NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Wednesday, March 5, 1997

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

97-78 - New River Gorge NR (West Virginia) - Rescue

On the afternoon of March 2nd, N.P., 57, was bending over to touch
the water at the top of Styrofoam Falls on Dunloup Creek when she lost her
balance, fell into the waterfall, and landed about 15 feet below in the creek
at the base of the falls.  Dunloup Creek was swollen by heavy rains which had
fallen on the area over the previous two days, and N.P. was pulled under
by the strong current several times before she managed to swim to the surface
and make it to the opposite shore of the creek about 150 feet downstream. 
She was able to hold onto tree branches and keep her head above water while
her husband sought help.  He contacted ranger Audie Critchley at the Dunglen
ranger station, about two miles away; Critchley pulled her to shore and
treated her for her injuries while waiting for assistance to arrive.  The
park's SAR team and volunteers from the Oak Hill Fire Department conducted a
litter belay up the bank to a railroad track and carried her out along the
tracks to a waiting ambulance.  N.P. was admitted to a local hospital for
observation and tests for possible fractures to her hip and back.  [Rick
Brown, DR, NERI, 3/4]

97-79 - Ozark NSR (Missouri) - Tornado

A tornado struck a three-mile section of the park and the surrounding area
around 4 p.m. on the afternoon of March 1st.  Thousands of trees were
uprooted or broken off.  One inholder's car, boat, trailer and house were
demolished by falling trees.  Powerlines were knocked down and backcountry
roads were blocked.  No injuries have been reported.  [Tim Blank, South Unit
Manager, OZAR, 3/4]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Theodore Roosevelt NP (North Dakota) - Update on Bighorn Sheep Translocation

On January 26, 1996, the park's staff released 19 California bighorn sheep
captured in British Columbia (14 ewes and five rams) in the park's North
Unit.  This subspecies is a close relative to the extinct Audubon bighorn
sheep which was native to the North Dakota badlands.  Since that time, eight
lambs have been born, five of which have survived.  As of this past January,
there were eleven ewes with four lambs and three rams within the park.  A 
ewe located in the park prior to transplant has joined the newly reintroduced
bighorns.  The remaining two ewes and one lamb were located outside the park. 
One additional ram with a malfunctioning radio collar has not been seen since
mid-summer.  A two-year-long ecological study is now in progress by a
graduate student from Montana State University.  Research is currently
focused on efforts to validate a geographic information system (GIS) habitat
suitability model and on tests of various hypotheses related to acclimation
of transplanted sheep into new habitats.  This research is unique in that the
model was designed for the Rocky Mountain subspecies, but has not been tested
on either the California subspecies or in a badlands type habitat.  This
information will also be important in determining why sheep populations
introduced into the prairie-badlands breaks habitat have a tendency to
increase rapidly and then crash.  Initial results show that the transplanted
sheep are remaining in predicted areas of optimum escape terrain and critical
lambing areas.  However, the data collected during the first year of this
study suggests that the model could be modified.  There are now between 200
and 300 bighorn sheep roaming the Little Missouri badlands in North Dakota. 
However, much of the historical range of bighorn sheep in Theodore Roosevelt
National Park and the Little Missouri National Grasslands remains unoccupied. 
[Roger Andrascik, RMS, THRO, 3/4]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No notes.

MEMORANDA

No memoranda.

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.  

"One may lack words to express the impact of beauty, but no one who has felt
it remains untouched.  It is renewal, enlargement, intensification.  The
parks preserve it permanently in the inheritance of the American citizen."

                                   Historian Bernard DeVoto, 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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