NPS Morning Report - Monday, September 3, 2001
- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Monday, September 3, 2001
- Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 11:10:15 -0400
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Monday, September 3, 2001
INCIDENTS
01-486 - Great Smoky Mountains NP (TN/NC) - Ginseng Poaching
Ranger Larry Hartman spotted a Toyota pickup truck parked just outside
the park's boundary on Highway 32 on the evening of August 26th. Over
the past several years, East District rangers have arrested several
ginseng diggers at this location who were poaching the plant inside
the park. A check of the vehicle's registration revealed that it was
associated with people who had been arrested before for natural
resource violations on the North Carolina side of the park. Hartman
and rangers Greg Wozniak and Steve Kloster set up a surveillance
operation inside the park. All three rangers could hear two people
walking and talking in the park above their location, but were never
able to see or contact them digging ginseng inside the park. At 7:30
p.m., Hartman and Wozniak saw two people walking west on the highway
outside the park. As they approached, one of them began to run, but
was quickly apprehended. The men were identified as B.J.H.
and D.W. The pair had 448 ginseng roots in their
possession, some of them marked as having come from the park. This is
the first ginseng investigation at Great Smokies in which the rangers
did not see or contact the diggers inside the park. The prosecution
will be based on a contact made outside the park with persons in
possession of ginseng roots marked as having come from the park.
[Steve Kloster, Acting DR, North District, GRSM, 9/1]
01-487 - Ozark NSR (MO) - Search; Falling Fatality
On August 26th, rangers received a request for assistance on a search
from the Shannon County Sheriffs Department. They had been contacted
by the director of the Phoenix House, a private drug and alcohol rehab
facility about a mile outside the park, regarding a missing
47-year-old woman. The woman was being treated for depression, and had
been taking prescription anti-depressants. She told other residents of
the house that she was going for a walk and that she wanted to be
alone. Rangers David Ratliff, Teresa McKinney, Mary Ficker, Mark
Miller and Brad Conway responded in ATV's and 4WD vehicles and began
searching on park lands. A state police helicopter flew overhead, and
members of various riding clubs helped sheriff's deputies and Missouri
Department of Conservation officers in searching Phoenix House
property and adjoining forests. The search area included some of the
most rugged terrain in the Missouri Ozarks. The search was terminated
at sunset for safety reasons, then resumed on the morning of the 27th.
The woman's body was found in the park at the base of a 300-foot
bluff. Park criminal investigator Jodi Towery is investigating along
with sheriff's department detectives. [Bill Terry, OZAR, 8/27]
[Additional reports pending....]
FIRE MANAGEMENT
National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level 4
The preparedness level has done down one step. Preparedness Level 5
drops to Preparedness Level 4 when there are no resource shortages or
competition for resources. Fifty rested crews are available for new
fires. No red flag conditions are forecast for the next 24 hours and
favorable weather conditions are forecast for the next three to five
day period.
Three new large fires were reported yesterday, one each in the
Northwest, eastern Great Basin and northern Rockies areas. Three
others were contained. Initial attack was light nationwide.
Very high to extreme fire danger was reported in Arizona, California,
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah,
Washington and Wyoming.
NICC has posted a FIRE WEATHER WATCH today for strong, gusty winds and
low minimum relative humidity for the northern Rockies.
For the full NICC report, see http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf.
National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)
Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon
Date 8/30 8/31 9/1 9/2 9/3
Crews 473 483 533 508 571
Engines 604 575 555 606 674
Helicopters 165 150 138 137 146
Air Tankers 1 1 5 2 8
Overhead 4,349 3,805 3,972 3,745 3,538
Area Command Teams 2 2 2 2 2
Type 1 IMT 6 5 5 4 3
Type 2 IMT 7 7 7 7 6
State IMT 0 1 0 0 0
Fire Use Team 2 2 1 1 1
Park Fire Situation
Glacier NP (MT) - The Moose fire (48,000 acres, about 10,000 in the
park; 5% contained, no estimate for full containment, Type 1 team
w/1,122 FF/OH committed - including 37 crews, 26 engines, nine
helicopters) has burned into the park. Strong, gusty winds brought the
lightning-caused fire into the park on Friday, prompting the closure
of additional sections of the park's North Fork backcountry as well as
Fish Creek Campground. The fire has burned into older recently burned
areas and is in the Camas, Anaconda, and Dutch Creek drainages.
Additional sections of the park's North Fork backcountry and Fish
Creek campground have been closed. Evacuation warnings were issued to
residents around ten-mile-long Lake McDonald on Saturday after the
Moose Fire spotted over the North Fork of the Flathead River and
burned into the park. The park open and visitor services and
facilities remain available throughout the park. The written
evacuation warning advised landowners and other residents along the
lake to make precautionary preparations in the event that an
evacuation might be necessary. Should it become necessary to evacuate
dwellings around Lake McDonald or West Glacier, residents will be
given as much advance notice as possible. If necessary, evacuation
orders will also be announced via local radio and television stations.
To further reduce fire risks, sprinkler systems have been installed
along roofs and around the perimeter of homes. Firefighters are also
reducing vegetation around homes and other structures. Daily fire
briefings are being held at the park's West Glacier Community Building
at 7 p.m. Park fire information phone lines are staffed daily at
406-888-5806 and 406-888-5807. The park's web site for this fire
(http://www.nps.gov/glac/resources/fires_2001/fires.htm) is updated
frequently and is linked to various fire management web sites. The
Moose fire IMT's web site is available at
http://www.fireteam-sw.com/humphrey/current.htm.
Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Gary Cones' interagency fire use team is
managing three lightning-caused fires on the North Rim for resource
benefits. The Tower fire remained active throughout Saturday night and
grew to 105 acres. Crews began efforts to protect Kanabownits Lookout
Tower (the fire is a mile and a half from the tower), Muav Cabin and
Rock Cabin by cutting and clearing fuels around the structures and
wrapping them with fire resistant material. These are precautionary
measures; the structures were not threatened at the time of the
report. Crews continue to prepare for a possible burnout along 268
Road (the park's boundary with the Kaibab National Forest) to keep the
fire in the park. The Swamp Ridge fire has now burned 233 acres; the
Vista Fire has burned 1,115 acres. An inversion on Saturday night
caused smoke to settle in Grand Canyon until mid-morning and reduced
visibility significantly. Similar smoke impacts were expected on
Sunday and Monday nights, since inversions are expected to continue
through Tuesday. Smoke should dissipate by mid-morning as ground and
air temperatures rise. Crews continue to monitor fire behavior and
smoke dispersal. Consultation with Arizona Department of Environmental
Quality is ongoing to ensure that smoke emissions do not exceed the
standards of the Clean Air Act.
Yellowstone NP (WY) - The park has four fires burning - two of them
being managed for resource benefits, two being suppressed. Fire
activity moderated on Saturday following a bit of precipitation on
Friday. Creeping ground fires caused most perimeter growth. Dry and
breezy conditions forecast for early this week may increase fire
activity. A frontal passage with dry lightning may occur on Tuesday,
and is forecast to be followed by a slight chance of showers, then a
return to drier weather. No new smokes have been reported. Summaries
of each of the four fires follow:
o Stone fire (128 acres, managed for resource benefits) - The
fire has been creeping and smoldering to the northeast and
west. Fire effects monitors are testing new fuel modeling
techniques as the fire spreads into 1981 burns in order to
better predict fire spread in recent post-burn lodgepole pine.
o Sulphur fire (744 acres, managed for resource benefits) -
Long-term curing and a light frost on the Sulphur fire helped
to carry it through grouse whortleberry and other ground
fuels, with rate of spread increasing in the afternoon due to
upslope and cross-slope winds. Monitors noted limited torching
near jackpots of dead and downed fuels. The fire remains
active along the northeast, north and southwest flanks. Spots
across drainages to the southeast and east are creeping
slowly, with the potential to grow as winds increase and
humidity drops. Fire monitors have scouted escape routes and
safety zones and were to complete fuel moisture sampling
yesterday.
o Falcon fire (3,580 acres, suppression under a confinement
strategy) - Fire activity is moderating. Structure protection
equipment remains in place. Monitoring will be by aerial
patrol in conjunction with Bridger-Teton NF.
o Little Joe fire (860 acres, suppression) - Fire activity is
moderating.
Yosemite NP (CA) - No significant changes have been reported on the
Hoover fire (7,729 acres, 76 FF/OH committed). The four other fires in
the complex remain small, totaling no more than 80 acres.
Extreme Hawaii Volcanoes NP, Lassen Volcanic NP
Very High N/A
High Joshua Tree NP, Zion NP
[Donna Nemeth, GRCA, 9/1-2; Johanna Lombard, YOSE, 9/1-2; Ron
Steffins/Doug Wallner, YELL, 9/1-2; NPS Situation Summary Report, 9/1;
NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 9/1-2]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Environmental Crimes Training - Although listed below, FLETC has asked
that potentially interested parties take particular note of the
environmental crimes training course being offered from October 25th
to the 27th in Jackson Hole. Only 13 of the 24 slots have been filled
so far, and the course will have to be cancelled if more folks don't
apply. The deadline for reservations has been extended until COB on
Tuesday, September 4th. FLETC will be happy to email or fax you the
application forms ASAP, effective tomorrow morning. Please call Tom
Cherry if you're interested. He can be reached at 912-267-2795. [Tom
Cherry, FLETC]
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE TRAINING CALENDAR
Due to its length, the calendar is being posted as a separate message
(next).
* * * * *
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.
--- ### ---