- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, September 20, 1996
- Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, September 20, 1996
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
*** SPECIAL NOTICE ***
Flags lowered to half staff in tribute to former vice president Spiro Agnew
are to be returned to full staff on Saturday, September 21st.
INCIDENTS
96-511 - Moores Creek (North Carolina) - Follow-up on Hurricane Fran
Flood waters have finally begun to recede, but park trails and the historic
bridge site remain underwater. Damage assessments will be completed as soon
as the water levels fall sufficiently. All employees are back at work, but
the park remains closed to the public. If erosion and tree damage prove to
be minimal along the trail, the park may reopen this weekend. [Ann
Childress, CR, MOCR]
96-544 - Yosemite (California) - Search; Fatality
On Sunday, September 15th, the Mono County sheriff's department received a
report that R.M., 74, of Gardnerville, Nevada, was missing in the
park and had not been seen since early the previous afternoon. R.M., who
had Alzheimer's disease, was hiking up Slide Canyon in the northeastern
section of the park with her husband and a friend when she became separated
from them. R.M. had previously hiked in the area a dozen times and was
reported to be in good physical condition. Her husband and friend searched
the immediate route for two hours, then completed the hike, hoping to meet
her along the way. When they failed to find her, they notified the sheriff's
department. A search was begun which employed a tracker, 26 ground
searchers, two trail blocking teams, three dog teams and a pair of
helicopters. Her body was found in Paiute Canyon in the wilderness north of
Tuolumne Meadows on the afternoon of the 16th. The exact cause of death has
not been determined; an autopsy will be conducted. [PIO, YOSE]
96-545 - Fort Vancouver (Washington) - Special Event
President Clinton, Vice President Gore and their campaign caravan stopped at
the park for a rally yesterday evening while en route from Seattle to
Portland. The park issued a special use permit for an unplanned campaign
rally of about 3,000 people. Rangers assisted the Secret Service and other
law enforcement agencies in establishing the rally site and providing crowd
control. [Tony Sisto, Superintendent, FOVA]
96-546 - Big South Fork (Tennessee/Kentucky) - Special Event
The park held its fourth annual "Haunting In The Hills" story-telling
festival during the week of September 9th. The event featured eight
professional story-tellers from across the county who performed throughout
the week. During the week, the story-tellers and a uniformed ranger visited
20 schools - every elementary and middle school in the five counties
surrounding the park - and appeared before over 10,000 students and 600
teachers. The festival concluded on the 14th with a series of events,
workshops and performance in the area adjacent to the Bandy Creek visitor
center. During the morning, the story-tellers conducted teacher workshops
while a local dulcimer club gave beginning and intermediate lessons for the
public. During the afternoon, the story-tellers presented family-oriented
stories, which were followed by presentations by students from several local
schools and a concert by a dulcimer club. About 1,000 people attended the
afternoon event. The festival ended with a full night of ghost stories,
attended by over 2,000 people, some of whom traveled a considerable distance.
[Steven Seven, BISO]
FIRE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II
LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY
Wed Thu % Est
State Unit Fire/Incident IMT 9/18 9/19 Con Con
ID State * Gooding -- - 200 45 9/19
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; LPS = limited
protection status
NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FIVE DAY TREND)
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Sunday, 9/15 1 11 3 0 24 12 51
Monday, 9/16 0 4 3 0 37 10 54
Tuesday, 9/17 0 3 0 1 31 11 46
Wednesday, 9/18 1 2 1 0 22 11 37
Thursday, 9/19 1 3 1 0 33 1 39
TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FIVE DAY TREND)
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Sunday, 9/15 83 88 40 0 680
Monday, 9/16 44 45 34 0 475
Tuesday, 9/17 40 32 21 0 300
Wednesday, 9/18 37 60 20 0 286
Thursday, 9/19 32 56 16 0 244
CURRENT SITUATION
There was some initial attack activity in California yesterday, and one large
fire was reported in Idaho.
NATIONAL OUTLOOK
No unusual conditions are forecast.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Housing Legislation - By unanimous consent and under suspension of rules, the
House of Representatives yesterday passed H.R. 2941, "The National Park
Service Administrative Reform Act of 1996," sponsored by Rep. Hefley (CO), a
bill "to improve the quantity and quality of the quarters of land management
agency field employees, and for other purposes." This legislation, if passed
by the Senate and signed into law, would, among other things, grant the NPS
considerable new authorities for employee housing, including the following,
taken from the language of the bill:
o "[expand] the alternatives available for construction and repair of
essential government housing;"
o "[rely] on the private sector to finance or supply housing...to the
maximum extent possible, in order to reduce the need for Federal
appropriations;"
o "provide increased opportunities for the ownership of housing by field
employees, together with the equity and tax benefits associated with
home ownership;"
o "ensure that adequate funds are available...for long-term maintenance
needs of field employee housing;"
o "eliminate unnecessary government housing and locate such housing as is
required in a manner that primary resource values are not impaired;"
and
o require the Secretary of Interior to "review...required occupancy
(whether and under what circumstances the National Park Service
requires, as a condition of employment, that an employee live at a
particular site or in a specific geographic area)" and, in instances
where occupancy is determined to be required, give "full
consideration...to the concept of adequate response time...[including]
availability and adequacy of non-Federal housing in the geographic
area, including consideration of the degree of isolation [and] category
of employment (seasonal or permanent)."
Other sections of the bill would:
o require Senate confirmation of the NPS director, "who shall be
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate. It also specifies that the director "shall have substantial
experience and demonstrated competence in land management and natural
or cultural resource conservation" and that the director shall select
two deputies, one with responsibility for operations and the other with
responsibility for programs assigned to the NPS. This subsection goes
into effect on February 1st, and applies to the person serving as
director on that date;
o repeals numerous Congressional reporting requirements;
o provides minor boundary revision authority to the NPS;
o provides "challenge cost share" agreement authority to the NPS; and
o permits cost recovery for damage to national park resources.
Senate staff indicate that the Senate may also pass the bill within the next
few days, as similar legislation (a bill sponsored by Sen. Wallop) has was
enacted by the Senate in previous sessions but never cleared the House. The
Division of Park Facility Management will be circulating more detailed
information on the housing provisions of the bill. [John Gingles, DPFM/WASO]
MEMORANDA
No submissions.
EXCHANGE
No submissions.
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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