NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, February 4, 1997

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

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

A section of Highway 140 collapsed yesterday morning, causing a power outage
in Yosemite Valley that will continue until at least this afternoon.  The
incident command post, firehouse, administration building and cafeteria are
being powered by generators.  The site of the "Cookie" slide on 140 continues
to be a main focus of recovery efforts.  The temporary six-inch sewer bypass
has been replaced with a permanent, gravity-fed twelve-inch main, and the
washed out road section has been filled in and marginally stabilized.  It is
now passable with a Dihatsu two passenger utility vehicle.  Despite advances
in road repair and the opening of southern areas of the park, NPS employees
continue to be displaced from their homes and offices, and between 800 and
1,000 concession employees remain unemployed.  Staff members from the offices
of California Senators Feinstein and Boxer were in the park yesterday to meet
with park management.  The incident is now being managed by Northeast
Region's Type II incident management team (Skip Brooks, IC).  A total of 602
people (509 NPS, 35 Forest Service, 52 Mariposa County, five BLM and one
USGS) are currently committed to the incident.  [Scott Gediman, IO, with
Yosemite PIO staff, and Ann Marx, Plans Chief, "Highwater '97A Incident",
YOSE, 2/3]

97-35 - Hawaii Volcanoes NP (Hawaii) - Follow-up on Volcanic Eruption

The eruptions occurring in and near Napau Crater waned considerably over the
weekend.  About 300,000 cubic yards of lava have so far covered 68 acres of
land.  Lava flows from Pu'u O'o no longer course through lava tubes to the
sea, and only residual fuming marks the former path of the underground
labyrinth.  Even normal steam plumes produced when lava enters the ocean have
been reduced to an occasional steam wisp.  Noxious gases have risen from the
new earth cracks at Napau; depending on the direction of the wind, various
places along the Chain of Craters road can be especially malodorous.  It's
not known how long this pause will last or what may happen next.  Sandy
Snell-Dobert and Stephen Dobert, both employees of Yellowstone NP, were
evacuated from the Napau campground on the morning of the eruption.  The
park's staff has resumed normal duties, but remains on standby for the next
phase of the eruption.  All park roads and summit trails have reopened.  All
backcountry trails were to be reopened yesterday unless seismic and/or
volcanic activity increased.  [Yvette Ruan, CR, HAVO, 2/2]

97-36 - Denali NP&P (Alaska) - Airplane Crash; Search in Progress

A small, single-engine plane crashed near the Dall and Yentna glaciers on the
afternoon of February 1st.  Aboard are B.J., 27, his wife, C.J.,
21, and their 21-month-old daughter.  B.J. became disoriented by bad
weather while flying from Port Allsworth to Anchorage and advised flight
service that he was running out of fuel at 4 p.m.  About an hour later, the
Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) in Fort Richardson picked up an ELT signal
and launched two aircraft.  Both had to return because of poor weather.  The
park was notified and took command of the incident.  With the assistance of
state troopers and personnel from Denali State Park, six snowmobilers,
including rangers Tom Habecker and Dennis Knuckles, left the closest point
they could reach by vehicle (55 miles from the crash site) on Sunday and
broke trail to Angel's Lodge, a small lodge about 25 miles from the crash
site.  They were hindered by high winds, fresh snow and whiteout conditions. 
After resting, five members of the group, along with two civilians from the
lodge, broke trail for another 20 miles, reaching a point near the terminus
of the two glaciers, but had to turn back by midnight.  Air National Guard
pilots made another attempt to fly in, but were again turned back by snow and
severe winds.  In the process, however, they were able to plot a better
location for the ELT signal, now located on the mountainside above the Dall
glacier.  Mountaineering rangers Roger Robinson and Billy Shott and a
mountaineering team established a base camp at the base of the glaciers
yesterday.  They are still between five and seven miles from the site and
will attempt to reach the plane today.  Another mountaineering team will be
shuttled to the base camp this morning to assist them.  Snow and high winds
continue to hamper flights, but aircraft have occasionally been able to reach
the base camp and have supplemented the lengthy and arduous snowmobile
shuttles.  Assisting agencies include the aforementioned groups, two area
rescue teams, several Talkeetna-based mountaineering guides, and a host of
highly-skilled civilians from the area.  JD Swed is incident commander.  [Ken
Kehrer, CR, DENA, 2/3]

97-37 - Baltimore-Washington Parkway (Maryland) - Shooting Incidents

On the evening of Saturday, February 1st, several motorists traveling on the
parkway had the windows of their vehicles shattered by gunfire.  Five
vehicles - possibly more - were hit during a one-hour period.  Park Police
officers in the USPP helicopter, which is equipped with night vision
equipment, spotted five suspects hiding in the woods near the parkway.  All
five were apprehended by officers without incident.  Recovered at the scene
were seven air pistols, and air rifle, shotgun, and .22 caliber ammunition. 
The five, all juveniles, were arrested.  [Bill Lynch, LES, NCR]

97-38 - Yosemite NP (California) - Burglary Arrest

A concession dormitory room in Yosemite Valley which had been evacuated
because of the flood was forcibly entered on or about January 7th.  Stolen
was a $400 guitar.  Shortly thereafter, concession employee D.H.
attempted to sell the guitar to another employee and was subsequently
arrested.  D.H. had been evacuated from the area, but had returned to
retrieve his car.  D.H. was on federal probation at the time of his
arrest and was also on bail for two other federal charges and for a state DUI
charge.  [Fred Elchlepp, CI, YOSE, 1/31]

97-39 - Arches NP (Utah) - Suicide

A ranger on morning patrol came upon a frost-covered vehicle parked in a day-
use picnic area parking lot on the morning of January 31st.  While walking
through the picnic area, looking for an out-of-bounds camper, the ranger came
upon the body of a man hanging from a tree limb.  A search of the vehicle
turned up a suicide note and many personal possessions.  Positive
identification and next-of-kin notifications had not been made at the time of
the report.  A joint investigation with the county is underway.  [Jim
Webster, CR, ARCH, 2/3]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

National Leadership Council Meeting Decisions - The NLC met and made a number
of decisions during the three-day period from January 22nd to the 24th.  Here
are some of the key decisions made at the meeting:

o The following recommendations were among a series adopted regarding
central offices:

* The term 'field area' will be changed to 'region,' 'field
director' will be changed to 'regional director, and 'field
director's office' will become 'regional director's staff.'
* SSOs located in the same area will be combined.  If more than one
SSO remains in a field area, field directors should evaluate the
redistribution of workloads and staff in the remaining SSO.
* SSOs will redesignated as 'support offices,' or SOs.  
* SOs will be retained in each previous regional office location,
but SO employees may be duty-stationed in additional locations.
* The regional directors' staffs will work toward regional
organization structures which parallel WASO's organizational
structure over the next 18 months.

 In adopting these recommendations, the NLC stipulated that the basic
tenets of the restructuring plan are to be retained, that SOs are to
remain in a peer relationship with park superintendents, that line and
functional authority remains the exclusive province of the regional
directors, and that the goal for SO management continues to include
having three management teams with only one layer of supervision below
the superintendent (except in cases where the supervisor/employee
ration becomes excessive).

o A series of goals were adopted regarding employee safety and risk
management which reflect a commitment to substantially improving the
Service's safety record.

o The NLC endorsed continued development of the resource, administrative,
concessions, maintenance and ranger careers initiatives and encouraged
parks to provide funding for promotions from available budgets.

The full text of the report was issued yesterday and can be found on the all-
employee bulletin board.

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

EXCHANGE

River Recreation - DSC is in the process of developing a visitor management
and resource protection plan for Zion NP and in the process is addressing the
issue of river recreation - fishing, inner-tubing, wading, and kayaking. 
They'd like to hear from anyone who could help with the following questions:

o Are these activities appropriate in a national park?
o What are the impacts on the resources from these activities and what
mitigating measures could they take?
o What are the safety issues and what mitigating measure could they take
in this arena?

Contact Heather Todd via cc:Mail at NP-DSC or at 303-969-2674.

UPCOMING IN CONGRESS

The following activities will be taking place in Congress during coming weeks
on matters pertaining to the National Park Service.  For inquiries regarding
legislation pertaining to the NPS, please visit the Office of Legislative and
Congressional Affairs Website at http://www.nps.gov/legal, or contact the
main office at 202-208-5883/5656 and ask to be forwarded to the appropriate
legislative specialist.

February 5

House Resources Committee: Full committee meeting to organize and adopt
rules.

February 6

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee: Oversight on U.S. relationship
with territories; S. 210, amending the organic acts for territories.

February 13

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee: Oversight on Surface
Transportation Act (ISTEA) reauthorization.

February 27

House National Parks and Public Lands Subcommittee: Oversight on research and
resource management in the National Park Service.

                                *  *  *  *  *

Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed by park,
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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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