projects that the parks 
will undertake this year. The selected projects also had to be on the 
list of projects compiled by the states for completion or planning in 
CY 2001. Regional FMOs have the authority to immediately approve all 
projects that appear on the list, thereby permitting parks to begin 
work using WUI funding.

Park Fires

No fires reported. The fire danger is very high at Mammoth Cave NP and 
high at Everglades NP.

[Debee Schwarz, NPS Fire Information, WASO, 4/9; NPS Situation Summary 
Report, 4/10]

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.

NOTE: Congress is in recess through April 23rd, so there will be no 
update next week.

HEARINGS/MARK-UPS

Tuesday, April 24th 

Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies 
(Burns): Hearing on FY 2002 budget request for the Department of 
Interior. Witness: Secretary Norton. The hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. 
in SD-138 Dirksen. 

Wednesday, April 25th 

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior (Skeen): Hearing on FY 
2002 budget request for the Department of Interior. Witness: Secretary 
Norton. The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in B-308 Rayburn.

Thursday, April 26th 

House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public 
Lands (Hefley): Hearing on:

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. 640, a bill to adjust boundaries at Santa Monica 
        Mountains NRA.
o       H.R. 1000 (Portman, OH), a bill to adjust the boundary of the 
        William Howard Taft National Historic Site in the state of 
        Ohio, to authorize an exchange of land in connection with the 
        historic site, and for other purposes.

The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. in 1334 Longworth.

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 (April 3rd): 

o       H.R 1334 (Gilman, NY), a bill to convey certain Federal 
        properties on Governors Island, New York.
o       H.R. 1363 (Otter,  ID), a bill to help ensure general aviation 
        aircraft access to Federal land and to the airspace over that 
        land.
o       H.R. 1380 (Udall, CO), a bill to designate as wilderness 
        certain lands within the Rocky Mountain National Park in the 
        State of Colorado.
o       H.R. 1381 (Udall, CO), a bill to direct the Secretary of the 
        Interior to establish the Cooperative Landscape Conservation 
        Program.
o       H.R. 1384 (Udall, CO), a bill to amend the National Trails 
        System Act to designate the Navajo Long Walk to Bosque Redondo 
        as a national historic trail.
o       H.R. 1456 (Goode, VA), a bill to expand the boundary of the 
        Booker T. Washington National Monument, and for other 
        purposes.
o       H.R. 1461 (Hefley, CO), a bill to amend the National Parks 
        Omnibus Management Act of 1998 to remove the exemption for 
        nonprofit organizations from the general requirement to obtain 
        commercial use authorizations.
o       H.R. 1462 (Hefley, CO), a bill to require the Secretary of the 
        Interior to establish a program to provide assistance through 
        states to eligible weed management entities to control or 
        eradicate harmful, nonnative weeds on public and private land.
o       H.R. 1465 (Holt, NJ), a bill to restrict the use of 
        snowmobiles in units of the National Park System.
o       H.R. 1491 (Matheson, 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. 1518 (Simmons, CT), a bill to require the Secretary of 
        the Interior to include on the National Register of Historic 
        Places the Avery Point Lighthouse in Groton, Connecticut, and 
        provide $200,000 for the restoration of that lighthouse. 

o       S. 679 (Cleland, GA), a bill to establish the Arabia Mountain 
        National Heritage Area in the State of Georgia, and for other 
        purposes.
o       S. 681 (Crapo, ID), a bill to help ensure general aviation 
        aircraft access to Federal land and to the airspace over that 
        land.
o       S. 689 (Schumer,  NY), a bill to convey certain Federal 
        properties on Governors Island, New York.
o       S. 712 (Thomas, WY), a bill to prohibit commercial air tour 
        operations over Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton 
        National Park.

NEW LAWS

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

No new laws.

ADDITIONAL SECTIONS

Regular sections not appearing today but available at all times for 
submissions:

o       Natural/Cultural Resource Management - Significant 
        developments in these fields.
o       Interpretation/Visitor Services - Significant developments in 
        these fields.
o       Operational Notes - Any information of consequence to the 
        field on operational matters.
o       Memoranda - Memoranda from WASO to the field on all 
        operational matters.
o       Interchange - Requests or offers from any park or office for 
        materials, information or any other operational needs.
o       Parks and People - Reports on people (job openings, 
        retirements, etc.) and parks (significant happenings of any 
        kind).
o       Hot Links - Web addresses for NPS-related sites.
o       Film at 11 - Reports on current or upcoming print or 
        electronic media stories on the NPS.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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