NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Wednesday, February 18, 1998

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

97-746 - Southwest SO (NM) - Follow-up on ARPA/NAGPRA Prosecution

On February 12th, a New Mexico state judge ordered that R.T., 55,
of Payson, Arizona, be taken into custody and immediately begin serving a six
month prison sentence for his probation violation from a 1995 misdemeanor
NAGPRA conviction in New Mexico.  The latter stemmed from a joint BLM-NPS
ARPA task force investigation.  The prison sentence is believed to be the
first in the country for a NAGPRA violation, and came about due to R.T.'s
violation of his probation through continued involvement with the sale of and
trafficking in Hopi and Acoma sacred and ceremonial objects.  Last December,
R.T. was convicted on an additional 20 felony counts, primarily ARPA and
NAGPRA, which resulted from Operation Breaklink, a BIA-lead operation which
was conducted in collaboration with the NPS.  He is scheduled to be sentenced
in Phoenix on the Arizona state counts during the third week of March.  When
sentencing R.T. last week, the judge said that he had sympathy for
R.T.'s friends and family, but none for R.T..  R.T. has now been
convicted twice under ARPA, and is the first person to be convicted twice
under NAGPRA.  The U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona will be seeking an
"upward departure" from the sentencing guidelines because of R.T.'s
criminal history.  [Phil Young, SA, SWSO, 2/17]

98-56 - Pinnacles NM (CA) - Follow-up on El Nino Winter Storm Impacts

The park remains closed to the public and will likely be closed until the
middle of March.  Last week, the park's management team, functioning as an
incident command team, directed park staff in a number of activities,
including cleaning culverts, securing buildings, and shoring up undermined
roads and a levee protecting the Chalone Creek housing area.  Despite being
hampered by heavily damaged state highways, intermittent rain, shortages of
rock for road and levee repairs and shortages of equipment, maintenance and
repair crews were able to stabilize the situation on the east side of the
park.  The Chalone Creek bridge has been destroyed, and it may take a month
to install a temporary bridge.  Federal Highways Administration experts
visited the park last week and estimated that it may take 18 months to design
and build a permanent replacement bridge.  The west side of the park has been
checked, and damage has been photographed and recorded.  It has not been
possible to move equipment into the area to clean or repair roads or
facilities due to road conditions on the state highway to that location, but
the situation appears to have stabilized, with little additional erosion or
undercutting.  Repair work may begin here later this week, depending on
conditions and the availability of materials.  State highway crews are
working hard to repair roads and keep them open.  State and park crews have
worked together on Highway 146 to ensure access to the park, but Highway 25
remains closed between Paicines and Hollister due to a two-mile gap in the
highway which may take as along as a year to repair.  A small country road
with three one-lane bridges may provide the only northern access route during
that time.  Most park residents returned to their homes in Chalone Creek on
Monday.  The incident command team is located in a motel in King City, and
the park administrative division is occupying space in BLM's Hollister
Resource Area headquarters.  Although cc:Mail is down, park staff can be
reached at the following numbers: ICS team, 408-385-4843, room 31;
administration, 408-630-5016.  Mail should still be addressed to the park, as
the post office will deliver it to the temporary office in Hollister.  If
conditions allow, temporary park headquarters will reopen in the park on
February 23rd.  The administrative division, however, will remain in
Hollister until the Bear Gulch headquarters can be reopened, perhaps on March
2nd.  [Gary Candelaria, Superintendent, PINN, 2/17]

98-69 - Cape Lookout (NC) - Search in Progress

A local fishing company has asked the park to check out Cape Lookout Bight
for debris or victims from a wrecked trawler.  The 68-foot trawler
"Josephine" was reported heading to port at 4 a.m. yesterday, but has not
been heard from since.  Other boats reported heavy seas in the area, and an
inflated six-man lifeboat and orange life ring with the trawler's name on it
were found near Cape Lookout Point yesterday evening.  A search of the beach
for debris or bodies will continue today.  [Laurie Heupel, Education
Specialist, CALO, 2/18]

98-70 - President's Park (DC) - Demonstration with Arrests

On the afternoon of February 12th, 250 members of Dorothy Day Catholic
Workers and the Atlantic Life Community conducted a demonstration on the
White House sidewalk to voice their opposition to any proposed bombing of
Iraq.  The group engaged in civil disobedience and was found in violation of
demonstration regulations.  Park Police officers arrested 25 members of the
group for demonstrating without a permit and another person for crossing a
police line.  All 26 were processed and released.  [Bill Lynch, RLES, NCRO,
2/13]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No entries.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

NPS-9 Release (Fourth Notice) and Due Date Extension (First Notice) -
Although the draft revised version of NPS-9, the Service's law enforcement
guideline, was transmitted late last year to the regional directors and was
made available to all employees via cc:Mail for review and comment, some
parks have recently reported that they were unaware that the draft had been
released.  The deadline for submission of comments has accordingly been
extended to March 1st.  Please note that ALL comments must be submitted via
regional offices.  [Rick Gale, RAD/WASO]

Wildland Fire Teleconference - In 1995, the federal wildland fire management
program changed direction with the endorsement of a policy and program report
on same by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture.  All federal
wildland fire agencies, including the National Park Service, were directed to
place a high priority on implementing the principles, policies and
recommendations contained in the report.  In order to review the progress
made towards implementing that policy, the National Wildfire Coordinating
Group (NWCG) will sponsor a three-hour national interagency satellite
teleconference on April 8th.  The teleconference will present a unique
opportunity for regional directors, superintendents, natural resource
management staff and fire management personnel to hear about current progress
in implementing the fire policy, critical safety issues, fire management
planning as it relates to overall resource and land use planning, and tools
to help implement the policy.  Specific downlink details will be distributed
at a later date.  For more information, please contact Elizabeth Anderson by
cc:Mail or at 303-969-2883.  [Elizabeth Anderson]

MEMORANDA

"FY 1998 Federal Lands Highway Program Fund Approvals," signed on February
12th by the associate director, park operations and education, and sent to
regional directors and the director of the NPS (to the attention of regional
FLHP coordinators and budget officers).  The memorandum transmits the
initially approved funding allocations for the FY 1998 Federal Lands Highway
Program (FLHP) for park roads and parkways,  reflecting authorized funding
levels for Federal Highway Administration FHWA) and National Park Service
(NPS) engineering, planning, supervision, compliance, construction and other
project related components.  The memo also contains the following
information:
     
"Several FLHP requests are still pending submission of additional supporting
information to WASO for funding clarification.  Updated program funding
approvals will be issued routinely as this information is received and
estimates are finalized.  Questions regarding approved funding should be
forwarded to the WASO Park Facility Management Division through your
designated regional FLHP coordinator.  Any necessary instructions to regional
budget offices for encoding authorized amounts into the Federal Financial
System (FFS) will be issued by the WASO Budget Division.  Questions regarding
FFS should be directed to Arv Rumbaitis, 202-208-7943.
     
"On December 1, 1997, the President signed into law S.1519, The Surface
Transportation Extension Act of 1997.  That law provides only a 6-month
authorization at 50 percent of the FY 1997 funding levels ($42 million for
park roads).  The funds are to be obligated by May 1, 1998.  Meanwhile, it is
difficult to predict when Congress will complete work on the reauthorization. 
Most likely, it will not be until later this spring or summer.  Accordingly,
WASO scheduled a meeting with regional FLHP coordinators and FHWA
representatives in mid-December to discuss FY 1998 funding distribution. 
[Note: Most of the recommendations discussed in that meeting are detailed in
the attachment to the memo].
     
"In line with efficiency and economy, and due to the recent scrutiny of all
NPS Construction Program support costs, FLHP will be held to the same limits
and conditions for support costs that the Service has adopted for Line Item
Construction projects, as follows:
     
All projects will require a project agreement.  Fiscal year 1998 is a
transition year, so all projects will be required to have a project
agreement completed and signed by the appropriate managers prior to
contract award.  Project agreements for projects to be awarded in FY
1999 and future years must be completed before any additional planning
and engineering funds will be approved.
     
Planning support costs for 4-R and construction projects will be
provided at a maximum of 18 percent of net construction.  Costs which
must be limited to within the 18 percent maximum include Project Types
05, 15, 42, 43, 06, 07, and 26.  Support costs for 3-R work will be
limited to 10 percent of net construction.  This is a total for all
support costs including FHWA, region, parks, DSC or consultants,
exclusive of construction engineering.  Tasks such as traffic control,
revegetation and construction  signage should be included in  the net
construction cost.
     
All projects should also incorporate lower cost approaches to
Construction Engineering (CE)/Construction Supervision (Project Types
12 and 21) through the consideration of alternatives such as fewer
on-site supervisors, circuit riders, etc.  Construction engineering
costs should average 10 percent for all projects, with a maximum limit
for any project of 15 percent. 
     
Reduce travel and per diem costs wherever possible, e.g., by scheduling
meetings with minimal possible numbers of participants, and at a
location where the fewest have to travel, if possible.
     
When considering new roadway alignments and realignments, serious
reviews should be made of any proposed archeological investigations and
other compliance with a view to avoiding the problem entirely by
avoiding the area in question, if feasible.
     
Consider whether A/E's could more cost effectively accomplish the
project or portions of the project.
     
Charging of base salaries of permanent park employees against FLHP
funds or projects will not be permitted.
     
"At the recommendation of the FLHP coordinators and FHWA, we have established
on a trial basis a contingency process for limited funding of routine small
change orders that are clearly within the original scope of projects. 
Requests for change orders should be directed through respective regional
FLHP coordinators to Mr. Lou DeLorme at 202-565-1254.
     
"The very limited funding situation for FLHP while awaiting full
reauthorization, however, makes it imperative that efforts be intensified to
contain project costs within available programmed amounts.  It will be
virtually impossible to fund requests for additional costs, project overages,
claims and increases in estimates unless corresponding offsets are identified
within the project or elsewhere.  Your cooperation in working diligently in
this regard, and in ensuring that projects are planned and designed within
available programmed dollars, will be appreciated.
     
"Further information or materials in support of pending funding requests or
general FLHP programmatic questions should be directed to Mr. Mark Hartsoe at
202-565-1265, or Mr. Lou DeLorme, through the designated regional FLHP
coordinators."
     
EXCHANGE

No entries.

UPCOMING IN CONGRESS

The following activities will be taking place in Congress during coming weeks
on matters pertaining to the National Park Service.  For inquiries regarding
legislation pertaining to the NPS, please visit the Office of Legislative and
Congressional Affairs Website at http://www.nps.gov/legal, or contact the
main office at 202-208-5883/5656 and ask to be forwarded to the appropriate
legislative specialist.

HEARINGS/MARK-UPS

Tuesday, February 24

House Subcommittee on National and Public Lands: Hearing on H.R. 1728, to
provide for the development of a plan and a management review of the National
Park System and to reform the process by which areas are considered for
addition to the National Park System; H.R. 2993, to provide for the
collection of fees for the making of motion pictures, television productions
and sound tracks in the National Park System and National Wildlife System.

Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, Historic Preservation and Recreation: 
Oversight hearing on the visitor center and museum facilities project at
Gettysburg NMP.

Thursday, February 26

House Subcommittee on National and Public Lands: Oversight hearing on the
implementation of the recreational fee demonstration program - successes and
failures.

Tuesday, March 10

House Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations and Related Agencies: Hearing
on the FY99 budget request for the Department of Interior.

Tuesday, March 31

House Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations and Related Agencies: Hearing
on the FY99 budget request for the National Park Service.

FLOOR ACTION

No action scheduled on NPS legislation.

                             *  *  *  *  *

Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed by park,
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pertaining to receipt of 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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