NPS Morning Report - Sunday, August 12, 2001



                        NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Sunday, August 12, 2001

INCIDENTS

00-040 - Padre Island NS (TX) - Follow-up: Drug Seizure  

On February 5, 2000, rangers seized 93 bundles of cocaine weighing 
about 109 kilograms and detained R.R.-M. in connection 
with the seizure. A cooperative effort by the park, the Coast Guard's 
Investigations Division, and Customs' Investigations Unit led to Reyna 
providing statements regarding his involvement in the case. R.R.-M. was 
indicted by a federal grand jury and subsequently pled guilty to the 
one count indictment charging him with possession with intent to 
distribute cocaine (21 USC 841). On August 8th, R.R.-M. was sentenced to 
120 months in federal prison and five years' supervised release. [Gus 
Martinez, PAIS, 8/10]

01-433 - Grand Canyon NP/Lake Mead NRA (AZ) - Follow-up: Fatal         
         Helicopter Crash

The fatal helicopter crash that occurred on Friday near Meadview was 
on BLM land on the south side of the canyon between the upper end of 
Lake Mead NRA and the lower end of Grand Canyon NP. The victims were 
on a tour  that leaves Las Vegas and flies over Lake Mead, Hoover Dam 
and the Grand Wash Cliffs before landing on the Hualapai Indian 
Reservation, where the tour company provides a picnic lunch. An 
article on the accident containing a map showing the location appears 
in the Sunday Las Vegas Review-Journal, which can be found at: 
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Aug-12-Sun-2001/news/16756439.html. 
No reports have yet been received from the parks regarding any NPS 
involvement. [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 8/12]

01-438 - Zion NP (UT) - Car Clouting Arrests

On July 28th and August 3rd, there were seven successful and one 
attempted car clouts of vehicles parked at trailheads on Kolob Terrace 
Road. The same method was employed in all eight incidents. Damage to 
the vehicles totaled about $3,000; stolen were items valued at around 
$4,000. Rangers were able to trace one of the stolen credit cards, 
which was used at several businesses in St. George, Utah, and 
identified three suspects. A joint investigation with the Washington 
County Sheriff's Office led to the identification of two more possible 
suspects. At the time of the report, three of the five had been 
arrested and charged with a total of 54 state felony and misdemeanor 
offenses. The other two are still being sought. Most of the stolen 
property has been recovered. Ranger Cody Cole and DR Brent McGinn were 
the primary NPS investigators. [Chuck Passek, ZION, 8/6]

01-439 - Gateway NRA (NY/NJ) - Fatality

A visitor fishing near Plumb Beach discovered a body in the weeds on 
the evening of August 8th. The medical examiner has tentatively 
determined the death to have been from natural causes, possibly due to 
excessive alcohol consumption and high heat and humidity (the 
temperature was around 100 degrees in the New York City area all last 
week). The body may have been at that location for one to two days. 
The case is being jointly investigated by USPP and NYPD detectives. 
[John Lauro, GATE, 8/9]

                   [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level 3

Eight new large fires were reported on Saturday - three in the Great 
Basin, two each in northern California and the Northwest, and one in 
the South.  Eight large fires were contained. Moderate to heavy 
initial attack was reported in northern California and the Northwest.  

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in California, Idaho, 
Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

NICC has issued one warning and two watches for today:

o       A RED FLAG WARNING has been posted for increasing winds and 
        exceptionally low relative humidity for the east side of the 
        Sierras and Cascade Crest, affecting Modoc, Lassen and the 
        extreme east side of Plumas Counties.

o       A FIRE WEATHER WATCH has been posted for both thunderstorms 
        and dry thunderstorms for much of Oregon.

o       A FIRE WEATHER WATCH has been posted for the same in the 
        southern section of Washington's Cascades and eastern 
        Washington.

For the full NICC report, see http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf.

National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)

                        Wed     Thu     Fri     Sat     Sun
Date                    8/8     8/9     8/10    8/11    8/12
        
Crews                   201     243     280     372     454     
Engines                 369     405     643     699     719
Helicopters             80      95      81      112     103
Air Tankers             4       8       3       13      12
Overhead                1,324   1,535   1,458   1,896   2,010

Park Fire Situation

Yellowstone NP (WY) - The Arthur Fire has been fully contained at 
2,800 acres. 

Park Fire Danger

Extreme         Hawaii Volcanoes NP
Very High       N/A
High            Mojave NP, Redwood N&SP

[NPS Situation Summary Report, 8/11; NICC Incident Management 
Situation Report, 8/12]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Hubbell Trading Post NHS (AZ) - The park is advertising for a four 
year term GS-025-7/9 protection and interpretation ranger position, 
open to all qualified applicants. This is one of those rare positions 
in which the incumbent is involved in a variety of duties - performing 
visitor and resource protection, conducting formal interpretive 
programs, and initiating an environmental education outreach program 
for Ganado schools. The park is located in Ganado, Arizona, within the 
Navajo Nation and the spectacular Colorado Plateau and near all the 
outdoor recreation activities associated with the high desert plateau 
country. The announcement closes on Thursday, August 30th. For more 
information, check out announcement #IMDE-01-61 on website 
www.usajobs.opm.gov and/or call Mary Furney, CR, at 520-755-3475. 
[Mary Furney, HUTR]

                            *  *  *  *  *

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" 

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address requests pertaining to receipt of the Morning Report to your 
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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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