NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Wednesday, May 29, 1996

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

96-222 - Lake Meredith (Texas) - Follow-up on Possible Drowning

The body of A.S., 24, was found in Martin Canyon on May 25th by Coast
Guard auxiliary members and subsequently recovered by rangers.  A.S. was
swimming in rough water on May 18th when he disappeared.  The surface and
underwater search for him continued all week.  The investigation continues. 
[Dale Thompson, CR, LAMR]

96-233 - Jefferson National Expansion (Missouri) - Follow-up on Larceny

On the evening of May 21st, a couple from Manchester, England, had about $455
in English currency stolen from them in the park.  The park subsequently
advised local banks to be on the lookout for someone attempting to exchange
the currency.  On May 23rd, a teller at a downtown bank advised rangers that
a man had attempted to exchange about $320 in British currency, and was able
to provide a description of the suspect.  The man, identified as 34-year-old
B.F., a homeless man with no criminal record, was spotted and
arrested within an hour.  B.F. was cooperative; he gave a full statement,
led park investigators to a locker which contained the couple's camcorder
bag, traveler's checks and other personal items, and provided the name of the
person to whom he'd given the passports and airline tickets.  The latter
turned out to be the father of a city homicide detective.  B.F. was
charged with larceny/theft on a government reservation (18 USC 661) and
placed on restrictive bond pending a June hearing.  [Beth Stout, Acting CR,
JEFF]

96-237 - Lake Meredith (Texas) - Drowning

J.R., 28, of Dumas, Texas, and eight other friends were partying at
their campsite in South Canyon on the evening of May 26th when he and E.A.
went out to sit on a ledge about 18 feet above the lake just before
midnight.  Both slipped backwards over the edge and fell into the water. 
J.R. had been drinking and did not know how to swim; his body was found by
park and police divers around 1:30 a.m.  E.A. received abrasions and
possible head injuries and was taken to a local hospital.  [Dale Thompson,
CR, LAMR]

96-238 - Everglades (Florida) - Resource Violation; Wildfire

On the afternoon of May 18th, park fire units discovered a fire just outside
the park's east boundary in an area designated as a "mutual threat zone" for
the park, Metro-Dade fire department, and state department of forestry. 
Windy weather and dry, heavy fuels caused a fast rate of spread and extensive
spotting.  The fire escaped initial attack and spread into the park,
eventually burning about 1,000 acres (600 - 700 inside the park).  It also
threatened private and park residences and destroyed a research plot,
derailing an extensive research project by Rutgers University.  Suppression
costs for the park alone exceeded $17,000.  Investigation by ranger Ben
Morgan and a city fire investigator revealed that the fire spread from a pile
of debris and vegetation which was being illegally burned by a property
owner.  The owner was cited by the city for burning without a permit.  The
investigation continues, with civil and criminal action by the park pending. 
[Phil Selleck, EVER]

96-239 - Buffalo (Arkansas) - Search and Rescue

On May 18th, park and county personnel conducted an extensive search of Cave
Mountain cave for an 18-year-old male who became separated from his group.  
The cave was wet, and the temperature within was 53 degrees.  Although he had
a flashlight, he was dressed only in a T-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes and
had neither food nor water.  The park didn't learn that he was missing until
more than five hours had passed.  He was found 13 hours after becoming lost,
and was in the advanced stages of hypothermia when evacuated from the cave. 
[Carl Hinrichs, CR, BUFF]

96-240 - Denali (Alaska) - Rescue

N.B., 32, of Broomfield, Colorado, was climbing a 45 degree ice and
snow slope on the South Buttress with two men on May 27th when she fell about
50 feet and was injured.  Her partners used a cellular phone to call 911 and
request assistance.  Mountaineering rangers dispatched the park's high-
altitude Lama helicopter to the scene and moved N.B. down to the Kahiltna
Glacier base camp.  She was then flown to Talkeetna and taken by ambulance to
a hospital in Palmer.  The men remained on the route and continued the
descent.  [John Quinley, PAO, AFDO]

96-241 - Fort Matanzas (Florida) - Car Clout Arrest

On May 26th, rangers and local county officers began a joint investigation of
a significant car clout in which a visitor's car was broken into and over
$3,800 in cash, jewelry and photography equipment were stolen.  Tire and shoe
tread patterns at the scene led ranger Andrew Rich to suspect that the
burglar may have been the occupant of a nearby car.  A criminal check on the
occupant, G.W., of Jacksonville, Florida, revealed that he had 19
prior convictions for a variety of crimes, including breaking and entering. 
Visitors reported that G.W. had buried something in the sand near his car. 
A search of the area turned up a diamond ring and gold necklace, both of
which were identified as stolen property.  The remainder of the stolen
property was found in G.W.'s car.  He was taken to the county jail. 
Federal charges may be filed.  [Chuck Dale, FOMA/CASA]

96-242 - Great Falls (Virginia/Maryland) - Rescue

On the morning of May 25th, rangers and Park Police officers rescued a
juvenile who had fallen while climbing rocks at Sandy Landing.  The victim
suffered a broken leg, three broken teeth and internal injuries.  He was
transported to the hospital by a Park Police helicopter.  [Bill Lynch, LES,
NCFDO]

96-243 - Fort McHenry (Maryland) - Public Event

On May 23rd, 3,000 students from Maryland assembled in the park for a two-
and-a-half hour program that culminated in the creation of a "living"
American flag.  the latter entailed students holding up red, white or blue
poster boards to from an American flag measuring 90 by 150 feet.  The flag
was then photographed from the air, with the fort as a backdrop.  This is a
Maryland tradition which dates back to 1914.  The students arrived in about
75 buses.  The event was sponsored by the National Flag Day Foundation. 
There were no incidents.  [Rick Nolan, CR, FOMC]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

LARGE FIRE SUMMARY

                                                                     %   Est
State      Unit                Fire          IMT     5/28     5/29  Con  Con

NM    State                  Sawyer           T2      120      100  100  CND

FL    Florida NF           * Magnolia         --        -      526   98  5/29

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            0      19        1       1       288       15        324
Acres Burned      0      42        0      31     1,059       27      1,159 

COMMITTED RESOURCES 

               Crews     Engines     Helicopters     Airtankers     Overhead

Federal           41        45            3               2             58
Non-federal        0         2            1               0             11

CURRENT SITUATION 

No significant fire activity was reported yesterday.  There was some initial
attack in the Southwest.

NATIONAL OUTLOOK 

NICC has issued a FIRE WEATHER WATCH for increasing winds, low humidity and
low fuel moisture for northern Arizona.  Activity may accelerate in the
Southwest because of increasing winds.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 5/29]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Assateague Island (Maryland/Virginia) - Rare Leatherback Turtle

Ranger Rusty Steward encountered a live, apparently healthy leatherback
turtle in the off-road vehicle zone on the beach on the morning of May 24th. 
This very rare (for the area) six-foot turtle had been on the beach for some
time.  Its tracks indicated that it had been turning in orientation circles
characteristic of nesting crawls.  It returned to the water, headed landward
again, then returned to the ocean within an hour of the initial sighting. 
Resource managers attempted to determine if nesting had actually occurred,
but were unable to find the characteristic "explosive" disturbance associated
with leatherback nestings.  Because of the possibility that the turtle might
attempt to nest during the night during the Memorial Day weekend and be
disturbed or injured by ORVs, park staff monitored island beaches during
weekend nights and early mornings.  The turtle was not seen again.  Other
coastal area managers were notified of the event, as the turtle may make
another attempt at nesting within 8 to 14 days.  Live leatherbacks in
Maryland are rare, and this appears to be the first documentation of nesting
behavior by this species in the state.  Nesting by leatherbacks north of
Florida is extremely rare.  It's not yet been determined whether the event
represents a possible significant range extension or is a behavioral fluke on
the part of a single turtle.  The loggerhead is the only sea turtle known to
have nested in Maryland, and has not been recorded nesting in the state for
several decades.  The leatherback, the world's largest turtle, is federally
listed as endangered.  [Chris Lea, RMS, ASIS]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No submissions.

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

EXCHANGE

Exhumations and Criminal Investigations - Natchez Trace has an interesting
request for information.  A coroner's inquest is to be held in June in a town
adjacent to the Meriweather Lewis burial site, located on park property, to
investigate the circumstances of his death.  The inquest may be used to
gather support for the exhumation of Lewis's remains for the purpose of a
forensic examination relating to his death.  They are concerned that this
inquest may also be an attempt to open a case as a criminal investigation and
that the exhumation would be linked to it.  Any park with any similar type of
case should contact chief ranger Gordon Wissinger at NP-NATR or 601-680-4014.

OBSERVATIONS

"It is important to scientific study and to the health and sanity of man,
that there be preserved some unique areas for scientists to observe nature's
continuing evolution; for future generations to know historic landmarks as
they were when history marked them; for dwellers in a crowded planet to have
resort to the grandeur and peace of nature."

                                      Samuel H. Ordway, Jr., from
                                      "Quotes: Conservation, Parks,
                                      Natural Beauty," DOI, 1966

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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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