NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Friday, March 22, 1996

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

96-106 - Denali (Alaska) - Assist; Major Structural Fire

At 7:15 a.m. on March 20th, park firefighters responded to a report of a fire
at the Denali Princess Lodge, located outside the park.  Several volunteer
companies also responded.  Upon arrival, they found that one side of the main
lodge building was fully engulfed in flames.  No water was initially
available at the site; when additional crews arrived, water was shuttled to
the lodge from the park system, located six miles away, and pumped out of the
Nenana River once a hole was punched through the ice.  A 17,000-gallon tanker
and large loader were provided by Usibelli Coal Mine late in the morning, and
greatly assisted in protection efforts.  Crews spent seven hours battling the
fire and were able to save two wings of guest rooms, the maintenance
building, an employee dormitory and the cafe.  Two additional wings, the main
lodge building and a restaurant were lost; the total damage has been placed
at $25 million.  Over 30 members of the park's staff participated in direct
attack, protection of other structures, or the provision of logistics and
additional heavy equipment.  The hotel's owners vowed to rebuild the hotel
within 60 days in order to be ready for the first scheduled visitors.  The
state fire marshall has determined that the fire started in the main lobby
near two floor furnaces.  Arson has been ruled out.  [Ken Kehrer, DENA]

96-107 - Yosemite (California) - MVA with Fatality and Rescue

On March 16th, off-duty park dispatcher Rick Foulks came upon a rollover
accident on Highway 140 in the El Portal area.  Foulks, a park medic,
conducted the initial assessment and triage of the three victims.  The driver
had been ejected from the pickup and killed.  A six-year-old with only minor
injuries had been removed from the truck by bystanders, but a female
passenger with serious injuries remained trapped inside.  Park patrol, fire
and EMS personnel responded, extricated the woman, and transported her by
ambulance to a helicopter landing area, where she was picked up and flown to
a local trauma center.  Doctors later determined that she'd suffered cervical
spine injuries.  The six-year-old was taken to a local hospital, where he was
treated and released.  [CRO, YOSE]

96-108 - Golden Gate (California) - Multiple Rescues

Unusually warm spring weather on March 16th and 17th resulted in high
visitation to the park's many beaches.  Over the course of the weekend,
Stinson Beach lifeguards and rangers conducted 38 rescues and made more than
200 aquatic safety contacts.  On March 16th, they rescued two men in separate
incidents from 55 degree ocean surf.  One suffered from chest pains,
shortness of breath and hypothermia; the other for hypothermia and loss of
consciousness.  Both were taken to area hospitals.  On March 17th, rangers
employed an inflatable surf rescue boat to search for a boy caught in seven
to nine foot waves.  They searched for 30 minutes with the assistance of a
Coast Guard helicopter, eventually discovering that the boy had made it
safely to shore.   Rangers also rescued a man stranded on a high angle
coastal cliff in a remote section of San Mateo county.  [CR, GOGA]

96-109 - Lava Beds (California) - Assist; ARPA Arrests

Chief ranger Terry Harris and maintenance worker Pat Teague were returning to
the park from a teaching assignment when they picked up an alert from an ARPA
radio sensor located in the Granada Hills in the Klamath National Forest. 
The sensor was one of those placed and utilized by the Northeastern
California ARPA task force.  They summoned Forest Service officers to the
area and maintained surveillance of the road access to the location until the
officers arrived.  Four people - R.H. and D.H., S.B. and
C.F., all from the Yreka area - were found digging, screening and
removing artifacts from a recorded archeological site.  Harris and three
Forest Service officers arrested the foursome as they were leaving the site. 
They were charged with felony ARPA violations and booked into the county
jail.  The case has been forwarded to the U.S. attorney's office for
prosecution.  The park is a founding member of the task force and is
currently working with other task force members on a number of open cases. 
[Terry Harris, CR, LABE]

96-110 - Whiskeytown (California) - Apparent Suicide

On March 18th, a park maintenance employee discovered a car parked along
Kennedy Memorial Drive with a length of plastic duct running from the exhaust
to the passenger's window and the engine still running.  The occupant of the
car, R.R., 29, of Redding, California, was dead.  The county
coroner's office is investigating the circumstances of his death.  [Alan
Foster, WHIS]

96-111 - Death Valley (California) - MVA with Fatality

W.B., 55, of Tucson, died of injuries sustained in a single-car
rollover near Mud Canyon early on the morning of Friday, March 15th.  Bentley
was ejected from the vehicle.  [Chris Ward, CR, DEVA]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Wearing of Uniform - Several instances of employees wearing uniforms at
public events (demonstrations, parades, etc.) while not on government
business have been received by the Washington Office over recent months. 
Such activities are expressly prohibited.  The relevant guidance can be found
in chapter 11 of NPS-43, the Servicewide uniform guideline, and is quoted
here for your edification: "Although proper behavior is expected from
uniformed employees under all circumstances, employees are specifically
prohibited from the following activities while in uniform or wearing a
readily identifiable uniform component.....Participating in or attending any
demonstration or public event other than in the conduct of official NPS
business wherein the wearing of the uniform could be construed as agency
support for a particular issue, position, or political party."  [Chris
Andress, RAD/WASO]

More Wetland Grants - The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), through the
North American Wetlands Conservation Act, has grants available for wetland 
acquisition, restoration and enhancement projects.  The grant cap is $1
million.  A 1:1 non-federal match is required.  Partnerships are emphasized. 
There are two 1996 due dates for applications - April 5th and August 2nd. 
Call USFWS at 703-358-1784 to receive the 60-page booklet and also ask for
the computer disk which contains the forms.  The booklet is entitled "North
American Wetlands Conservation Act - United States Grant Application
Instructions."  A three-page summary of eligible/ineligible activities can be
faxed to you by calling Leslie Krueger at 303-969-2815 or contact her via
cc:mail (Leslie Krueger at NP-WASO-AQ).  This grant is different than the
small grants for wetlands that were listed in the March 14th Morning Report. 
[Leslie Kreuger, AQ/WASO]

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

EXCHANGE

Hazard Tree Information Sought - Staff at Black Canyon of the Gunnison and
Curecanti currently monitor hazard trees in developed areas every two years. 
The hazard to visitors and staff is primarily from narrowleaf cottonwood
trees (Populus angustifolia).  They are looking for a protocol or plan which
deals with the monitoring and mitigation of hazard trees which includes the
narrowleaf cottonwood.  If you can help, please contact Rick Harris at NP-
CURE.

OBSERVATIONS

The following park-related quote comes from one of the archeologists who
conducted the original site work at Fort Fredericka:

"Conservation of archeological remains isn't a luxury.  It's a requirement if
we ever hope to know who we are, where we came from, and how we got here."

                                      Archeologist Nick Honerkamp

Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed by park,
office and/or field area cc:Mail hub coordinators.  Please address requests
for the Morning Report to your servicing hub coordinator.

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

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