NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, January 7, 1997

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

96-707 - Yosemite NP (California) - Follow-up on Storm Impacts

About 500 concession employees were evacuated from Yosemite Valley yesterday
due to the lack of both potable water and a functioning sewage system.  The
only employees remaining are a few managers and those deemed essential to
keep the village store running and the Yosemite Lodge open (the only guests
are incident command team members and NPS employees from other areas).  The
Red Cross has set up a temporary shelter in Mariposa to house displaced
concessions employees.  Highway 41, the only road in and out of the park, was
closed early yesterday due to high winds and downed trees across the road. 
The road remained closed throughout the day, thereby delaying the planned
evacuation.  Several trucks with vital supplies (such as sewer line parts)
were stalled at Wawona due to the road closure.  It's hoped that the roads
can be opened early today.  If not, the supplies will be flown in by
helicopter.  The high winds also limited work in the valley.  Primary efforts
are focusing on getting basic services (water, sewers, power, etc.) back on
line and on protecting park resources.  Engineers, resource managers and
other specialists should begin arriving today.  If the highway is reopened,
media representatives will also be allowed in to look at the damage to the
valley and the Highway 140 corridor to El Portal.  [Scott Gediman, PIO, YOSE]

96-717 - Shenandoah NP (Virginia) - Search and Rescue

South District engineering equipment operator Leonard Comer discovered an
abandoned vehicle parked about a half mile behind a locked gate on the closed
access road to Loft Mountain campground late on the morning of December 30th. 
The driver's window was open and a key had been left in the rear hatch lid. 
Protection supervisor Rick Childs investigated and found that the vehicle was
registered to S.B., 34, of Portsmouth, Virginia.  Further
investigation revealed that she'd attempted suicide in July.  A search with
hasty teams and dog teams was begun, but no sign of her was found.  On the
31st, the park began a major, multi-organization search effort which was
equally fruitless.  Investigators Skip Wissinger, Clyde Yee and Tim Alley
determined that S.B. had entered the park at 8 p.m. on the 27th and that she
might have contacted a friend, Karen Byrd, on the 29th for a ride, as her
vehicle had been damaged and disabled when she drove around the gate.  Search
efforts were immediately scaled back.  On January 2nd, S.B. contacted Byrd
by phone and asked to meet her in the park.  When Byrd failed to find her at
the arranged location, she contacted Alley.  Childs, Wissinger and ranger
Matt Richardson met Byrd, and, after an extended search, found S.B. in the
woods and coaxed her out.  She was in good condition.  Investigation revealed
that S.B. did not want to be found during the six days she was missing, and
that she didn't fully comprehend the trouble that she'd created for the park
and for searchers.  Her illegal campsite was found just outside the search
area.  S.B. left the park with Byrd after the debriefing.  [Rick Childs,
SHEN]

97-4 - Zion NP (Utah) - Climbing Fatality; Rescue

On January 2nd, J.C., 36, of Provo, Utah, apparently fell to his
death while solo rock climbing on "Prodigal Sun," a popular climbing route on
Angel's Landing.  Although there were no witnesses to the accident, it
appears that one of his two ropes slipped through his rappel device, causing
him to fall about 800 feet to his death.  A search was initiated after the
park was notified that J.C. was overdue.  The park's search and rescue
team discovered his body around 9 p.m. that day during one of the heaviest
winter storms to strike the park in recent memory.  Recovery efforts were
hampered by severe flooding, which made it impossible for team members to
ford the Virgin River.  A high line system was established so that they could
reach the body.  It was removed by carrying it down a scree slope, placing it
in an inflatable raft attached to the high line system, towing it across the
river, then winching it from there to a parking lot.  During this operation,
rangers were also handling a second rescue in which four day-hikers were
evacuated from the East Rim trail, where they'd been trapped by the rain/snow
storm without equipment or food.  After crossing the normally dry Echo Creek,
which was three feet deep with flash flood water, rescuers were able to reach
the hypothermic group and escort them to safety.  [Dave Buccello, Acting CR,
ZION]

97-5 - New River Gorge NR (West Virginia) - Search and Rescue

At 11 p.m. on New Year's Day, rangers received a report through the regional
911 dispatch of overdue hikers in the Piney Creek drainage of the park.  Two
adults and a six-year-old boy were reported missing by family members when
they failed to return home.  The trio lacked camping gear, lights or adequate
clothing.  Tracks were found by a hasty team searcher shortly after midnight
along the creek about a mile from the New River.  Ranger Frank Sellers
followed the tracks, discovered the group around a small campfire several
miles up the Piney Creek drainage, and helped them downstream to railroad
tracks where local volunteer rescue members completed the carryout to waiting
ambulances.  The three had spent a total of fourteen hours in the drainage. 
Both adults were discovered to be highly intoxicated; the father, D.A.,
51, registered .25 on a preliminary breath tester more than an hour
after being discovered.  The boy had a core body temperature of barely 94
degrees when evaluated by paramedics.  D.A. was charged with creating a
hazardous condition.  An investigation by state child protective service
workers is being considered.  Operations supervisor Dennis Weiland was
incident commander.  [Duncan Hollar, DR, NERI]

97-6 - Great Sand Dunes NM (Colorado) - Assist; Structural Fire

On Friday, January 3rd, the park's structural fire brigade (five rangers and
an engine) assisted a local volunteer fire department in extinguishing a fire
at a residence in a development south of the park boundary.  The fire started
when a generator exploded and ignited adjacent building materials, a propane
tank, and other construction items.  The park has an MOU with the county for
structural fire suppression.  [Stuart Schneider, CR, GRSA]

97-7 - Baltimore-Washington Parkway (Maryland) - MVA with Fatality

A.M., 20, of Bowie, Maryland, was killed in a single vehicle accident
just after 2 a.m. on Sunday, January 4th.  Investigation revealed that A.M.
was driving northbound in his Camaro near the NASA-Goddard ramp when he lost
control of the car and struck several trees in the median.  A passenger in
the vehicle was admitted to a local hospital and is in stable condition. 
Park Police officers are investigating.  [Bill Lynch, LES, NCFA]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Strategic Plan - Reminder: Comments on the final draft of the National Park
Service's strategic plan are due by close of business on January 13th. 
Please send them via cc:Mail to WASO Strategic Planning.  

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

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.  

"The conflict between the demands of commerce and the preservation of these
wonder places involves constant vigilance.  In my view, their preservation is
of the first importance.  It should be the settled policy of the country,
regardless of any question of utility, that when in the wisdom of the
Congress national parks or monuments are definitely set apart, they must be
preserved in their integrity, forever free from any form of
commercialization.  If this principle is not recognized, and
commercialization in any form is allowed to creep in, it will be only a
question of time when our Wild West will be only a memory and the big game of
our country will be extinct, and these places and objects, now so wonderful,
will be seriously and permanently injured."

                                  John Barton Payne, from "Quotable
                                  Quotes: Relating to Conservation in
                                  General and the National Parks in
                                  Particular," Department of
                                  Interior, 1951

                                *  *  *  *  *

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.

                                  --- ### ---