NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Wednesday, May 30, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-236 - Chickamauga and Chattanooga NMP (GA/TN) - Theft Arrest

During the early morning hours of April 18th, two locked NPS vehicles 
parked behind the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center were 
entered through their passenger side front windows. The window of one 
vehicle, a maintenance pickup truck, was broken, and both vehicles 
suffered damage to their steering columns in unsuccessful attempts to 
start them. A police shotgun was stolen from a locked mount in the 
second vehicle, a law enforcement Tahoe.   Other vehicles parked at 
nearby residences were also entered and damaged, and one was stolen 
and burned. Ranger Dennis Curry collected fingerprints and blood 
evidence from the scene, and the fingerprints were analyzed through 
the Chattanooga Police Department's automated fingerprint 
identification system. On May 8th, the fingerprint analysis identified 
the suspect as one D.H. On May 10th, D.H. was arrested at his 
mother's residence in Chattanooga. During the subsequent 
interrogation, D.H. admitted to entering the vehicles and stealing the 
shotgun, claiming that the shotgun lock opened after D.H. struck it 
with a hammer. Further investigation determined that D.H. had given 
the shotgun to another man to sell for him, and that the weapon had 
changed hands twice more before it was recovered by Curry in 
Lafayette, Georgia, on May 22nd. Numerous federal and state charges 
are pending.  Curry's lead investigation, along with the combined 
efforts of other NPS staff, ATF, and numerous local law enforcement 
agencies, resulted in the case being solved and the weapon recovered, 
cleared other local cases, and contributed intelligence to on-going 
investigations involving multiple jurisdictions.  [Sam Weddle, CR, 
CHCH, 5/29]

01-237 - C&O Canal NHP (MD/DC) - Stolen Vehicle; Arrests

Palisades DR Joe Pond was orienting new rangers Tad Pultorak and Rob 
Gydus to the park on the evening of May 26th when they came upon two 
men at the White's Ferry access who rapidly jumped into a 2000 
Chevrolet Impala with New York plates and fled the area. Their 
suspicious activities led Pond to check the vehicle's registration 
while the rangers followed the Impala. The vehicle came back as 
possibly stolen, so the rangers continued to follow the car as it left 
the park and requested backup from Montgomery County PD. The driver of 
the Impala suddenly turned the car into a side road and stopped. The 
rangers made a felony traffic stop and arrested the two occupants - 
driver P.R., 53, and passenger R.W., 55 - without 
incident. The vehicle was confirmed as stolen and the owner said that 
he would press charges, so the two men were taken to a detention 
center and interrogated. The vehicle was impounded. Wilson was 
subsequently released, but Robinson was held for felony receipt of 
stolen property. [Keith Whisenant, CHOH, 5/29]

01-238 - Haleakala NP (HI) - Escaped Felon Apprehended

On May 26th, maintenance worker John Brown and interpretive ranger 
Byron Cook saw and identified a prison escapee in the park's Kipahulu 
campground and notified ranger Jon Liakos. J.D., a 6'4" martial 
arts master, had escaped earlier in the week from the Maui Community 
Correctional  Center. Although J.D. was evidently under the influence 
of crystal methamphetamine, Liakos was able to arrest him without 
incident. [Karen Newton, CR, HALE, 5/29]

                   [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

New large fires were reported yesterday in Florida; one large fire was 
contained in Oregon.  High pressure over the West will bring sunny, 
hot and dry weather today. Very high to extreme fire indices were 
reported in Arizona, California, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas and Utah.

NICC has posted the following for today:

o       A RED FLAG WARNING for gusty north to northeast winds and low 
        relative humidity for the northern Sacramento Valley and 
        surrounding foothills in California.
o       A FIRE WEATHER WATCH for gusty northeast winds and low 
        relative humidity for the southern portion of the Sacramento 
        Valley.
o       A FIRE WEATHER WATCH for low relative humidity for portions of 
        the Florida Panhandle.

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

National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)

Date                    5/26    5/27    5/28    5/29    5/30

Crews                   32      50      62      84      113
Engines                 83      153     126     169     237
Helicopters             24      31      32      35      34
Air Tankers             0       2       1       1       0
Overhead                308     353     341     383     598

Park Fire Situation

Carlsbad Caverns NP/Guadalupe Mountains NP - All park firefighters 
remain committed to the Hidden and Devil's Den Fires, burning on the 
Lincoln NF. The two fires have burned a total of over 1,000 acres to 
the north of the two parks, but are now contained. 

Big Bend NP - The Diablos, a hand crew from northern Mexico that has 
been trained by Big Bend staff, has accepted an order to work on the 
Hidden Fire. John Morlock is serving as crew boss and most of the 
park's fire staff has gone along as overhead. The Diablos includes 
about 14 Mexican firefighters.

Grand Canyon NP - The park reports one new fire of a tenth of an acre. 
It has been contained and controlled.

Park Fire Danger

Extreme         N/A
Very High       Lake Mead, Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains
High            Everglades, Hawaii Volcanoes, Joshua Tree

[Mike Warren, NPS FMPC, 5/29; NICC Incident Management Situation 
Report, 5/30; NPS Situation Summary Report, 5/29]

INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR SERVICES

Trail of Tears NHT (OK) - Museum Exhibits Opened

The grand opening of the new "Trail of Tears" exhibits was held at the 
Cherokee National Museum in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on May 12th. The 
exhibits were a joint project between the Long Distance Trails Group 
Office in Santa Fe, which administers the Trail of Tears National 
Historic Trail, and the Cherokee National Historical Society, with 
assistance from the Cherokee Nation. The NPS provided $790,000 for 
exhibit planning and fabrication. The exhibits show the roundup of the 
Cherokee from their homes in the Southeast, their incarceration in 
camps under military guard, their removal along the Trail of Tears, 
and the beginning of the rebuilding of the Cherokee Nation in Indian 
Territory (present day Oklahoma). Exhibit titles and primary text are 
done in English and Cherokee and all audio visual programs are in both 
languages. A Cherokee language audio tour of the exhibits is under 
development.  The 2,000 square-foot exhibit area includes a number of 
special exhibit areas and techniques. For example, the tragedy of the 
trail experience is partly told through first person audio accounts of 
trail events documented in historic records, as well as stories 
carried down through oral tradition. Each audio story is represented 
by life-size sculptures made from live casts of current Cherokee 
Nation members. A 20-foot-long "bead wall," consisting of 12,000 white 
beads representing those who survived removal and 2,000 red and 2,000 
black beads representing the range of estimates of those who died, 
provides a graphic overview of the extent of the tragedy.  The 
hand-made clay beads were fabricated and woven into the bead wall by 
Cherokee artists. Exhibit planning and design was guided by the 
principles of universal design to make the exhibits usable by all 
people, to the greatest extent possible, without adaptation or 
specialized design. Where necessary, specific techniques to make the 
exhibits accessible to people with disabilities, such as open 
captioning and audio description of audio visual programs, were used. 
Many exhibit elements, such as the figures and bead wall mentioned 
previously, can be touched by visitors. Ray Bloomer, an NPS employee 
based at the National Center on Accessibility, and Jan Majewski, the 
Smithsonian Institution's accessibility specialist, served as 
consultants on the project. [John Conoboy, LDTGO]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Facility Management Division Update - Recent developments in the 
division include the following:

o       Comprehensive Condition Assessment (CCA) - The division 
        continues to work on a process for validating and verifying 
        cost estimates for deferred maintenance projects, as required 
        by law (PL 98-450). The objective is to determine what 
        resources and activities are required to maintain facilities 
        and infrastructure in good operating condition. Efforts 
        continue at establishing an automated system for collecting 
        such information. Thirty parks have been selected to pilot a 
        new facility management software; six of these (Big Cypress, 
        Effigy Mounds, Fort Caroline, Redwood, Santa Monica Mountains, 
        and Timucuan) have been selected as pilot parks for completing 
        an initial CCA report, due by September 30th.

o       Housing - Recent developments include:

        *       The revised DO for housing (DO-36) will be going out 
                to the field for another 60-day review shortly. This 
                draft revision incorporates comments received from the 
                field review of an earlier draft. 
        *       Regions have been delegated the authority to formulate 
                housing initiatives under the PMIS project request 
                system. This includes all trailer replacement, housing 
                rehabilitation, and excess housing removal projects 
                that have been regionally approved. The Housing Office 
                has asked that regional offices formulate all projects 
                for consideration for funding in FY 2002 and 2003 by 
                close of business on June 1st.
        *       The DOI Quarters Management Office will be holding 
                four training courses on conducting housing surveys 
                over coming months: New Mexico survey training, 
                Albuquerque, NM, August 15-16; Caribbean survey 
                training, Charlotte, NC, October 10-11; Southeast 
                survey training, Charlotte, NC, October 10-11; and 
                generic survey training, Denver, CO, November 7-8.
        
Additional information on Facility Management Division programs can be 
obtained on the web at http://pfmd.nps.gov. The opening page lists 
each program on the site. [FMD/WASO]

INTERCHANGE

Servicewide - An effort is currently underway to compile the names of 
all current NPS employees who are also returned Peace Corps volunteers 
(RPCV's). Once compiled, the list will be made available to all NPS 
RPCV's. Those interested may also have their names placed on the 
Office of International Affairs (OIA) skills roster, a listing of 
employees interested in participating in NPS-assisted projects 
internationally. If you would like to be included in the database, 
send the following information to Kurt Foote at NP-WABA (or 
Kurt-Foote@nps.gov):

Name                  Position                Park
Country of Service    Years of Service        Peace Corps Program
Email Address         Work Phone (optional)   Interest in OIA listing

Questions may be directed to Foote at 580-497-2742 ext 3. [Kurt Foote, 
WABA - PCV, Senegal, 1990-1992, Agroforestry)

FILM AT 11...

A number of articles have appeared in national and international media 
on President Bush's current visit to Sequoia/Kings Canyon and speeches 
made during the visit. For a representative sample, check the Reuters 
news service site (http://www.reuters.com/) and click on "Bush to 
Announce New Step to Help National Parks," or the article entitled 
"U.S. To Press For Cleaner Air At Parks" on the Washington Post site 
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A93987-2001May29.html).

                            *  *  *  *  *

The Morning Report solicits entries from the field and central offices 
for its daily and weekly sections (below). The general rule is that 
submissions, whatever the category, should pertain to operations, be 
useful to the field, and have broad significance across the agency. 
Additional details on submission criteria are available from the 
editor at any time (Bill Halainen at NP-DEWA, or 
Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). Ask for either incident reporting criteria 
(issued by WASO, June 18, 2000) or general criteria. 

Daily and weekly sections are available for news or significant 
developments pertaining to:

Field incidents                 Interpretation and visitor services
Natural resource management     Cultural resource management
Operations (WASO only)          Memoranda (WASO only
Requests/offers of assistance   Park-related web sites
Parks and employees             Media stories on parks
Training, meetings, and events  Queries on operational matters  
Reports on "lessons learned" 

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.

                             --- ### ---