NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Thursday, April 10, 1997

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

97-147 - St. Croix NSR (Wisconsin/Minnesota) - Flooding

The precipitation and snow melt which have caused flooding throughout the
upper Midwest have also caused major flooding on the St. Croix River,
particularly the lower 27 miles of the river from Taylor's Falls to
Stillwater.  All landings and day use facilities are closed and boating
restrictions are in effect.  The river has reached its highest level in the
last 30 years and is expected to crest some time next week.  Damage
assessments will be completed after the river has returned to normal levels
later this month.  [Maureen Yunker, Ranger Activities, SACN, 4/9]

97-148 - St. Croix NSR (Wisconsin/Minnesota) - Rescue

On April 6th, S.S., 39, and R.J., 45, attempted to canoe
the St. Croix River, even though the river was at flood stage and
approximately six feet above recommended canoeing levels.  Their canoe
quickly took on water and sank in three to five foot high waves.  The water
temperature at the time was about 40 degrees, the air temperature was in the
mid-30s and dropping, sustained winds of about 30 mph were blowing, and heavy
snow was falling periodically.  R.J. was wearing a life jacket and was
able to swim to an island, but S.S. was not wearing one and stayed with
the submerged canoe.  A local resident saw S.S. being swept down the river
and called 911.  NPS rangers joined state, county and local rescuers and
retrieved S.S. with a park jet boat about a dozen miles downstream from
the point where his canoe swamped.  He was conscious and informed rescue
crews that R.J. was still somewhere up river.  He was eventually located
and picked up by Wisconsin natural resource wardens.  R.J. had used a
cigarette lighter to start a warming fire while waiting for help.  Both
S.S. and R.J. were taken by ambulance to a hospital, where they were
treated and released.  [Maureen Yunker, Ranger Activities, SACN, 4/9]

97-149 - Lake Meredith NRA (Texas) - MVA with Fatality; Possible Suicide

V.B., 34, was killed on the evening of April 7th when his vehicle
failed to negotiate a curve at the north end of Sanford Dam.  V.B.'s 1988
Chevy pickup went through a guard rail and rolled several times.  There were
no skid marks.  Texas Department of Public Safety officers are investigating
the accident as a possible suicide.  [Dale Thompson, CR, LAMR, 4/9]

                  [Additional reports pending...]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No submissions.

MEMORANDA

"Cooperative Law Enforcement Agreements," signed yesterday by the Associate
Director, Park Operations and Education, and sent to all park superintendents
and chief rangers.  The reply due date is April 21st:

"In order to respond to a Federal court challenge to the National Park
Service's authority to enter into cooperative law enforcement agreements with
other jurisdictions, it is necessary that the Service provide the court
actual copies of ALL PAST AND CURRENT executed agreements or memoranda of
understanding which provide for cooperative law enforcement assistance to
other jurisdictions or local or state agencies.

"This includes all memoranda of agreement, memoranda of understanding,
cooperative agreements, and/or other official documents that provide for
cooperative law enforcement assistance, cross-deputization, or other
reciprocal arrangements with adjacent jurisdictions, localities, or non-
Federal law enforcement agencies.  This request does not include any draft
agreements or agreements that have not yet been fully executed by all
parties.

"There is no longer any central repository of this information, therefore
each park area must respond. 

o Parks in the Pacific West Region need not respond to this request
directly, since that region is already preparing a consolidated
response.
 
o Parks having no record of any such past or current agreements should
respond by cc:Mail to Dennis Burnett in Ranger Activities, WASO. 
Please enter the term MOU in the subject line.

"Express Mail your responses to: National Park Service, Ranger Activities,
Main Interior Building, Room 7422, Washington, D.C. 20240, Attention: Dennis
Burnett, or fax them to 202-208-6756.

"We regret the necessity to request this information, but the outcome of this
litigation has the potential to adversely impact all parks.  We therefore
feel that a major effort is in order.  

"Your prompt attention to this request is greatly appreciated."

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.  Today's contribution and those of the next
several days were sent in by Deanne Adams of CCSO:

"At a conscious or subconscious level, American continues to be 'the land of
the free and the home of the brave' because we can still go to places that
are fresh, primitive, and untamed.  No one would ever describe France this
way.  But we think of ourselves as free and brave because we had to be to
live in the landscape of our beginning.  Wilderness has always fueled our
imagination, nurtured our sense of freedom, and kindled our entrepreneurial
energies.  Without this taproot into our past, we will forget what we have
been and may not like what we become.  Our relationship with the land has
both nurtured and challenged us, giving us those characteristics we consider
uniquely American: heartiness, ingenuity, curiosity, toughness under fire,
individualism, passion, creativity, warmth, good humor, optimism, and
hope....Wilderness is as American as apple pie - food for our soul.  We need
all of it that is left, for without it we shall surely starve."

                                     Author Karen Shepherd in "Testimony:
                                     Writers of the West Speak On Behalf of
                                     Utah Wilderness", compiled by Stephen
                                     Trimble and Terry Tempest Williams, 1996

                                *  *  *  *  *

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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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