NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Friday, May 10, 1996

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

96-197 - Homestead (Nebraska) - Tornado 

A tornado that struck Beatrice, Nebraska, on the night of May 8th passed
within 150 yards of the superintendent's house and near the park.  All park
structures were missed, but debris from other structures is scattered
throughout the park.  The east entrance is gone, and trees are down on the
prairie.  No employees were injured, but some of their homes received minor
roof damage.  The park was closed yesterday so that staff could make damage
assessments.  A visiting interpretive planning team is helping with the
cleanup.  [Flo Six, PIO, MWFDO]

96-198 - Death Valley (California) - MVA with Fatality

J.C., 56, was killed in a single vehicle rollover accident on SR
190 in the park on May 8th.  J.C., a French national, was traveling with her
husband and grown son on a sightseeing trip of the United States.  The rental
vehicle drifted onto the shoulder of the highway; when the driver attempted
to bring it back onto the pavement, he overcorrected and the car rolled over. 
J.C., who was in the back seat and was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected
through the car's rear window.  [Eric Inman, CI, DEVA]

96-199 - Mojave (California) - Arson Arrest

On May 6th, San Bernadino county deputies arrested D.H. for suspected
arson activity in the park.  D.H. may be responsible for over 20 fires in the
area.  Further information is being developed and will be forthcoming.  Any
parks with recent suspected arson fires should check for records of contacts
with D.H.  Please notify Eric Inman at Death Valley (on cc:Mail at NP--WR)
if you have any relevant information.  [Eric Inman, CI, DEVA]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

LARGE FIRE SUMMARY

                                                                     %   Est
State      Unit                Fire          IMT      5/9     5/10  Con  Con

NM    Carson NF              Hondo            T1    7,525    7,650   70  5/10
      State                  Pastura          --    2,000    1,000  100  CND

FL    Everglades NP        * 232 Ave #3       --        -      814   75  5/10
                           * Star Grove       --        -    1,121   60  5/10

Heading Notes

     Unit --    Agency = BIA area; NF = national forest; RU = CA state resource
                or ranger unit; RD = state ranger district; District = BLM
                district; NWR = USFWS wildlife refuge
     Fire --    * = newly reported fire (on this report); Cx = complex; LSS =
                limited suppression strategy; CSS = containment suppression
                strategy
     IMT --     T1 = Type 1; T2 = Type II; ST = State Team
     % Con --   Percent of fire contained
     Est Con -- Estimated containment date; NEC = no estimated date of
                containment; CND = fully contained; NR = no report

FIRES AND ACRES BURNED

                NPS     BIA      BLM     FWS    States     USFS      Total

Number            3       1        2       0        18       16         40
Acres Burned  1,935       5       20       0       202       57      2,219

COMMITTED RESOURCES 

               Crews     Engines     Helicopters     Airtankers     Overhead

Federal          112        61           14               1            421
Non-federal        0        17            2               0             33

CURRENT SITUATION 

Fire activity has diminished in the Southwest, but 60 units in the region
report very high or extreme fire danger.  Fire activity increased in the
Everglades.  Resource mobilization through NICC remained minimal.

NATIONAL OUTLOOK 

The potential for escaped fires in the Southwest and southern California
remains high due to extremely hot and dry conditions.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 5/10]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Fraud Advisory - Last year, the Morning Report carried a notice about THG
Tour and Travel, a company in Germany that was causing parks financial and
legal difficulties through solicitations to advertise park campgrounds that
failed to disclose the hefty fee for each entry - about $1,000, plus $87 for
each copy of the guide.  THG is still in business.  Rocky Mountain has
received separate solicitations from them for four of its five campgrounds,
plus one for a campground in an adjoining national forest.  You should not
respond to these requests unless you want to be billed by the company.  The
name of their guidebook is "Camping and Caravannng - Tour and Travel Guide." 
Their name and address is THG Tour and Travel, Guide Verlag GMBH, Borsteler
Chaussee 85-99, Haus 6, D-22453 Hamburg, Germany.  [Doug Caldwell, PIO, ROMO]

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

EXCHANGE

Residents on Park Lands - Indiana Dunes is in search of successful cases in
which 36 CFR 2.61 has been used to remedy situations where former occupants
of reserved right of use and occupancy structures (ROU's) were cited and
evicted for refusing to leave their residences after the ROUs have expired. 
Examples of plea agreements, judges orders, or conditions of probation/
suspended sentences would be appreciated.  Under advisement of the U.S.
attorney's office, the park has been restrained from using criminal statutes
to solve what is viewed as a civil matter, and, consequently, must use
federal civil "ejectment" rules requiring a judge's order and writ of
assistance for eviction.  The attorney handling the case for the government
is interested in looking at other and more timely remedies, if examples which
match the park's situation can be found.  If you can help, contact Bill
Supernaugh at NP-INDU or call him at 219-926-7561 x 411. 

OBSERVATIONS

"The chief biologic and economic reason for preserving wilderness areas is
that they do preserve the balance of nature; that they are the refuge of the
predators, who are constant in their value to us; that they are great
reservoirs of the serene order of nature, where things work the way they
ought to.  They are the right answers in the back of the book, from which we
can get help in solving our problems outside them, when we make a mess of
things, as we usually do."

                                   Donald Culross Peattie, from
                                   "Quotable Quotes: Relating to
                                   Conservation in General and the
                                   National Parks in Particular,"
                                   Department of Interior, 1950s

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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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