NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Thursday, July 17, 1997

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

97-327 - Mesa Verde NP (CO) - Boy Injured by Mountain Lion

On Monday, July 14th, a park visitor spotted a mountain lion along the Park
Point fire lookout trail and advised fire lookout Bob Erner.  Erner
immediately evacuated visitors from the area.  As he was escorting them down
the trail to the parking lot, the lion attacked and injured one of the
visitors, a four-year-old boy from France.  The boy and his two older
brothers were walking ahead of their parents toward the parking lot when they
saw the lion along the trail.  The young boy screamed and ran, prompting the
animal to pursue him.  The lion grabbed the boy by the head and moved toward
the brush, but dropped him when family members screamed and ran toward it.
The boy received first aid from rangers and was then transported to Southwest
Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for face, neck and ear lacerations. 
The lion was subsequently shot and killed by rangers.  An assessment of the
animal will be done through the Montezuma Department of Public Health to
determine if the lion had rabies.  The Park Point area had just reopened on
Monday for daytime use (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) following previous lion activity in
the area, which had been reported during early morning and evening hours.  A
mountain lion had last been spotted at Park Point on the previous Friday.  It
is uncertain if this lion is the same animal as was involved in the earlier
incident.  [Jane Anderson, PIO, MEVE, 7/14]

97-328 - Denali NP (AK) - Grizzly Injures Hiker

While hiking several miles east of Eielson visitor center on July 9th,
L.R., 20, an employee at the Denali Princess Hotel, was charged
and bitten in the hand by a grizzly bear.  The encounter occurred when
L.R. hiked over a rise and found herself about 20 yards from a sow with
two cubs.  She began to back away, waving her arms and shouting, when the
bear charged part way, hesitated, then closed the distance between them. 
L.R. immediately dropped into the fetal position and played dead while the
bear pawed her and bit her hand, breaking the skin and drawing blood.  After
about 40 seconds, the bear and her cubs left the area.  L.R. then walked
to the visitor center to report the incident.  She was taken to Healy for a
medical examination and the backcountry was immediately closed.  This was the
first bear caused injury at Denali since 1988.  [Ken Kehrer, CR, DENA, 7/10]

97-329 - Devils Tower NM (WY) - Lightning Injuries

On the afternoon of July 10th, a sudden severe lightning storm struck Devils
Tower.  The summit and west face of the tower were hit by numerous lightning
strikes.  One bolt hit the lower part of the west face and dislodged several
large rocks, which fell onto a climbing party below, striking four climbers,
three of whom received minor injuries.  A fourth climber, J.M. of
Forest City, Iowa, suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung from a large
rock that hit him in the side.  J.M. completed the descent with assistance
from his climbing party and was treated by park rangers.  The climbers said
that a bolt of lightning struck the tower above them, and that they saw
lightning travel down a rock column a couple of cracks away from the route
they had been climbing.  There were a total of 24 climbers on the tower at
the time.  [Jim Schlinkmann, CR, DETO, 7/13]

97-330 - John Day Fossil Beds NM (OR) - Special Event

The 1997 gathering of the "Rainbow Family of Living Light" was held in early
July at Indian Prairie in the Ochoco National Forest in central Oregon,
approximately twelve miles from the entrance of the park's Painted Hills
unit.  Peak attendance at the event was estimated to be 27,000 people over
the July 4th weekend.  Rangers from Craters of the Moon NM, Olympic NP and
North Cascades NP were detailed to the park to assist with expected increases
in visitation.  Although numerous incidents and violations occurred on Forest
Service land and elsewhere in the surrounding community, there were no
adverse impacts to park visitors or disturbance to park resources resulting
from Rainbow Family activities.  The event was managed cooperatively under
unified command by a Forest Service incident management team with other
federal, state and local authorities.  [George Rummele, NPS IC, CRMO, 7/14]

97-331 - George Washington Memorial Parkway (VA) - MVA with Fatality

A.C., 86, of Alexandria, Virginia, was fatally injured in a two-car
accident on the parkway on June 26th.  Witnesses reported that A.C. failed
to yield to traffic at the parkway's intersection with Belle Haven Road and
collided with a southbound vehicle.  He was flown to a hospital by a USPP
helicopter, where he later died.  The operator of the second vehicle
sustained minor injuries.  [Bill Lynch, LES, NCRO, 6/27]

97-332 - Natchez Trace Parkway (MI/AL/TN) - MVA with Fatality

F.T., Jr., of Lorman, Mississippi, was killed in a motor vehicle
accident on the parkway early on the morning of June 30th.  F.T., 27, was
southbound when his vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree.  It appears
that F.T. may have fallen asleep at the wheel, but alcohol also was a
contributing factor.  [Tim Francis, ACR, NATR, 6/30]

97-333 - Cumberland Gap NHP (KY/TN/VA) - Marijuana Eradication

During the week from June 23rd to the 27th, rangers and state and local
officers located and destroyed eight marijuana patches containing 142 plants. 
Other patches were also located and are being investigated.  Several of the
patches had only recently been planted, probably due to the extremely wet
weather conditions in the area during May and June.  Plants ranged in size
from four to 36 inches tall.  [Charlie Chadwell, SPR, CUGA, 6/30]

97-334 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Drug Seizure, Arrest

On June 9th, 1997, H.S.W. was driving in the southern end of
the park near Sandstone when her car became disabled.  A service technician
at a local dealership where the car was towed found what he thought to be
marijuana in the vehicle, and called the local drug task force (the park's
criminal investigator is a member of the group).  A search of the vehicle led
to the discovery of 70 grams of marijuana in eleven bags along with $980 in
hidden cash.  Investigation revealed that H.S.W. was travelling
throughout the area selling cable TV subscriptions as well as marijuana.  She
has no known permanent address.  She was arrested on possession and
distribution charges.  [Chris Schrader, CI, NERI, 7/10]

                   [Additional reports pending...]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Sleeping Bear Dunes NL (MI) - Shipwreck Evaluation
     
A team of SCUBA divers from the park, Michigan State University, and the
Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve assembled in early June on South Manitou
Island for a week of diving on the recently discovered wreck of the "Three
Brothers," which is within park boundaries.  From June 5th through the 10th,
75 working dives were conducted in 40 degree water to videotape, photograph,
take critical measurements, and establish monitoring points on and around the
ship, which sank in 1911.   The National Park Service provided funds,
logistical support and housing during the project.  The Army Corps of
Engineers and Michigan State Historical Office provided permits.  The
National Park Service's Submerged Cultural Resources Unit provided advice and
equipment on documentation of the site. The park ferry concessioner provided
free transport for people and equipment.  The operation was directed by Ken
Vrana of Michigan State University's Center for Maritime and Underwater
Resource Management.  The wreck, which was discovered by park staff in the
spring of 1996, had been covered by four acres of beach over the past 80
years.  The sand had disappeared over the course of the winter, exposing the
well-preserved wreck in from seven to 50 feet of water.  Over 2,000
recreational dives were conducted at the site during the summer of 1996, and
expectations are that it should receive the same attention this year.  The
objective of the project was to establish monitoring points to document
changes to the site in the future.  Expectations are that the site will
change continually, with sand either covering or exposing more of the 162-
foot steamer over the years.  Waves and ice should also take their toll. 
Recreational divers have already removed numerous artifacts.  But the
establishment of monitoring points and a cooperative approach to site
management means that the ship will not be lost again.  [Chris Johnson, DR,
SLBE]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No submissions.

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

EXCHANGE

No submissions.

                                *  *  *  *  *

The Morning Report will be posted intermittently through late July.  Today's
edition is the fifth since Thursday, June 26th (the other issuances were on
July 1st, 7th, 8th and 14th).  It is being sent courtesy of Melissa and Jon
Anglin (personnel specialist and park ranger, respectively, at Golden Gate
NRA), who have provided a temporary editorial office in their residence in
Marin Headlands.

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.

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