NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Tuesday, May 15, 2001

                            *** NOTICE ***

Per order of the Department of Interior, all flags are to be lowered 
to half-staff today for Peace Officers Memorial Day. Flags will be 
returned to full staff tomorrow morning.

INCIDENTS

01-211 - Chiracahua NM (AZ) - Serious Employee Injury

Sometime during the morning of May 12th, fire technician Patrick 
Waldynski was seriously injured in a fall while hiking in the Garfield 
Peak area of the park. Waldynski lay unconscious in the area for an 
undetermined amount of time before regaining awareness and making his 
way to park housing. Park EMT Karen Hirsch and ranger Rick Roberts 
determined that he had suffered serious head trauma and that he had a 
three to four-inch gash in his head and multiple injuries to the right 
side of his body. They attended to his injuries along with Cochise 
County paramedics until an Arizona DPS helicopter arrived and flew him 
to Tucson Medical Center. Roberts was IC. [CRO, CHIR, 5/14]

01-212 - Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Rescue; Emotionally Disturbed Person

Park dispatch received an emergency call via satellite phone from a 
commercial river trip on the Colorado River at Saddle Canyon on the 
afternoon of May 14th. The trip leader reported that a passenger had 
become irrational and extremely violent and was threatening to kill 
himself. At one point, he'd removed his clothing and gone into the 
river. Crew members and passengers were able to partially control him 
until rangers Kent Delbon, Dave Desrosiers, Mike McGinnis and Ken 
Phillips could arrive in a park helicopter. The man was restrained, 
placed on a backboard and treated, then transported to Flagstaff 
Medical Center for medical and psychiatric evaluations. [Bill 
Vandergraff, IC, GRCA, 5/14]

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

Initial attack was moderate yesterday in the South and light 
elsewhere. Two new large fires were reported in the South and one 
large fire was contained in the northern Rockies. Florida will be dry 
and partly cloudy today. The Southwest will be warm, with enough 
moisture and instability for thunderstorms over the mountains. 
Northwest Nevada will have a chance of showers, with the rest of the 
area remaining dry.  Very high to extreme fire indices were reported 
in Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and Texas. 

NICC has issued two FIRE WEATHER WATCHES - one for low relative 
humidity in northern and central Florida, the other for low relative 
humidity and gusty winds in parts of New York.

The full NICC Incident Management Situation Report can be found at 
http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf

National Resource Status

Date                    5/11    5/12    5/13    5/14    5/15

Crews                   67      86      113     92      63
Engines                 101     156     159     125     123
Helicopters             23      27      29      25      25
Air Tankers             6       1       2       2       0
Overhead                204     359     531     390     444

Park Fires

Everglades NP (FL) - The Lopez Fire (8,030 acres - no change from 
Saturday) has been 90% contained. Full containment is expected today. 
A total of 70 firefighters and overhead have been committed, along 
with four engines and three helicopters. Summary: Firefighters are 
patrolling the fire perimeter and providing protection to park 
improvements. They are also prepared for initial attack on any new 
fires that may occur. Late Sunday afternoon, a burnout of about 300 to 
500 acres was conducted to secure the control line on the fire's 
southeast corner at Context Road. Unburned fuel between the line and 
the fire was consumed, making it possible for a smaller number of fire 
personnel to safely control the fire from the road. A sprinkler 
system, placed at Pa-hay-okee to protect the boardwalk, was removed on 
Monday. Fire monitoring continues via aerial reconnaissance and road 
patrols. Normal visitor activities are unaffected by the fire.

Park Fire Danger

Extreme         None
Very High       Everglades, Hawaii Volcanoes
High            None

[Deb Nordeen, IO, EVER, 5/14; NICC Incident Management Situation 
Report, 5/15; NPS Situation Summary Report, 5/14]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Yellowstone NP (WY) - The park is seeking an LE ranger for a detail 
assignment in the Old Faithful Subdistrict. The detail will start in 
early to mid-June and run for about 60 days. Exact dates are 
negotiable. The majority of the work consists of response to medical, 
law enforcement and resource protection incidents. For further 
information, please contact SDR Lane Baker or assistant SDR Alison 
Robb via email or at 307-545-2701. [Rick Obernesser, YELL]

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 (May 8th): 

o  H.R. 1776 (Green, TX), a bill to authorize the Secretary of the 
   Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of establishing 
   the Buffalo Bayou National Heritage Area in west Houston, Texas.
o  H.R. 1791 (Traficant, OH), a bill to provide a grant under the Land 
   and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to assist in the
   development of a Millennium Cultural Cooperative Park in 
   Youngstown, Ohio. 
o  H.R. 1814 (Olver, MA), a bill to amend the National Trails System 
   Act to designate the Metacomet-Monadnock-Sunapee-Mattabesett Trail 
   extending through western New Hampshire, western Massachusetts, and 
   central Connecticut for study for potential addition to the         
   National Trails System.

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  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  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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