NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Sunday, May 6, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-189 - Organ Pipe Cactus NM (AZ) - Drug/Illegal Immigrant Incidents

The park continues to deal with the smuggling of drugs and 
undocumented aliens across its roads and lands. The following occurred 
during April:

o       April 8th - 17th - An eleven-day interdiction operation was 
        conducted using a special events team squad and detailed 
        rangers. From six to nine rangers worked 12-hour shifts. They 
        seized 325 pounds of marijuana in one incident, but the 
        backpackers carrying it fled back into Mexico. The rangers 
        also counted over 1,000 undocumented aliens traveling on two 
        of the many illegal trails through the park. All were reported 
        to the Border Patrol. A good deal of intelligence was gathered 
        on recent smuggling patterns.

o       April 11th - Border Patrol agents notified rangers that they'd 
        stopped an unlicensed driver with no insurance. The driver was 
        cited. He was shuttling undocumented aliens from the border to 
        a spot just south of the new Border Patrol checkpoint on 
        Highway 85. The driver was turned over to the Border Patrol, 
        and the rental vehicle was impounded.

o       April 14th - Rangers saw a heavily-loaded van leave the 
        visitor center parking lot. When they followed, the driver 
        pulled off the roadway and left it there with its motor 
        running. Seven undocumented aliens also exited and fled into 
        the desert. The van was impounded.

o       April 17th - Two rangers parked on Pozo Nuevo Road and got out 
        of their cruiser to look at a snake. An unidentified van that 
        was thought to be involved in smuggling approached at a high 
        rate of speed. Upon seeing the cruiser, the van accelerated, 
        then struck and broke the patrol vehicle's open side door off 
        its hinges. The van nearly overturned, but the driver was able 
        to keep it going and made it to Mexico. Neither of the rangers 
        was hurt.

o       April 24th - A park ranger and a Fish and Wildlife Service 
        agent tracked down a group of seven undocumented aliens who 
        were resting in a wash. After detaining four of them for the 
        Border Patrol, the agent became dehydrated (the temperature 
        was near 100 degrees) and needed medical assistance.  He was 
        flown out to a hospital by a DPS helicopter and recovered.

o       April 29th - Border Patrol agents notified rangers that four 
        vehicles were being driven through the desert and that they 
        were going to attempt to stop them. Three fled back toward 
        Mexico at a high rate of speed. Rangers attempted to road 
        spike the tires on one of the vehicles, but the driver 
        successfully avoided them. Two of the three vehicles made it 
        to Mexico, but one got stuck in a ditch. The two occupants 
        fled across the border. The vehicle contained about 350 pounds 
        of marijuana. The fourth vehicle probably continued north on a 
        new road made through the park by smugglers to circumvent the 
        Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 85.

[Dale Thompson, CR, ORPI, 4/27]

01-190 - Pinnacles NM (CA) - Search and Rescue

While closing up at 9:30 p.m. on April 30th, ranger Shawn Murphy came 
upon an unattended vehicle in the Chaparral parking lot in the West 
District. Murphy recognized the vehicle as belonging to local resident 
Dr. D.G. D.G. is well known to district staff as a hiker who 
frequently explores off-trail, but always returns to his vehicle well 
before dark. D.G. had left a note on the vehicle, saying that he was 
headed to Resurrection Wall. Murphy knew that the 80-year-old D.G. has 
had two knee replacement operations, so began a hasty search of the 
Resurrection Wall area. Murphy made voice contact with D.G. around 10 
p.m. and found that the doctor was stranded on a ledge about 25 feet 
above the base of the wall. Several rangers from the East District 
arrived shortly thereafter and helped establish a staging area. Ranger 
Neal Labrie climbed up to D.G. and lowered him to the base of the 
wall. D.G. was uninjured. He had evidently gotten stuck on the ledge 
when attempting to reach his dropped backpack. When he found that he 
was stranded, he chose to stay put and await help. Increased 
visitation this  spring has brought with it a noticeable increase in 
SAR and EMS incidents. [Neal Labrie, DR, East District, PINN, 5/3]

                   [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Plan

No new information. Please check the NPS Fire Management Program 
Center web page (www.fire.nps.gov) for further information on fire 
plan projects.

National Fire Situation

Preparedness Level 1. No new large fires have been reported.  Initial 
attack activity was moderate in the South yesterday and light 
elsewhere. A weak high pressure system will build over the Southwest 
today, bringing gusty winds and warmer temperatures. High pressure in 
the South is breaking up; a weak cold front is moving southward into 
the Carolinas early in the day and is expected to bring isolated 
showers to coastal Georgia by the afternoon. A strong storm system 
from the Midwest will bring rain to Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi 
and Tennessee, with moderate to severe thunderstorms possible 
throughout the day.  Very high to extreme fire danger was reported 
yesterday in Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin. 

A RED FLAG WARNING has been posted for low relative humidity and wind 
in northeastern Florida and southwestern Georgia, and a FIRE WEATHER 
WATCH has been issued for low relative humidity and wind in west 
central and southwest Florida and the Florida Panhandle.

National Resource Status

Date            5/4     5/5     5/6

Crews           28      21      9
Engines         79      59      29
Helicopters     18      18      7
Air Tankers     0       0       0
Overhead        201     142     43

Park Fires

No new fires reported.

Park Fire Danger

Very High       Big Bend
High            Hawaii Volcanoes, New River, Great Smokies, Everglades

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 5/6; NPS Situation Summary 
Report, 5/5]

ADDITIONAL SECTIONS

Regular sections not appearing today (due either to lack of 
submissions or time constraints in preparing this edition) but are 
available at all times:

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.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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address requests pertaining to receipt of the Morning Report to your 
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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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