NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Wednesday, May 16, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-213 - Curecanti NRA (CO) - Airplane Crash with Fatalities

A low-flying twin-engine plane struck power lines and plunged into 
Blue Mesa Reservoir near Elk Creek Marina around 7:45 p.m. on Friday, 
May 11th. Park staff and rescue workers from the Gunnison County 
Sheriff's Office responded immediately, but found no survivors. The 
aircraft is at the bottom of the lake in about 130 feet of water. 
Because of the depth and temperature of the water and the altitude of 
the reservoir, the recovery plan will include a commercial salvage and 
recovery operation. The FAA and NTSB were notified and are conducting 
preliminary investigations. Communication with the park and electric 
service to the Elk Creek area were disrupted for almost two days while 
workers replaced power lines. [Linda Alick, CR, CURE, 5/15]

01-214 - Denali NP&P (AK) - Rescue

A South Korean climber arrived at the 14,200-foot camp on Mount 
McKinley on the afternoon of May 14th, asking for assistance. The 
cause of his illness was unknown at the time of the report, but the 
climber has a history of ulcers and medical personnel at the camp 
suspected gastrointestinal bleeding. Clear skies permitted his 
evacuation to the 7,200-foot camp via the park's Lama helicopter. An 
Air National Guard Pavehawk helicopter picked him up that evening and 
took him to Alaska Regional Hospital. A total of 1,319 climbers have 
registered to climb the peak so far this year; 130 climbers checked in 
last Friday alone. [Daryl Miller, IC, DENA, 5/14]

01-215 - Zion NP (UT) - Falling Fatality 

Ten-year-old M.M. of Las Vegas fell to his death on the 
evening of Sunday, May 13th. M.M. was hiking on the Canyon Overlook 
trail with family and friends during a rain and hail storm. The rain 
caused flash flooding, including a stream of water that cascaded 
across the trail. Initial reports are that M.M. and his brother were 
swept off the trail and over the edge while attempting to cross this 
stream. The younger brother got caught on a tree and was rescued, but 
M.M. fell about 250 feet down a steep slope and another 150 vertical 
feet in the slot canyon formed by Pine Creek. Park dispatch received 
the call just after 6 p.m. The park SAR team was immediately 
dispatched; the first ranger to arrive, a park medic, rappelled down 
into the canyon, located the boy, and determined that the fall had 
been fatal. Another rainstorm that swept through the area caused 
additional flash flooding and hampered recovery efforts. The boy's 
body was recovered around 11 p.m. [Aniceto Olais, CR, ZION, 5/14]

01-216 - Morristown NHP (NJ) - Special Event

On May 13th, the Second Amendment Sisters, an organization "dedicated 
to promoting the human right to self-defense, as recognized by the 
Second Amendment," held a rally in the Jockey Hollow unit of the park 
under a First Amendment special use permit. A similar rally by the 
Million Mom March, a group in favor of stricter gun control laws, was 
scheduled for a county park adjacent to Jockey Hollow at the same date 
and time, but the latter event was moved to May 12th. The Second 
Amendment Sisters rally drew about 200 people. There were no 
incidents. Rangers from Delaware Water Gap NRA assisted at the event. 
[Gregory Smith, Acting CR, MORR, 5/14]

01-217 - Whiskeytown NRA (CA) - Theft of Government Property

On Saturday, May 5th, rangers discovered that the VenTek automated fee 
machine at the entrance to the Brandy Creek swim area was missing. 
There are five such machines throughout the park; the one at Brandy 
Creek was the most isolated, but also the most heavily used. The 
thieves evidently drove a large pickup truck to the machine, attached 
a chain to its base, then literally yanked it out of the ground. The 
machine was mounted on a quarter-inch steel pedestal that was filled 
with concrete and surrounded by another 24 inches of concrete. The 
total weight was about 500 pounds. The estimated loss to the 
government has been placed at over $25,000, which doesn't include the 
unknown amount of money in the machine. [Larry Carr, CR, WHIS, 5/14]

01-218 - Gulf Islands NS (FL/MS) - Drug Seizure

While on patrol on April 14th, ranger Ryan Parr received a tip from a 
citizen regarding the possibility of a marijuana cultivation operation 
in the Naval Live Oaks section of the park. Parr, ranger Carl Dyer, 
and an investigator from the Gulf Breeze PD began conducting 
surveillance on the location. No positive leads turned up, so the 
investigation was terminated. On May 7th, rangers seized 77 plants 
with an approximate street value of $77,000. [CRO, GUIS, 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 in the South yesterday and light 
elsewhere. Five new large fires were reported in Florida and one each 
in Montana and Minnesota. One large fire was contained in Nevada; 
another was contained in Virginia.  Persistent high pressure will 
continue in Florida, keeping the area dry and partly cloudy. High 
pressure will move into Montana from the west, bringing breezy to very 
windy conditions to the area. Very high to extreme fire indices were 
reported in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Nevada and Texas. 

NICC has issued a RED FLAG WARNING for low relative humidity this 
afternoon in the Florida Panhandle, and two FIRE WEATHER WATCHES - one 
for low relative humidity in the afternoon in the majority of Florida 
and southeast Georgia, the other for strong, gusty northwest winds in 
the majority of central, south central and southeast Montana, 
northwest South Dakota and the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.

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

National Resource Status

Date                    5/12    5/13    5/14    5/15    5/16

Crews                   86      113     92      63      54
Engines                 156     159     125     123     88
Helicopters             27      29      25      25      22
Air Tankers             1       2       2       0       1
Overhead                359     531     390     444     337

Park Fires

Everglades NP (FL) - The Lopez Fire (8,233 acres - up 203 acres from 
Monday) has been 90% contained. A total of 63 firefighters and 
overhead are currently committed, along with three engines, three 
helicopters and a single-engine air tanker. Summary, as of yesterday: 
A burnout operation of about 200 acres was begun late Sunday afternoon 
to secure the control line on the fire's southeast corner at Context 
Road. Burnout of an additional 500 acres began on Monday afternoon. 
Firefighting activities are now focused on patrolling the perimeter of 
the fire, looking for hotspots in the hardwood hammocks. This fire 
will probably continue to smolder in the hammocks until sufficient 
rain falls on the area, so there is still a threat that it could 
escape into unburned vegetation. Fire monitoring will continue via 
aerial reconnaissance and road patrols. Cooperating agencies include 
the National Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, 
Bureau of Indian Affairs (Wewoka Seminole Nation and Fort Apache), 
South Carolina Forestry Commission, Indiana Forestry Commission, and 
the Florida Statewide Unified Command. 

Herbert Hoover NHS (IA) - The park conducted a prescribed fire in 
about 27 acres of the park's 76-acre, reconstructed tallgrass prairie 
on May 13th. Members of the Buffalo FUM (fire use module) assisted. 
The fire was begun on May 9th, with assistance of the Black Hills FUM, 
but had to be shut down due to winds that exceeded the fire's 
prescription. Rain delayed the fire on the 13th, but the plan's 
objectives were still achieved - smooth brome mortality ranged from 
80% to 95% throughout the burn units. Success of the project has been 
attributed to the MWR FUM program. 

Park Fire Danger

Extreme         Hawaii Volcanoes
Very High       Everglades
High            None

[Dan Banta, CR, HEHO, 5/14; Deb Nordeen, IO, EVER, 5/15; NICC Incident 
Management Situation Report, 5/16; NPS Situation Summary Report, 5/15]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Yellowstone NP (WY) - Volcano Observatory

In order to strengthen the long-term monitoring of volcanic and 
earthquake unrest in the Yellowstone NP region, USGS, the park, and 
the University of Utah have entered into an agreement to establish the 
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO).  This agreement provides for 
improved collaborative study and monitoring of active geologic 
processes and hazards of the Yellowstone volcanic field and caldera, 
site of the largest and most diverse collection of natural hot 
springs, mud pots and steam vents in the world and the first national 
park. YVO is modeled after USGS volcano observatories in Hawaii, 
Alaska, California and the Pacific Northwest. These observatories 
employ a variety of ground-based instruments and satellite data to 
monitor active and restless volcanoes and conduct a variety of studies 
to understand their eruptive and seismic histories and potential 
hazards. Together, the five observatories monitor 43 of the 70 or so 
potentially hazardous volcanoes in the United States. The five 
observatories are operated under the auspices of the USGS Volcano 
Hazards Program. The park and surrounding area encompass the largest 
active magmatic system in North America.  The spectacular geysers, 
boiling hot springs, and mud pots that have made Yellowstone famous 
owe their existence to volcanic activity that has affected the region 
during the past 2 million years. Cataclysmic explosive eruptions 2 
million, 1.3 million, and 640 thousand years ago ejected huge volumes 
of molten rock and formed large overlapping elliptical depressions 
called calderas.  The youngest caldera in the park, about 50 miles 
long and 30 miles wide, has been buried by the most recent eruptions 
of thick lava flows between about 75,000 and 150,000 years ago.  
Yellowstone region is seismically active.  The 1959 Hebgen Lake 
earthquake (surface-wave magnitude 7.5), centered just outside the 
Park's northwestern boundary, caused 28 fatalities and is one of the 
15 strongest earthquakes ever recorded in the contiguous United 
States. Information about the observatory is available at these sites:

YVO - http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/ 
University of Utah - http://www.seis.utah.edu/yvo AND 
http://www.mines.utah.edu/~rbsmith/RESEARCH/UUGPS.html

[Public Affairs, YELL]

FILM AT 11...

On May 13th, National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition" broadcast a 
feature story on technical and constitutional issues regarding a 
proposal to use speed cameras to cite speeders on George Washington 
Memorial Parkway. GWMP superintendent Audrey Calhoun and PWR regional 
chief ranger Jay Wells were interviewed. The story can be heard at: 
http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun/. [Michael Shaver, SAHI]

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  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.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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