NPS Morning Report - Friday, July 20, 2001


                       NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Friday, July 20, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-348 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Follow-up: Flash Flooding

On July 8th, severe rains caused flash flooding throughout southern West
Virginia. Due to the impacts on the park, the Eastern IMT headed by Bob
Panko (Everglades NP) has been assigned to assist with recovery
operations. The team from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
inspected the Wolf Creek Bridge at Fayette Station yesterday and
determined that the approaches and abutments needed to be grouted. The
process should take seven to eight days. The FHWA initial reaction to
cracks in Cunard Road was to conduct a disturbance assessment of the
area. The already assembled Resource Assessment Team (RAT) will look at
Cunard in the very near future. Stabilization of boat launching
facilities at Stone Cliff and Dunglen has been completed. A roads crew
will go to Thayer on Friday to conduct initial cleanup and assess future
needs for the campground, picnic area, and boat ramp. Fayette Station
Road traffic planning awaits a firm decision by the West Virginia
Division of Highways about the status of the road. Team members met with
state officials today to discuss ways to make the road safe. The road
has sloughed off significantly in one area and the long-term solution
could take weeks to perform, but the state is considering some
short-term fixes. Private boater shuttle access will again be provided
this weekend by a commercial service arranged through the West Virginia
Rivers Coalition. Coalition authorities expect a significant increase in
use this weekend. The shuttle leaves from the K-Mart parking lot at Oak
Hill, and boaters are picked up at Teays Landing. More information on
this service is available on the park's website at
http://www.nps.gov/neri. A crew from Shenandoah National Park continues
clearing trails, according to park priorities.  Total incident costs to
date amount to $73,600. [Kent Cave, IO, New River Gorge Flood Incident,
7/19]

01-366 - Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Search

A 13-year-old boy from Tusayan was reported missing on June 29th. He had
been in the company of several area adults; all of them reportedly had
been smoking crystal methedrine for a period of two days. The boy's
disappearance was not reported to the Coconino County Sheriff's
Department for another two days. Park staff were asked to help with
active searching outside the park on July 9th. Plans were then made to
escalate the scale of the search on July 14th with a statewide callout
for resources. On that day, 140 people from six Arizona counties,
including search dog teams, and mounted units, were deployed in a search
area that encompassed 64 square miles. Thirty park personnel and AMFAC
employees and the park helicopter participated in the search. The
incident was managed jointly by the NPS and sheriff's department; about
20% of the search area was within the park. On July 15th, search efforts
were scaled back to a limited but continuous operation. Since the
missing person was a local resident and a student at Grand Canyon High
School, the search has generated a great deal of local interest. [Ken
Phillips, SAR Coordinator, GRCA, 7/16]

01-367 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Rescue

On July 10th, a 15-year-old boy fell approximately 70 to 80 feet while
descending from Cathedral Peak (10,911 feet). The boy sustained a
serious head injury and multiple abrasions and lacerations after falling
down a series of steep, wet slabs. The leader of the boy's group yelled
down for help to other group members near the base of the peak who had
not made the climb. Those group members then quickly hiked out and
reported the accident to park staff at Tuolumne Meadows. They advised
that a fall had occurred and that help was needed, but did not have any
further details. Two YOSAR team members immediately started hiking in to
size- up the situation. Within an hour, they had reached the injured
boy, who was within 300 feet of the summit. Based on the serious
condition of the victim, park medic Greg Lawler heli-rappelled to the
accident scene and prepared the patient for transport. The boy was
evacuated to Tuolumne Meadows by short-haul under the park contract
helicopter. He was then loaded inside and flown to the park helibase,
where he was transferred to an Air-Med helicopter and taken to a trauma
center in Modesto. He was still in intensive care several days after the
accident. [Rich Baerwald, IC, YOSE, 7/16]

01-368 - Monocacy NB/NPS HPTC (MD) - Burglary

On July 9th, employees of the Service's Historic Preservation Training
Center (HPTC) arrived at work and found that their shop facility had
been entered and vandalized and that a number of items had been stolen.
HPTC's headquarters is located at the park, but the center's shop
facility is in a leased building in the center of Frederick. Entry to
the building was through a rear door that had been left unlocked. Thirty
padlocks were cut from employee lockers, but no items were taken from
the lockers. A Toshiba laptop (SN 18491497-3) was taken from the
employee break room, along with snack foods, boots and bolt cutters. The
total value of the stolen items has been placed at $2,670. The vandalism
was minor and required cleanup only. Frederick PD officers investigated.
The computer has been entered into NCIC. [Thomas Kopczyk, MONO, 7/18]

01-369 - Big Bend NP (TX) - Border Incidents

Six undocumented aliens were arrested north of the park on July 4th by
Border Patrol agents. The six - all Mexican nationals - said
that they entered the park at Boquillas Crossing and were going to
Chicago to look for employment. All were deported to Mexico. Ten days
later, rangers received a report of aliens being smuggled into the park
near Rio Grande Village. The report was forwarded to the Border Patrol,
and agents intercepted the vehicle north of the park at 1 a.m. Six
Mexican nationals were arrested; five were deported, but the driver will
be prosecuted. [Cary Brown, ACR, BIBE, 7/16]

01-370 - North Cascades NP (WA) - Cocaine Seizure and Arrests

A four-person ranger team seized 44.5 pounds of cocaine valued at
$400,000, arrested four people, and impounded a 2002 Ford Explorer
during a 28-hour surveillance operation that spanned the length of a
30-mile-long trail leading to British Columbia. The seizure and arrests
marked the culmination of a four-month NPS investigation into the
activities of a certain crime organization. District ranger Hugh Dougher
was the case investigator. Ranger Brett Timms' observations and actions
were pivotal to the success of the operation. The other two members of
the team were subdistrict ranger John Madden and ranger Mona Iannelli.
[Pete Cowan, CR, NOCA, 7/18]

[Additional reports pending]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level 2

Four new large fires were reported yesterday in Texas; three were
contained. Initial attack was light nationwide. Very high to extreme
fire indices were reported in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New
Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming

NICC has posted a FIRE WEATHER WATCH for dry fuels, strong winds, and a
dry, unstable air mass for parts of southern Wyoming.

The full NICC situation report can be found at
http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf.

National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)

                Sun     Mon     Tue     Wed     Thu
Date            7/16    7/17    7/18    7/19    7/20
            
Crews           238     212     192     166     153
Engines         462     351     333     263     216
Helicopters     79      69      60      52      56
Air Tankers     6       4       2       0       3
Overhead        1,291   1,263   1,136   951     1,110

Park Fire Situation

Everglades NP (FL) - Smoke was reported in the Roger's River area
on Wednesday afternoon. A recon and mapping flight established that this
lightning-caused fire had burned about 10 acres. The fire was mostly
out, only two small smokes were visible. The fire is being managed as a
prescribed natural fire.

Zion NP (UT) - The park reports one new blaze, the Seep Fire
(two-tenths of an acre). It has only a low to moderate chance of growth.

Park Fire Danger

Extreme     Lake Mead NRA, Hawaii Volcanoes NP
Very High   Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs, Zion NP
High        Joshua Tree NP, Mojave NP, Grand Teton NP, Rocky Mountain NP

[NPS Situation Summary Report, 7/19; NICC Incident Management Situation
Report, 7/20]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Glacier Bay NP&P (AK) - Whale Grounding

On the afternoon of July 16th, the body of a dead humpback whale was
spotted floating near the mouth of Glacier Bay near Port Gustavus. The
female whale measured about 30 feet in length and was estimated to weigh
about 30 tons. There were no obvious signs of the cause of the animal's
demise. Park biologists and rangers have positioned the whale on a
shallow beach to conduct a necropsy to determine cause of death. Each
summer, as many as 104 of the endangered whales migrate from Hawaiian
and Mexican waters to the bay to feed. [Chuck Young, CR, GLBA]

INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR SERVICES

Bighorn Canyon NRA (MT) - Special Interpretive Program

On July 7th, interpretive ranger Barrett Gordon, son of the late Paul
Gordon, a long-time NPS employee, presented a special  interpretive talk
about the two-year history of Fort C.F. Smith and the Hayfield Fight to
the Bozeman Trail Wagon Train group encamped just outside the park. Fort
C.F. Smith, located in southeast Montana, was garrisoned in 1866 to
protect persons traveling on the Bozeman Trail who were en route to the
gold fields in the western half of the Montana Territory. Gordon
discussed the hardships endured by the soldiers who were stationed at
the fort, and recounted the events which transpired at the Hayfield
Fight - the most significant military engagement associated with
the fort. The altercation took place a mile and a half away when six
civilian hay cutters and their military guard defended themselves
against an attack by Lakota and Cheyenne warriors.   The Bozeman Trail
Wagon Train consisted of 20 wagons and 53 people in period costume who
were making the 530-mile trek from Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to Virginia
City, Montana. It's believed that this was the first time since 1867
that a wagon train had traveled every mile of the Bozeman Trail. On July
9th, protection rangers performed traffic control for the wagon train as
it passed through the park on its way to a crossing of the Bighorn
River. [Chris Ryan, Assistant Chief, Education and Visitor Services,
BICA]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Medical Standards Program Update - Recent developments include the
following:

Over the past month, the medical review board has heard 40 appeals of
medical standards and has granted 39 of them (one was denied). The
medical task group will be meeting during the first week of August to
complete work on revisions to RM-57. Revisions to the DO and RM will be
reviewed by the Solicitor's Office and sent out for a 30-day public
comment period. Pat Buccello will be ending her detail as the acting
program manager, but will continue to work on RM-57 projects. JT
Townsend from MWRO will begin a detail as acting program manager on July
23rd. You can contact him at 202-208-5229. The email address for the
program manager has changed due to the conversion to Lotus Notes. It is
now NPS Medical Standards Program Manager.

[Pat Buccello, RAD/WASO]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Grand Teton NP (WY) - Jack Neckels, retired superintendent of Grand
Teton National Park, will be honored at a celebration party on Friday,
August 17th, at Jackson Lake Lodge. A reception with cash bar begins at
6:00 p.m., with a buffet dinner and program following at 7:00 p.m. If
you plan to attend, please RSVP by August 3rd at 307-739-3431. Anyone
wishing to make presentations to Jack during the program should contact
Joan Anzelmo (739-3415) or Jackie Skaggs (739-3393). Letters for Jack,
to be included in a commemorative booklet, may be sent to Jackie Skaggs,
PO Box 170, Moose, WY 83012 no later than August 10th.  The Grand Teton
Lodge Company has held a limited number of rooms for party attendees.
Reservations may be made at 1-800-628-9988. Specify Jack Neckels'
retirement party when making your reservation. [Jackie Skaggs, GRTE]

Bandelier NM (NM) - The park is recruiting for two lateral
reassignment positions at the GS-9 level in the protection division.
Both positions require a current NPS LE Commission, are 6c covered,
require occupancy of park quarters, and are subject-to-furlough (four
pay periods). EMT certification is preferred, but First Responder or
other certifications may be acceptable. Submit a resume or application
that addresses abilities in resource-based enforcement, EMS skills,
alarm systems, structural fire planning, and ability to protect
archeological sites in an interagency setting. Applications should
arrive by July 27th. Phone Carl Newman at 505-672- 3861 ext. 530 or
contact him via email for information. [Carl Newman, BAND]

FILM AT 11. . .

On Friday, July 20th, at 8:00 p.m. EDT there will be a program on C-Span
on Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Footage from Tuskegee
Institute and Booker T. Washington NM will be aired. The program is part
of C-Span's year-long "American Authors" series. [Connie Mays, BOWA]

*  *  *  *  *

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)
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Reports on "lessons learned" 

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Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the
cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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