NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Thursday, November 20, 1997

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

97-709 - Point Reyes NS (CA) - Oil Spill

An oil spill which was first reported on Sunday, November 16th, has had
considerable impacts on the park.  The park is working under a joint command
with the Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Game, and Farallones
National Marine Sanctuary to respond to environmental impacts, rescue oiled
birds, and cleanup oil tarballs which have washed up on several beaches
within and outside the park.  Approximately 200 oiled birds have been
reported alive; 15 of the 78 collected to date subsequently died, however,
adding to the toll of over 220 dead birds retrieved so far.  Two threatened
and endangered species - the western snowy plover and the brown pelican -
have been affected by oil, including more than 25 snowy plovers, about a
quarter of the wintering population in the area.  A dead brown pelican has
also been found.  Eleven northern elephant seals have been observed with oil
over small percentages of their bodies.  The source of the oil is unknown and
is under investigation.  The Coast Guard has opened the federal oil spill
liability trust fund to pay for the costs associated with the spill.  [Don
Neubacher, Superintendent, PORE, 11/19]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No entries.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No entries.

MEMORANDA

No entries.

EXCHANGE

No entries.

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 submission was sent along by Jake
Hoogland from WASO: 

"Conservation is based on human value systems; its deepest significance is
the human situation and the human heart...The cult of wilderness is not a
luxury; it is a necessity for the preservation of mental health.  Above and
beyond the economic...reasons for conservation, there are aesthetic and moral
ones which are even more compelling.  We are shaped by the earth.  The
characteristics of the environment in which we develop condition our
biological and mental being and the quality of our life.  Were it only for
selfish reasons, therefore, we must maintain variety and harmony in nature."

                               Rene Dubos, "Ecology and Religion
                               in History," 1969


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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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