NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, November 26, 1996

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

96-657 - Biscayne NP (Florida) - Follow-up on Ship Grounding

The German tanker "Igloo Moon" was removed from the park on Thursday,
November 21st - 15 days after it ran aground at the northeast end of the park
on its way to Houston from Saudi Arabia.  The area around the site of the
grounding was immediately closed to most activities, except hook and line
drift fishing.  The closure was enacted to limit additional impacts to the
area by boaters, divers and commercial anglers, to permit documentation of
the types of surveys to be done in order to estimate damage, and to limit any
additional damage to the area so that natural recovery can occur.  Park
resource managers are documenting and marking the site in preparation for
what is expected to be a rather long assessment process.  [Gary Bremen, IO,
BISC]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Resources Careers Update - Over the past year, Resources Careers committee
members and classification specialists conducted over 125 reviews of natural
and cultural resource management positions at thirteen parks and centers. 
John Mussare, special assistant to the deputy director and former chief
classifier for the Service, has summarized the findings as follows:  

 "The minimum full performance level for professional resource
management positions in the NPS was clearly a GS-11.  Some professional
positions, however, have been filled with people who lack the expertise
or education to perform professional work or are hired below the skill
and grade level needed for the job.  At the same time, many
well-qualified technicians are performing professional work not
reflected in their grades or position descriptions.  This creates
classification and position management concerns.  In other words, we
are not managing our workforce the way we should.  Frequently we have
generalists attempting to perform professional level work.  With the
shortages of staff, we need to be careful that we give the resources
the academic attention they need.  For downsizing/budget reasons,
professional work is being diluted as staff are being asked to do other
types of work.  In other words, their time is spent on things other
than professional resource management.  In some series (e.g. curators
and historians), we are not ensuring that sufficient time is devoted to
research.  There is strong belief that resource management should
report to the Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent.  Many people
believe that the resources are not being adequately represented when it
comes to budget or priority setting."
     
Twenty-four benchmark position descriptions in 20 natural and cultural
resource management series have been completed by teams of classifiers and
subject matter experts.  These will go out for field review very soon.  They
will be accompanied by the resource management professional development
program document (the conceptual framework), position management guidance,
and a worksheet for each park to assess the impact of the resources careers
initiative on its workforce.  There may be a rapid turnaround for this
information in an attempt to get park-by-park information into the expected
FY98 base increase.  The cover memo from Deputy Director Galvin will be
reprinted in the Morning Report.  How and when this will be implemented will
depend in part on the budget information, but mostly on the direction from
the National Leadership Council at their next meeting (January).  Stay tuned
to the natural resources bulletin board, one of the cultural resources
bulletin boards and/or the Morning Report for more information.  [Bob
Krumenaker, RMS, SHEN]

MEMORANDA

No memoranda.

EXCHANGE

No submissions.

OBSERVATIONS

This section, which will now appear intermittently in the Morning Report,
contains observations regarding the National Park Service, the System and the
several professions of park employees.  Today's quote comes from "Quotable
Quotes: Relating to Conservation in General and National Parks in
Particular," published by the Service in 1951:

"America's national parks will ultimately contribute more to the moral
strength of the nation than all the law libraries in the land."

                                     James Bryce, British Ambassador to
                                     the United States, early 1900s

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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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