NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Tuesday, May 8, 2001

INCIDENTS

00-645 - Scotts Bluff NM (NE) - Follow-up: Rockslide

Last October, a rockslide closed Saddle Rock trail, the only hiking 
trail to the summit of Scotts Bluff. On May 5th, the 3,000 tons of 
rock and debris left by the slide were removed through a series of 
four blasts set off by six NPS blasters from Rocky Mountain NP and 
Badlands NP. The blasting took place after an environmental assessment 
was completed and a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) was 
approved. Park staff and cooperating agencies, operating under ICS, 
kept a major portion of the park closed off as a safety zone. Rain 
that fell throughout the day kept visitation to a minimum. There were 
no significant incidents. [Deb Qualey, CR, SCBL, 5/7]

01-193 - Isle Royale NP (MI) - Structural Fire

On the afternoon of May 7th, a three-bedroom Mission 66 park residence 
was found fully engulfed in flames in the West District on Isle 
Royale. The unoccupied building burned to the ground. There were no 
injuries. It appears that the fire was started by a faulty furnace. 
[Pete Armington, CR, ISRO, 5/7]

                   [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.Three new large fires were reported, one each in 
the South, East and the northern Rockies. Initial attack activity was 
moderate in the South and light elsewhere. An approaching trough will 
bring a chance of thunderstorms from Kentucky to Mississippi. Florida 
will continue to experience dry conditions as high pressure aloft 
remains in place. The Southwest will remain warm and dry as well, 
except for the mountains of New Mexico, where there will be a chance 
of showers and thunderstorms. 

No fire watches or red flag warnings have been issued for today.

National Resource Status

Date                    5/4     5/5     5/6     5/7     5/8

Crews                   28      21      9       18      23
Engines                 79      59      29      24      63
Helicopters             18      18      7       9       12
Air Tankers             0       0       0       0       0
Overhead                201     142     43      63      131

Park Fires

Fire Island NS (NY) - A fire was discovered on the William Floyd 
Estate just before 4 p.m. on May 6th. The fire began in the southeast 
section of the estate near the bay marsh and burned in phragmities, 
blueberry, pine and other small woods. Mastic Beach VFD responded and 
called for assistance; thirteen engine companies responded. The fire 
burned 30 to 40 acres before being contained that evening. The park 
then took over management of mop-up and overnight surveillance. Park 
staff and FWS personnel from the Long Island Refuge Complex are 
currently on scene, managing the perimeter and looking for hot spots. 
A heavy dew and high tide on Sunday night helped extinguish embers. 
Arson is suspected. Richard Stavdal is the IC.

Park Fire Danger

Very High       N/A
High            Joshua Tree, Great Smokies, Everglades

[NICC Incident Summary Report, 5/8; NPS Situation Summary Report, 5/7; 
Costa Dillon, FIIS, 5/7]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Foot and Mouth Disease - The Service's national Type 1 incident 
management team has been working on the development of interim 
foot-and-mouth disease prevention and response plans for the past 
several weeks. Draft plans were completed on May 2nd and sent to 
reviewers representing both the scientific and park operations 
communities. The plans will be published and disseminated this week 
via three modes - paper copies, electronic files, and a web page. The 
team will close out operations on Wednesday. Seven overhead personnel, 
four subject matter specialists and a dozen reviewers have been 
involved in this effort. [Greg Stiles, IC]

FILM AT 11. . .

The current issue of the Smithsonian Magazine (May, 2001) has a 
feature on the Park Police horse-mounted unit training program. It 
also contains an interview with Denis Ayers, who ran the unit for a 
number of years and was a ranger at Manassas NBP for another ten 
years. [Bill Supernaugh, BADL]

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

Tuesday, May 8th

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

o       H.R. 1161, a bill to provide for the establishment of the 
        Tomas G. Masaryk Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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.

Witness:  John Parsons, Associate Regional Director, Lands, Resources 
and Planning, National Capital Region. The hearing will be held at 10 
a.m. in 1334 Longworth.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (Murkowski): Oversight 
hearing on the FY 2002 DOI budget request. Witness: Secretary Norton. 
The hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. in 366 Dirksen.

Thursday, May 10th

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, 
Historic Preservation, and Recreation (Thomas): Oversight hearing on 
the FY 2002 NPS budget request. The hearing will be at 2:30 p.m. in 
366 Dirksen.

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 (May 1st): 

o       H.R. 1668 (Roemer, IN), a bill to authorize the Adams Memorial 
        Foundation to establish a commemorative work on federal land 
        in the District of Columbia and its environs to honor former 
        President John Adams and his family.
o       H.R. 1696 (Stump, AZ), a bill to expedite the construction of 
        the World War II memorial in the District of Columbia.
o       H.R. 1712 (Faleomavaega, AS), a bill to authorize the 
        Secretary of the Interior to make minor adjustments to the 
        boundary of the National Park of American Samoa to include 
        certain portions of the islands of Ofu and Olosega within the 
        park, and for other purposes.
o       H.R. 1738 (Traficant, OH), a bill to provide a grant under the 
        urban park and recreation recovery program to assist in the 
        development of a Millennium Cultural Cooperative Park in 
        Youngstown, Ohio.
o       S. 817 (Domenici, NM), a bill to amend the National Trails 
        System Act to designate the Old Spanish Trail as a National 
        Historic Trail.

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 (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       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.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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