NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Thursday, December 12, 1996

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

96-688 - Lassen Volcanic NP (California) - Assist; Search in Progress

On the morning of Monday, December 9th, the Tehama County search and rescue
team requested assistance from the park in a search for C.M.C. and
her two children, ages four and nine.  The trio set out to find a Christmas
tree in the area of Mineral, south of the park's boundary, the previous day;
when C.M.C. failed to show up for work on Monday, a search was begun.  Rangers
and maintenance workers joined in the effort, both on foot and in four-wheel-
drive vehicles and snowmobiles.  Efforts were hampered by heavy rain and
snow.  Neither her vehicle nor any clues were found, but additional
information was received yesterday which shifted the primary search area to
Paynes Creek, a small community 20 miles west of the park.  [M.D. LaLone,
SDR, LAVO]

96-689 - Fort Totten Park (D.C.) - Homicide

A man in his 40s with a gunshot wound to his head was discovered in the park
just after 6 a.m. on December 10th.  He was taken to a local hospital, where
he later died.  Neither his identity nor the motive for the slaying have yet
been determined.  Park Police and city officers are investigating.  [Bill
Lynch, LES, NCFA]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Canyonlands NP (Utah) - Desert Bighorn Sheep Census

On December 2nd and 9th, the park conducted its annual aerial census of
desert bighorn sheep, an exercise undertaken each year since the late 1970s. 
Personnel from the park's resource management and ranger divisions and the
USGS Biological Resources Division overflew the Island in the Sky District,
home of the largest remaining native herd of desert bighorn sheep in the
state of Utah.  A total of 116 sheep were seen, which is a new record for the
park.  There were 38 rams, 58 ewes and 20 lambs.  The lamb:ewe ratio of 34%
indicates a growing population.  The sheep were somewhat stressed by drought
this year, but the population remains strong.  No effects were seen from last
year's removal of 20 sheep for transplant to Capitol Reef NP.  The census
data will now be included in the sightability model which is being developed
for the herd; the result will be an accurate estimate of the population for
this year.  [Craig Hauke, RMS, CANY]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Update on Aircraft Overflight Issues - It's anticipated that FAA will meet
President Clinton's December 31st deadline for issuing airspace rules for
Rocky Mountain NP and Grand Canyon NP.  As a result of hearings held by
Senator McCain in November and public meetings held by the FAA for the
purpose of getting input on the proposed rule for Grand Canyon, the FAA is
redoubling its efforts to address issues pertaining to the introduction of
quieter aircraft to the skies over that park and to the incentives that will
facilitate that process.  FAA is also required to produce a rule that will
apply to the National Park System as a whole.  The schedule for that work
will be known soon.  The Navy is working with staff at Joshua Tree NP to
determine whether it will be possible to shift a military training route
(MTR) that overlays the park.  Ernie Quintana and his staff are working with
various Navy installations on the issue.  A solution that helps the park
without affecting naval operations seems possible.  Sequoia-Kings Canyon
superintendent Mike Tollefson, chief ranger Debbie Bird, and wilderness
manager Ralph Moore hosted the Navy in the park's backcountry this summer to
explore how the Navy could better enforce its own prohibition against flying
in Kern Canyon and reduce their impacts on park visitors.  These efforts are
encouraging steps towards some useful outcomes.  [Wes Henry, RAD/WASO]

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

EXCHANGE

VRAP - Castillo de San Marcos is interested in hearing from anyone with
hands-on experience entering data into the VRAP program for law enforcement
needs assessments.  Please contact Bob Fliegel, the park's chief of
administration, at 904-829-6506 extension 23.

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.  

"The entire national park conception and practice is an adventure by the
government into aesthetics; and I am not sure but that resistance to novel
ideas (i.e., innovations in the national parks) may confidently be premised
upon this basis.  There is an intangible something inherent in the parks that
none of us can express...It is imponderable, but precious beyond all
expression."

                                  Charles G. Thomson, from "Quotable
                                  Quotes: Relating to Conservation in
                                  General and the National Parks in
                                  Particular," Department of
                                  Interior, 1951

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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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