NPS Morning Report - Friday, December 21, 2001



NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

 

To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date: Friday, December 21, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-644 - Organ Pipe Cactus (AZ) - Drug Seizure

During an interagency drug operation on the night of December 15th, a ranger found drug backpacker footprints leading north onto BLM lands. Another ranger with night vision equipment on board a helicopter spotted about ten backpackers three miles to his north. Three of them were captured and arrested two hours later with assistance from the Border Patrol and Customs. Two more were arrested six hours later. Rangers and officers seized 388 pounds of marijuana, bringing the total amount seized by rangers this year to 13,127 pounds - a 27 percent increase in seizure amounts from the previous twelve-month period, a 77 percent increase from the 1999 total, and a 243 percent increase over the 1998 total. [Dale Thompson, CR, ORPI, 12/19]

01-645 - Independence NHP (PA) - Breaking and Entering

Rangers responded to a report of breaking and entering at Christ Church just before 9 a.m. on December 20th. Although the church is not owned by the NPS, the park provides protection services through a memorandum of understanding. The church was entered and exited via a first floor window sometime around 7 p.m. the previous evening. According to church employees, nothing was taken or disturbed except for the alarm key pad attached to the interior wall. There are no suspects, but the investigating is continuing. [Jacquelyn Bryant, PR, INDE, 12/20]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

US Park Police (NCR) - Teresa Chambers, currently the chief of police for the nearly 600-person Durham Police Department in Durham, North Carolina, has been named the new chief of the United States Park Police. The appointment marks the first time that a woman has held the position as chief of the Park Police. Chambers has been chief of Durham PD since January, 1998. Prior to that, she worked for 21 years in the Prince George County PD in Maryland, beginning as a police cadet in 1976 and rising to the rank of major in 1993. Chambers holds a masters degree in applied behavioral science from Johns Hopkins University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA. She also has a BS in law enforcement from the University of Maryland, and has completed the FBI's National Executive Institute and National Academy. [Public Affairs, WASO]

Saguaro NP (AZ) - The park is seeking someone for a 90-day detail assignment or temporary promotion to serve as acting GS-12 chief ranger from around mid-January to mid-April. The chief ranger is responsible for the full range of visitor and resource protection activities, including law enforcement, resource protection, search and rescue, emergency medical services, wildland and structural fire, horse patrol operations, wilderness management, fee management and special park uses. This temporary assignment will occur during the park's busy visitor use season. To be eligible for the temporary promotion, an applicant must meet the minimum qualifications for this position and have one year time-in-grade at the GS-11 level. The park will cover travel, limited per diem, and lodging expenses; the difference in pay rate will be provided for a temporary promotion eligible, if applicable. The appointee will also be eligible to apply for the permanent vacancy. Nominations must be postmarked no later than January 4th. Send a letter of interest, current resume or OF-612 and a current SF-50 to Human Resources, Saguaro NP, 3693 S. Old Spanish Trail, Tucson, AZ 85730. Please contact acting superintendent Jim Bellamy at 520-733-5101 for more information. (Paula Nasiatka, CR, SAGU, 12/18]

National Capital Region (DC/MD/VA/WV) - The region presently has multiple vacancies for protection rangers in parks in close proximity to one another in Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia. They are seeking rangers interested in lateral transfers to fill these permanent GS-025-5/7/9 positions. Opportunities for dual career couples are good. Although close to Washington, there are still great opportunities for those interested in the full range of ranger duties. Operations include natural and cultural resources law enforcement, poaching task forces, road patrol, horse and mountain bike operations, backcountry management, boundary management, VIP security and anti-terrorism, EMS, SAR, swiftwater rescue, cave and high angle technical rescue, wildland fire management, structural fire prevention, special park uses, and recreation fees. The NCR Communications Center provides comprehensive 24-hour dispatch to all its rangers as well as a toll-free 800 emergency reporting and resource crime hotline number. If you would like information on present and future vacancies, please contact Einar Olsen, regional chief ranger, via email or at 202-619-7068. (Einar Olsen, RCR, NCRO, 12/20)

Santa Monica Mountains NRA (CA) - Retired park ranger CQ Gatson passed away on the morning of Monday, December 17th, in Thousand Oaks, California. CQ's career with the park service began in 1981 at Big Thicket NP, where she served as a seasonal park technician. From there, she went on to ranger positions at Joshua Tree NP and Lake Mead NRA. In 1990, she joined the staff at Cabrillo NM as a supervisory park ranger, then moved on to Santa Monica Mountains NRA as an interpretive ranger, where she retired in 2000. CQ was an interpretive curriculum instructor and coordinator and an interpretive skills certifier. In 1999, she received the Department of Interior's superior service award for her work in interpretation and was named "Woman of the Year" by the Tres Condados Council of the Girls Scouts of America for her longstanding work with girl scouts in southern California. CQ had a radiant personality and unlimited enthusiasm and optimism for life and the work of the service. She is survived by two brothers, Mel and Milton. Condolences may be sent to Mel Gatson at 375 Burton Mesa Blvd., #J, Lompoc, California, 93436. Funeral services will be on Thursday, December 27th, at the Second Baptist Church in Riverside, California. The viewing will begin at 10 a.m. and the memorial service will be at 11 a.m. The church is located at 2911 9th Street at the corner of 9th and Park Avenue. If you would like to send flowers to the Gatson family, please send them to Tillman Riverside Mortuary, 2874 10th Street, Riverside CA 93437. [Woody Smeck/Amy Yee, SAMO, 12/20]

* * * * *

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

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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WEB SITE DIRECTORY

The Morning Report periodically runs a listing of Worldwide Web sites of use to NPS employees in the course of their work. Please send along entries - and corrections, in case of address errors - to the editor.

All new entries are marked with asterisks (*); all revised/corrected entries are marked with pound signs (#).

NPS SITES

NPS directory                       http://165.83.219.72/npsdirectory
Congressional Affairs office        http://www.nps.gov/legal
Training and Development office     http://www.nps.gov/training
NPS Web page development info       http://www.nps.gov/helpdesk
Current VIP opportunities           http://www.nps.gov/volunteer
Press releases, park news, more     http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/pressrm.htm
Q&A with volunteer NPS historians   http://www.nps.gov/crweb1/history/askhist.htm
Geologists-in-Parks program         http://www.aqd.nps.gov/natnet/grd/geojob/ geojob.htm
Harpers Ferry wayside exhibits      http://www.nps.gov/waysite 
NPS safety info                     http://www.nps.gov/riskmgmt
NCR Museum Resource Center          http://www.nps.gov/mrc
National Center for Preservation
 Technology and Training            http://www.ncptt.nps.gov
NPS training opportunities          http://www.nps.gov/training
NPS strategic plan                  http://www.nps.gov - InfoZone, Park Planning
NPS intake training program         http://www.nps.gov/intake
U.S. Park Police                    http://www.doi.gov/u.s.park.police/
NPS organization charts             http://www.nps.gov/refdesk/Refdesk.htm
Fire Management Program Center      http://www.nps.gov/fire/
Public Health Service office        http://www.nps.gov/public_health/
Nat. Reg. for Historic Places       http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/nrhome.htm
Employee safety/lost time stats     http://www.nps.gov/htdocs1/riskmgmt/GPRAIVa6no.htm
Visitor safety stats                http://www.nps.gov/htdocs1/riskmgmt/GPvistrdays.htm
GPRA                                http://amoeba.nps.gov/amoeba/nps.pmds.nsf
Denver Service Center info          http://amoeba.nps.gov/amoeba.nsf
Harpers Ferry Center info           http://www.hfc.nps.gov
                                    http://www.nps.gov/hfc
Submerged Cultural Resource Unit    http://www.nps.gov/scru/home.htm
NPS Morning Report                  http://www.nps.gov/morningreport
CIRS/NPS LE program                 http://www.cirs.nps.gov
Sustainable practices/info          http://www.nps.gov/sustain/
NPS NEPA guidelines                 http://www.nps.gov/planning/nepa
"Mission 66" information            http://palladio.arch.virginia.edu/~clm2c
NPS boundary handbook               http://buford.dewa.nps.gov/npsgps/Boundary_Handbook/index.html
Historic preservation info          http://www2.cr.nps.gov/e-rehab
Fee demo program info               http://www.nps.gov/feedemo/
Facility Management Division        http://165.83.218.50
Parks as Classrooms                 http://www.nps.gov/interp/parkclass.html
NPS-NASA intrepretive info          http://www.nps.gov/interp/nasa
HFC Division of Conservation        http://www.nps.gov/hfc/conservation/
Museum Management program           http://www.cr.nps.gov/csd
NPS graphics                        http://165.83.216.48/storage
NPS interpretive competencies       http://www.nps.gov/idp/interp
Cultural resources diversity        http://www2.cr.nps.gov/diversity
Rivers and Trails                   http://www.ncrc.nps.gov/rtca
National Heritage Areas             http://www.ncrc.nps.gov/heritage
NPS Y2K project                     http://y2k.itc.nps.gov
NPS forms of all kinds              http://www.nps.gov/renew/forms.htm
Wild & scenic rivers                http://www.nps.gov/rivers

DOI SITES

DOI address directory               http://www.doi.gov/cgi-bin/mailsrch
DOI IG reports                      http://www.gpo.ucop.edu/search/ig.html
DOI payroll, Denver                 http://www.dasc.doi.gov
DOI recreation lakes commission     http://www.doi.gov/nrls
DOI Y2K microchip hazards           http://www.mrps.doi.gov/y2kchips.htm
DOI Office of Aircraft Services     http://www.oas.gov
DOI narrowband radio info           http://www.doi.gov/oirm/cont/datacomm.html
DOI diversity issues                http://www.doi.gov/diversity/
DOI safety                          http://safetynet.smis.doi.gov

OTHER AGENCY SITES

Comptroller General decisions       http://www.gpo.ucop.edu/search/gaocd.html
GAO reports                         http://www.gpo.ucop.edu/search/gao.html
OPM jobs listings                   http://www.usajobs.opm.gov
USDA graduate school                http://www.grad.usda.gov
Thrift Savings Plan                 http://www.tsp.gov
OPM locality pay rates              http://www.opm.gov/pay/index.htm
CFR and Federal Register info       http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr
FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection   http://www.ftc.gov
IG networks                         http://www.ignet.gov/ignet
Fed Employees News Digest           http://www.fedforce.com/fedforce/fedforce.html
National registry for EMTs          http://www.nremt.org
Center for Disease Control          http://www.cdc.gov
Hantavirus information              http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/index.htm
Excess military equipment           http://www.drms.dla.mil
Federal recreation areas            http://www.recreation.gov
DOJ land appraisal standards        http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/land-ack
USGS digital and map data           http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/glis/glis.html
USGS maps in progress               http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/sdts/data.html
Government forms                    http://www.gsa.gov/forms
EPA environmental info              http://www.epa.gov/ceis
Historic NPS maps                   http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/nphtml/nphome.html
Directory/access to Fed sites       http://fedgate.org

CONGRESSIONAL SITES

All Senate offices, committees      http://www.senate.gov
All House offices, committees       http://www.house.gov
Bills, reports, related info        http://thomas.loc.gov

WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT SITES

Wildland fire information           http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/fire
National Interagency Fire Center    http://www.nifc.gov
NIFC fire situation reports         http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.html
National Wildfire Coord. Group      http:/www.nwcg.gov
NPS fire situation reports          http://nifc.nps.gov/sacs (under INFO RES)
NPS fire training                   http://www.nifc.nps.gov/mats/matsframe.asp

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SITES

Exotic invasive species             http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien
Native plants                       http://www.nps.gov/plants
Malformed amphibians reports        http://www.npwrc.org/narcam
Mineral developments near parks     http://www.aqd.nps.gov/facts/fadjacen.htm
Vegetation/soils planting info      http://plants.usda.gov
"Park Science" magazine             http://www.aqd.nps.gov/nrid/parksci/
"Natural Resource Year in Review"   http://www.aqd.nps.gov/pubs/yr_rvw96/
Natural resource pubs list          http://www.aqd.nps.gov/pubs/
NR fact sheets                      http://www.aqd.nps.gov/facts/findex.htm
National GIS/data clearinghouse     http://www.nps.gov/gis/index.html
Plant/wildlife toxicity data        http://www.epa.gov/ecotox/
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center   http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov

INVENTORY AND MONITORING SITES

I&M brochure                        http://www1.nature.nps.gov/im/contents.htm
NR monitoring in NP's               http://www1.nature.nps.gov/sfancy
I&M annual reports                  http://www1.nature.nps.gov/im/annrpts.htm
I&M contract information            http://www1.nature.nps.gov/im/contact.htm
Vegetation mapping program          http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/index.html
Geologic bibliography               http://165.83.36.151/biblios/geobib.nsf
Natural resource bibliography       http://165.83.36.151/biblios/nrbib.nsf
Dataset catalog                     http://165.83.36.151/parksvc/dcat.nsf

WILDERNESS/BACKCOUNTRY MANAGEMENT SITES

Arthur Carhart training center      http://www.wilderness.net/carhart
Aldo Leopold institute              http://www.wilderness.net/leopold
Leave No Trace program              http://www.lnt.org
Wilderness-related links            http://www.forestry.umt.edu/people/borrie/wilderness/
Wilderness Information Network      http://wilderness.net

LEGAL SITES

United States Code                  http://law.house.gov/usc.htm
                                    http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
Code of Federal Regulations         http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr
Federal Register                    http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/#fr
                                    http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html
Federal Acquisition Regulations     http://www.gsa.gov/far/current/html/toc.html
Executive Orders                    http://www.arnet.gov/References/References.html
OMB Circulars                       http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OMB/
Supreme Court cases                 http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct
Federal Circuit cases               http://www.law.emory.edu/fedcircuit/
                                    http://www.gao.gov/decisions/decision.htm
                                    http://www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Ct/fedcourt.html
FLRA cases                          http://www.flra.gov/inex.html
MSPB cases                          http://www.access.gpo.gov/mspb
FLETC legal updates                 http://www.ustreas.gov/fletc/legal.htm
Environmental law                   http://www.law.indiana.edu/law/v-lib/envlaw.html
Ethics issues                       http://www.usoge.gov/
Federal laws in general             http://www.fedworld.gov
                                    http://fedlaw.gsa.gov
ARPA/NAGPRA laws                    http://www.nmia.com/~quasho/
Info on legal issues                http://www.Lawcheck.com/main.html
Laws, court rulings, related info   http://www.findlaw.com
Court cases, codes, regs, etc.      http://www.are.uscourts.gov/sites.htm
Glossary of legal terms             http://www.courttv.com/legalterms/glossary.html
Environmental law                   http://www.cnie.org

ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION SITES

Environmental contract fraud info   http://www.afce.org
                                    http://www.fraud.org
Info on militia groups, etc.        http://www.splcenter.org
Law enforcement newsletter          http://www.2calibrepress.com

OTHER RELEVANT SITES

NPS cooperating associations        http://www.nps.gov/coop/index.htm
National Park Foundation            http://www.nationalparks.org
Student Conservation Association    http://www.sca-inc.org
George Wright Society               http://www.portup.com/~gws/home.html
GWS park-related links              http://www.portup.com/~gws/gwsnet.html
National Center for Accessibility   http://www.indiana.edu/~nca
Recycled content procurement        http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/procure.htm
                                    http://www.metrokc.gov/oppis/recyclea.html
                                    http://www.pnl.gov/esp/greenguidefcn.state.fl.us/bpsr/drc_notice.html
Telephone directory searches        http://www.pc411.com
Computer virus myths                http://kumite.com/myths/
Zip codes                           http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/
US Park Ranger FOP site             http://home.earthlink.net/~bikeranger/
Travel maps                         http://www.mapsonus.com
Travel planning                     http://www.bts.gov/virtualib
Federal travel regs                 http://policyworks.gov/ftr
State tax exempt rules              http://policyworks.gov/travel
Facts on File information           http://www.factsonfile.com
LE/firefighter retirement           http://fire.blm.gov/retire
Atomic clock time set info          http://www.bldrdoc.nist.gov/doc-tour/atomic_clock.html
                                    http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefrequency/javaclck (for Java browsers)
Assoc of National Park Rangers      http://www.anpr.org
Flag protocol info                  http://www.libertynet.org/iha/betsy
                                    http://www.halfstaff.com
                                    http://www.sos.state.md.us/sos/flagprot/html/othflags.html
Satellite land images               http://www.terraserver.com
BSA-made uniform hat presses        http://www.troop17.org/hatpress.htm