NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Wednesday, February 5, 1997

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

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

The following are highlights from yesterday's reports on the continuing
effort to restore and reopen the park:

o Electric power was restored to Yosemite Valley yesterday morning.

o Members of the Yosemite Fund, a private, non-profit organization
created to provide funding for projects and programs of lasting benefit
to the park, toured damage sites in the valley yesterday.  The fund has
created a humanitarian account, which will be used to aid park
concession and NPS residents impacted by the flood.  Former ambassador
Bill Lane made an initial donation of $100,000.

o Congressmen Radanovich and Doolittle planned to introduce their bill,
entitled "The Yosemite Restoration Act of 1997," in Congress yesterday. 
Radanovich has added a Yosemite link to his Internet web site
(www.house.gov/radanovich/yosemite.htm).  

A total of 581 people - down from 602 on Monday - are currently committed to
the incident.  [Scott Gediman, IO, with Yosemite PIO staff, and D. D'Andrea,
"Highwater '97A Incident", YOSE, 2/4]

96-724 - Channel Islands NP (California) - Poaching Conviction

On November 5th, ranger Ian Williams came upon two Vietnamese men - T.P.
and B. "M." N. - collecting marine invertebrates with screwdrivers
on San Miguel Island.  The men also had a large bag in their possession which
contained 63 small black abalone, 14 limpets and over 200 marine snails. 
State wardens flew to the island and took the two men into custody.  The men
were unable to communicate in English; ranger Ho Truong from Santa Monica
Mountains NRA provided translation.  The two men said that they were
commercial fishermen from a local port and that they planned to eat
everything they had collected that night.  On January 3rd, Tro T.P. plead
guilty to illegally taking black abalone, which is closed to both commercial
and sport taking year round.  T.P. was ordered to serve 120 days, with a
year's suspended sentence and three years' probation.  T.P.'s fishing
privileges were suspended pending a state hearing, and he was also ordered to
pay restitution for the care and replacement of the abalone, a cost estimated
at between $8,000 and $11,000.  No information is available on the
disposition of legal actions against B.N.  [Kevin Hendricks, CHIS,
2/4]

97-40 - Cape Cod NS (Massachusetts) - Oil Spill

On Friday, January 31st, visitors reported finding oil globules washing up on
the park's outer beach.  An assessment by park staff revealed that globules
of what appears to be #6 crude oil had come ashore along about nine miles of
beach.  The globules are from dime to silver dollar sized.  The Coast Guard's
Marine Safety Office was notified.  On February 1st, a contract cleanup crew
and park personnel cleaned up the majority of the affected area.  Impacts to
wildlife have so far been minimal, but monitoring continues.  [Steve Gazzano,
IC, CACO, 2/3]

97-41 - Cape Cod NS (Massachusetts) - Unexploded Ordnance Found

During oil spill cleanup operations on February 1st, an M-71 high explosive
artillery round was found which had been uncovered by eroding dunes.  A
Massachusetts National Guard emergency ordnance disposal team responded. 
Rangers closed the area and the EOD team exploded the shell.  The area will
be monitored for additional shells, as a coastal defense bunker may have been
uncovered.  [Bill Hooper, OSC, CACO, 2/3]

97-42 - Florissant Fossil Beds NM (Colorado) - MVA with Fatality

S.J., 38, died of head injuries at the scene of a single vehicle
rollover accident on the main road through the park on the afternoon of
February 3rd.  S.J.'s 1982 Toyota pickup rolled several times over a
distance of almost 300 feet.  Neither S.J. nor her two passengers were
wearing seatbelts, and all three were ejected from the pickup.  The
passengers were flown to Colorado Springs, where both are in stable 
condition - one with broken ribs and a lacerated liver and the other with
fractured vertebrae.  The chief ranger and a seasonal laborer were the only
employees on duty and the first emergency personnel on scene.  The county
sheriff and local fire and ambulance companies also responded.  State police
are investigating.  Excessive speed and alcohol were factors.  S.J. had a
probationary license permitting her to drive to school and to alcohol rehab
meetings.  [Maggie Johnston, CR, FLFO, 2/4]

97-43 - Biscayne NP (Florida) - Drug Seizure

Ranger Bonnie Foist received a report of a suspicious package on Ragged Key
#1 on the evening of January 30th.  Foist recovered a wet bale of marijuana
weighing 87 pounds and containing 14 individually wrapped packages.  The
bale, which has a street value of about $13,000, was turned over to Customs. 
Customs officers said that this manner of packaging a bale is highly unusual,
but could not tie it to any known smuggling group.  [CRO, BISC, 2/4]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

NIFC Details - The National Fire Information Center at NIFC in Boise is
preparing a roster of qualified incident information officers and public
affairs specialists with experience in fire information to staff the center
this coming fire season.  These will be "as needed" fire assignments with a
minimum commitment of two weeks.  The center is also seeking people for lead
positions to manage the information center for extended periods of at least a
month.  These assignments will run from May 1st to September 30th. 
Interested and qualified people who have their supervisors' approval should
send their names by cc:Mail to Doug Erskine at NP-FIRE by February 21st. 
Nominations should include the following - name, address, phone number, dates
available, a brief description of fire information experience, and a list of
qualifications and training.  [Doug Erskine, NPS, NIFC]

National Interpretive Advisory Council - The new National Interpretive
Advisory Council (NIAC) has been working on a number of projects:

o A work group has completed revisions to NIAC's draft charter, which is
now in the process of final review.  It will soon be sent to all NIAC
members.  

o Representatives from each of the 16 NPS clusters are meeting this week
in Harpers Ferry to address a number of issues pertaining to
volunteers, including revisions to NPS-7 and conversion of the
guideline to the "Director's Orders" format.

o A small work group is also meeting at Harpers Ferry this week to begin
work on converting NPS-32 to the "Director's Orders" format.

Further updates on NIAC will appear in future editions of the Morning Report.

[Randy Turner, Chairperson, NIAC, DEWA]

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

EXCHANGE

No submissions.

OBSERVATIONS

This section, which appears intermittently in the Morning Report, contains
observations regarding the National Park Service, the System and the several
professions of park employees.  

"We must believe that the man is indeed rare whose patriotism would not be
stimulated while on the fields of Saratoga, Yorktown, Gettysburg, and a
hundred other places of American valor and sacrifice or amid the inspiring
surroundings of our great national parks, which a far-sighted nation has
protected for his enjoyment."

                                     Arno B. Cammerer, Director, 1933-
                                     1940, 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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