NPS Morning Report - Thursday, April 18, 2002


                           NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                              MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, April 18, 2002

                              *** NOTICE ***

President Bush has ordered all United States flags to be flown at half
staff on Friday, April 19th, in commemoration of the funeral of retired
Supreme Court associate justice Byron R. White. Flags are to be at half
staff from sunrise to sunset.

INCIDENTS

02-114 - Shenandoah NP (VA) - Death of Concession Employee

On the evening of April 12th, ranger Carol Leggat was contacted by a woman
who was concerned with the welfare of her fiance, K.K., 52, an
employee of Aramark (the park concessioner) and a resident in the Panorama
Building dormitory. When several attempts to rouse K.K. failed, Leggat
broke a window and entered the room. K.K. was found apnic, pulseless and
displaying signs that he had been dead for several hours. K.K. had an
extensive medical history and was currently taking numerous prescription
drugs. The investigation continues, but initial indications are that his
death was the result of natural causes. [Ginny Rousseau, CR, SHEN, 4/16]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation

Daily preparation and dissemination of the national fire report has been
temporarily suspended due to lack of activity.

Park Fire Situation

Indiana Dunes NL (IN) - Progress continues on the 400-acre Bingo Fire. Five
engines and the Medewin Hotshots are committed. High winds and heavy downed
fuels are hampering mop-up efforts. Because of firefighting operations,
Miller Woods will remain closed to the public until Saturday morning. The
Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education, however, has reopened.
Four small fires were spotted about 4:30 Monday afternoon by Michael
Armendarez, the park's assistant FMO, who was out on a fire prevention
patrol. By the time the park's wildland firefighters arrived, the four
fires were growing together into one large, difficult to control blaze.
Within minutes, the fast-moving fire threatened dozens of homes, a
multi-building apartment complex and a coal-handling facility on U.S. Steel
property. The park's fire team decided to make a stand at a firebreak along
the northeast section of Miller Woods. The firebreak was created just last
summer through a hazard fuel reduction project funded from the new
wildland-urban interface (WUI) initiative. A control line was in place by
about 10:00 p.m. and the imminent threat was abated with help from fire
departments from Gary, U.S. Steel, Burns Harbor, Ogden Dunes, and Beverly
Shores, "There is no question last summer's hazard fuel reduction project
helped firefighters keep the flames out of back yards and away from homes"
said superintendent Dale Engquist. WUI funds are used for projects that
reduce e wildland fire threats in areas where private homes, schools, and
commercial structures are built right next to wooded areas and open fields.
Still on scene are nearly 60 federal and state wildland firefighters from
across Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. Engines, pumps and personnel were
sent by the Hoosier National Forest, the Huron-Manistee National Forest,
the Shawnee National Forest, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and the
Indiana Department of Natural Resources.  The largest contingent from
outside the park is the 20-person Midewin Hotshots, based at Midewin
National Tallgrass Prairie, a U.S. Forest Service unit on the site of the
former Joliet Army ammunition plant in northern Illinois.

Park Fire Danger

Extreme - Hawaii Volcanoes NP
Very High - Lake Mead NRA
High - Indiana Dunes NL

[NPS Situation Summary Report, 4/17; Al Nash, FMO, INDU, 4/17]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Washington Office (DC) - A fellowship in archeology has been established at
the University of Alaska at Fairbanks (UAF) in memory of NPS archeologist
Harvey Shields, who worked in the Alaska Regional Office and the UAF CPSU
office in the 1970s and 1980s.  Beginning this year, UAF undergraduate and
graduate students majoring in anthropology are eligible to apply for the
scholarship, which has been endowed through generous contributions from
Harvey's family, friends, and colleagues.  Harvey's enthusiasm for Alaskan
archeology was never ending, whether working at Denali NP, the National
Petroleum Range on the North Slope, Klondike Gold Rush NHP, or his
favorite, Katmai NP.  The intent of the scholarship is to support students
who are as excited about Alaskan archeology as was Harvey, who died in
1993.  Contact the UAF for further information. [Michele Aubry, NCCR]

FILM AT 11. . .

PBS and "American Experience" are presenting a show entitled "Ansel Adams:
A Documentary Film" at 9 p.m. on Sunday, April 21st, in honor of Earth Day.
The documentary, written and directed by Ric Burns and co-produced by
Sierra Club Productions and Steeplechase Films, weaves archival footage,
photographic images, dramatic readings of the artist's own writing, and
interviews with leading photographers, historians, curators, naturalists,
and Adams' family, friends, and colleagues to tell the story of a man who
was at once a visionary photographer, a pioneer in photographic technique,
and an ardent crusader for the cause of environmentalism. For more
information please visit this site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ansel/.
[Public Affairs, WASO]

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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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