NPS Morning Report - Thursday, October 11, 2001


                       NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, October 11, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-547 - Great Sand Dunes NP (CO) - Bear Mauling

On October 5th, J.B., a 20-year-old student from the University
of Oklahoma, was camped with four companions at a roadside campsite
along the Medano Pass primitive road within the park. He was sleeping
outside between two of his companions when he was awakened at about 4
a.m. by something pulling at the bottom of his sleeping bag. J.B. awoke
just as a black bear bit into his right foot. His screams awakened his
companions, who sat up and started yelling at the bear. The bear
released J.B. and slowly ambled away from the campsite. The campers
packed up and drove to a hospital in Alamosa, where J.B. received
stitches for an avulsion of the skin on his heel plus other puncture
wounds. On the following morning, rangers and Colorado Division of
Wildlife personnel attempted to track the bear with a dog team. The dogs
quickly obtained a scent and pursued the bear for miles but could not
get it treed. A trap was also set at the campsite, but the bear has not
yet returned. J.B. and his companions claimed that they had stored
their food and garbage correctly and were not sleeping in the clothes
they had cooked in. There have been several problem bears this summer in
the park, although none had been reported in the area where J.B. was
camped. [Jim Bowman, CR, GRSA, 10/10]

01-548 - Bighorn Canyon NRA (MT) - Rattlesnake Bite

R.B. and R.H. were boating in Afterbay Reservoir on
August 26th when R.B. saw and struck a rattlesnake with an oar on the
premise that it might climb into his boat. R.H. presumed that the
snake was dead and grabbed it; unfortunately, the snake had only been
stunned and reacted by biting R.H. on his right index finger. Ranger
Scott Taylor provided initial emergency care and removed a ring from
R.H.'s finger. He was then taken to the emergency room at Saint
Vincent's Hospital in Billings for further treatment. R.B. and R.H.
said that they'd planned on killing the snake and taking its rattles.
Ranger Lance Twombly cited R.B. for disturbing wildlife and placed him
under arrest on an outstanding warrant. The two men had been cited for a
traffic violation the previous night, and evidence in their camp site
indicated that they'd consumed large quantities of alcohol. [Chris Ryan,
ACR, BICA, 10/10]

01-549 - Bighorn Canyon NRA (MT) - Electrical Burn

On August 24th, two boys dug a hole under the gate of the Big Horn
County Electric Co-Op transformer yard near their home just outside of
Fort Smith, which is near the park. One of them climbed on a metal
I-bean and received serious electrical burns. The park was asked to
assist the county in the subsequent rescue operation. Rangers Scott
Taylor and Lance Twombly and supervisory park ranger Chris Ryan located
a landing zone for the medevac helicopter, assisted in the boy's care
and treatment, and provided traffic control. It's estimated that 19,000
volts of electricity passed through the boy's body. He was flown to St.
Vincent's Hospital in Billings, then to Salt Lake City Hospital Burn
Center, where he is recovering from burns covering 55 to 65 percent of
his body. [Chris Ryan, ACR, BICA, 10/10]

01-550 - Fort McHenry NM&HS (MD) - Special Event: Patriotic
Ceremony

The park held a special recognition ceremony on October 7th for those
who lost their lives in the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the terrorist
attacks of September 11th. The ceremony was patterned after park
military tattoo ceremonies and featured performances by a local bagpipe
band and the U.S. Navy ceremonial drill team and color guard. There was
also a historical presentation by the Fort McHenry guard, which is
comprised of living history volunteers. The ceremony honored local
firefighters who served in New York City, rescue dogs and handlers who
served at the Pentagon, and a veteran from the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Approximately 600 people attended. Law enforcement rangers from Natchez
Trace Parkway, Harper's Ferry NHP, and Assateague Island NS assisted
with the event.  There were no law enforcement incidents, despite the
fact that U.S. attacks on Afghanistan began two hours earlier. [Hugh
Manar IC, FOMC, 10/10]

01-551 - National Capital Parks East (DC) - Special Event:
Bike Tour

On September 23rd, 6,500 cyclists participated in the annual BikeDC tour
in and around Washington, DC. A few minor injuries occurred, but there
were no major incidents. The original 34-mile course was reduced to 14
miles due to post-terrorist attack security concerns and the lack of law
enforcement officers to provide traffic control for the event. NCR
protection rangers, regional ranger services personnel and an FWS refuge
officer provided traffic control due to the unavailability of USPP
officers. [Einar Olsen, RCR, NCRO, 10/8]

01-552 - Big Bend NP (TX) - Drug Seizures

During a surveillance operation on September 27th, a Border Patrol agent
saw a Mexican national arrive in the Santa Elena parking area near
Castolon carrying a spare tire. The obvious weight of the tire and the
method for handling it suggested that it contained drugs. Later that
day, two cars arrived in the parking area and the occupants met with
other Mexican nationals. The agent saw the tire being loaded into one of
the vehicles, and radioed a complete description of both vehicles to
waiting rangers. The first vehicle was stopped and a consent search was
conducted. The tire was recovered and found to have over eleven pounds
of marijuana inside. The female driver was arrested. The Border Patrol
subsequently determined that the male and female occupants of the second
car were co-conspirators, so they were also arrested. Ranger Glenn
Yanagi is the case ranger. On October 4th, district ranger Kathi Hambly
found fresh horse tracks intersecting with a vehicle on River Road east
of Castolon. Signs indicated that a drug load had been transferred at
that location, and the information was passed on to rangers and Border
Patrol agents assigned to the park. Vehicles leaving the park were
monitored. In the pre-dawn hours of October 9th, agents saw two vehicles
leaving Panther Junction, heading northbound out of the park. A
checkpoint on Highway 385 north of the park was alerted. When the agents
found that the vehicles had not made it to the checkpoint, they
suspected that the vehicles were probing the checkpoint to see if it was
open. The vehicles were found returning to Panther Junction and were
stopped. In plain view in the rear of a 1998 Ford Expedition was a cargo
of 441 pounds of marijuana. The driver, an employee of Forever Resorts,
the park concessioner, was arrested, as was the driver of the second
vehicle. The drivers, drugs and vehicles were all turned over to DEA.
[Mark Spier, LES, BIBE, 10/10]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level 2

Two Type 1 teams are assigned to FEMA to support operations in New York
City.

Initial attack was light nationwide on Tuesday. Very high to extreme
fire indices were reported in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.

Park Fire Situation

No new fires reported.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 10/10]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Security Incident Notification Procedures - Yesterday's Morning
Report contained the text of a DOI memo entitled "Department of the
Interior Security Awareness," which asked that all Interior agencies
report the loss or theft of "official identification, badges,
facility/office keys, access cards, key code numbers, vehicle access
placards/decals, government license plates and/or government/emergency
vehicles" to a 24-hour DOI watch office. Since the National Park Service
already has national reporting SOP's in place, NPS employees are asked
to continue following them. Reports should be made to the Service's
24-hour, seven-day-a-week reporting center at Shenandoah NP dispatch;
dispatchers there will collect the information and forward it to the DOI
watch office. Regional offices should also be notified in accord with
regional notification SOP's. Please see the most recent NPS incident
reporting memorandum (June 18, 2000) for details. If you don't have a
copy in hand, please notify the Morning Report editor and he'll send you
an electronic version. [Dennis Burnett, Acting Chief, RAD/WASO]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Colonial NHP (VA) - The park is currently recruiting for a
GS-808-12 historical architect. The vacancy announcements can be found
on USA Jobs. Questions should be directed to facility manager Skip
Brooks at 757-898-2430. [Annette Spragan, COLO]

*  *  *  *  *

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
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Training, meetings, and events	Queries on operational matters	
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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