NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, November 5, 1996

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

95-497  Yosemite NP (California) - Follow-up on Kidnapping

On October 31st, M.M., 21, was indicted in federal district court in
Fresno for the kidnapping of a park visitor from the wilderness parking lot
in Yosemite Valley on August 2, 1995.  M.M., who is being held in Wichita,
Kansas for the murder of a woman and her 18-month-old child, was indicted on
five federal counts - kidnapping, carjacking, assault with intent to commit a
felony, assault with a dangerous weapon, and impersonation of a federal
officer. [Jeff Sullivan, CI, YOSE]

96-651 - Grand Canyon NP (Arizona) - Hiking Fatality

J.R.M., 55, a retired linebacker from the Pittsburgh Steelers
teams that won Superbowl championships in the 70s, died while hiking on the
Tanner Trail on Saturday, November 2nd.  Rangers were notified of his death
by members of his hiking party when they arrived at the trailhead on Monday
morning.  J.R.M. was hiking with his son and a friend when he stopped
along the trail about two miles above the river, telling them to continue on
to Tanner Beach and that he would join them there.  When he failed to arrive
by Sunday morning, they hiked back up the trail and found him lying where he
had stopped the previous day.  It took the two men a day and a half to reach
the trailhead and summon assistance.  The cause of death has not yet been
determined, but it appears that he had a history of medical problems.  The
death investigation is being coordinated with the county sheriff's office. 
[Patrick Hattaway, SDR, River Subdistrict, GRCA]

96-652 - Golden Gate NRA (California) - Oil Spill

Several park beaches were closed on Wednesday, October 30th, due to an oil
spill in San Francisco Bay.  Initial reports indicated that the vessel "Cape
Mohican" had released about 8,000 gallons of oil into the bay on October
28th.  An interagency incident command team, comprised of representatives
from the NPS, Coast Guard, Fish and Wildlife Service, state and city,
directed the response efforts.  The Coast Guard served as lead agency. 
Damage assessment teams are evaluating the impact of the spill on park
resources.  Professionally trained crews are cleaning the affected beaches
and retrieving injured wildlife.  The park has also established a separate
incident command team to manage the park's response and coordination efforts. 
As of Saturday, 43 dead oiled birds had been collected, over 20 oiled birds
had been captured, and 12 oiled harbor seals were still being monitored. 
There is significant concern for the impact of this spill on the Western
snowy plover and the California brown pelican, which are federally listed
species.  Beaches south of Cliff House, including Ocean Beach and Fort
Funston, were reopened on Thursday afternoon; remaining beaches were to be
reopened as soon as resource assessment teams determined that they were safe
for visitor use.  As of Saturday, the interagency team had the following
resources deployed on the incident: one open water skimmer, 35 support
vessels, ten vacuum trucks, 530 people, 30,000 feet of boom, and eight
shallow water skimming vessels.  [Bill Oswald, IC, GOGA; Gil Soper, CR, GOGA]

96-653 - Glen Canyon NRA (Utah/Arizona) - Illegal Commercial Operations

An undercover operation focusing on illegal commercial operations on Lake
Powell was conducted during the month of August.  Criminal investigator Todd
Swain from Joshua Tree NP acted as the undercover agent.  Six rental
companies were found to be illegally launching and retrieving personal
watercraft within the park.  All six were cited into court, pled guilty to
charges of illegal commercial operation, and paid a total of $3,000 in fines
and over $1,700 in restitution costs.  [David Sandbakken, LES, GLCA]

96-654 - Glen Canyon NRA (Arizona/Utah) - Search and Rescue

On October 14th, J.E., 44, of Tucson, Arizona, was reported overdue from a
camping trip to the Escalante area of Glen Canyon.  Rangers begin searching
for J.E. with fixed wing aircraft and vehicles and by foot.  J.E.'s pickup was
located by air search.  Rangers found a diary inside the truck, last dated
October 8th.  Ranger Jim Bowman accordingly requested that efforts be focused
on the Brimstone Gulch area.  The following day, ranger Jeff Lauersdorf and a
search dog handler located J.E. 75 feet below the west rim of the gulch.  A
technical rescue was initiated and J.E. was medevaced by helicopter.  J.E. stated
he had entered the slot canyon on October 8th by climbing down drop-offs and
soon realized that he was trapped.  J.E. had survived over eight days on five 
ounces of water and no food, clad only in a tee shirt and shorts.  He was
released from the hospital on October 23rd in good condition.  Search dogs
and the Kane County and Garfield County sheriff's departments participated in
the incident.  [Dave Sandbakken, LES, GLCA]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No notes.

MEMORANDA

No memoranda.

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.

                                  --- ### ---