NPS Morning Report - Tuesday, March 12, 2002



                           NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                              MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Tuesday, March 12, 2002

INCIDENTS

02-057 - Delaware Water Gap NRA (PA/NJ) - Structural Fire

The park received a report of a fire in a building on the west side of
Route 209 at the highway's south entrance around 2 a.m. on March 11th.
Responding volunteer fire departments found the historic Daniel Clark house
in flames. They were able to suppress the fire before the structure was
fully consumed, but the unoccupied building suffered major damage. An
investigation into the cause of the fire is underway. Ranger Randy Seese is
the lead ranger. [Editor, 3/11]

02-058 - Jefferson NEM (MO) - Special Event

Secretary Gale Norton and chief of staff Brian Waidmann and other staff
members visited the park on March 5th while in St. Louis to promote the
President's energy policy. The secretary took the tram to the top of the
Arch, toured the Museum of Westward Expansion, viewed the large format film
"Great American West," and visited with staff and partners. Normal security
precautions were taken. There were no incidents. [Gary Easton,
Superintendent, JEFF, 3/10]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Yellowstone NP (WY) - Annual Elk Survey

The Northern Yellowstone cooperative wildlife working group conducted its
annual late-winter classification study of the northern Yellowstone elk
population on February 27th and 28th and classified a total of 4,001 elk.
Biologists used a helicopter to count bull, cow and calf elk in specified
sampling areas throughout the entire northern range during the
ten-and-a-half hour survey. The herd winters between the park's northeast
entrance and Dome Mountain/Dailey Lake in Paradise Valley. Estimated sex
and age ratios for the population were 14 calves, 7 yearling bulls and 36
adult bulls per 100 cows. The ratio of bulls per cows was fairly typical,
but the ratio of 14 calves per 100 cows is less than the range of 22 to 34
calves per 100 cows observed over the past six years. The low cow-calf
ratio suggests that the number of calves born in 2001 that will survive to
join the herd will be relatively low. Possible causes for this low ratio
include drought-related effects on pregnancy and calf survival, predation,
hunting, and winter kill. Working group members emphasized, however, that
this year's numbers can't be used to predict that the ratio of cows to
calves will remain low in future years or that elk abundance will decrease.
[Public Affairs, YELL]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

FLETC (GA) - National Park Ranger Integrated Training Program class 201
(NPRI-201) graduated from FLETC on March 8th - the second class to receive
training under this new program. Class members established some very high
standards for subsequent classes, with superior individual and group
achievements. Brad Ross (YELL) was top driver with a perfect 300 score;
three other rangers were recognized for perfect driving skills. Rangers
John Carroll (BOST), David Page (GRTE), Meg Perdue (DENA), Eric Schultz
(SEKI) and Tim Thompson (EVER) received the distinguished fitness award
(equivalent to the "old" 500 score) on the PEB, while six other students
received a fitness award (equivalent to scoring above 95% under the "old"
system) on the PEB. Perdue also received special recognition for setting
the new "best of FLETC" fitness standard for body composition, easily
beating the previous record for women between the ages of 30 and 35. Bruce
Gagnon (NATR) was high firearms expert with a 298 out of a possible 300
points; he was joined by twelve other rangers who qualified as expert
shooters. Schultz was the class scholar with a outstanding 97.67 FLETC
academic average. He was joined by five other rangers who scored above 95%
in the FLETC academic portion. Schultz was also the FLETC honor graduate,
having attained a 95 % or better in all phases of the FLETC training, and
is now in the running for the FLETC honor graduate of the year. Ross
received the class nomination for the FLETC director's award as the
outstanding ranger of the class. Schultz also received the NPS director's
award, which recognizes the graduating student who achieved the highest
overall average of all integrated training phases without remediating any
practical exercises. His final overall average was an outstanding 99.004. A
total of fourteen rangers scored above the 95% level in the overall
scoring, and the class average was an amazing 94.724%. Congratulations to
NPRI-201 - the new standard has been set, and a new FLETC record has been
established. NPRI-202 and 203 are now at FLETC, with NPRI-204 scheduled to
arrive in May. [Don Usher, WASO-FLETC]

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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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