NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Friday, March 6, 1998

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

98-56 - Lassen Volcanic NP (CA) - Follow-up on El Nino Winter Storm
Impacts

On March 2nd, maintenance workers checking facilities at the
Chalet discovered that a building owned by the park concessionaire,
California Guest Services, had collapsed during the night.  The
building had been used to house and store equipment during periods when
the ski area was active.  The building is a total loss.  Damage
estimates to the contents are still to be determined.  The total
snowfall for this area, which is at 6,100 feet, has exceeded 500 inches
this winter, with 229 inches of snow still on the ground. [CRO, LAVO,
3/3]

98-91 - Mojave NP (CA) - Drug Lab Arrests

While visiting the Rainbow Wells mining site on February 3rd, members of
the park staff noticed possible evidence that a drug lab had been
operating on the abandoned mining site.  An investigation was started
by Death Valley criminal investigator Eric Inman in conjunction with
Mojave rangers and a DEA joint drug task force.  Surveillance was begun
on the site in an attempt to apprehend the suspected drug
manufacturers.  During the early morning hours of February 19th,
the joint drug task force, consisting of rangers and criminal
investigators from the two parks, DEA agents, and local law enforcement
officers, raided the suspected methamphetamine lab.  The mining site
and the associated buildings used in this clandestine lab were all
located on government property within the preserve.  Two men - E.W.
and T.M. - were on site and had a methamphetamine
"cook" going when the task force arrived.  E.W. was apprehended at
the scene as he attempted to drive off in his truck; T.M. fled into
the surrounding desert on foot.  He evaded detection and capture by a
canine unit and aerial surveillance units, but was subsequently
captured by a San Bernardino county sheriff's deputy on the morning of
February 20th when he called a tow company to remove his disabled
vehicle from the crime scene.  The pickup truck had been impounded the
day before.  Also found and seized at the site were high-powered
weapons and ammunition.  The street value of the meth produced and
found at the site has been placed at approximately $75,000.  Federal
drug manufacturing charges and several environmental crime-related
charges dealing with the production and dumping of hazardous material
are being filed on each of the men.  The funding for this operation and
for recent drug/hazmat training came from the desert parks' drug
initiative fund.  [Tim Duncan, DR, Kelso District, MOJA, 3/3]

98-92 - Big Cypress NP (FL) - Marijuana Eradication

On February 20th, rangers concluded a two-month-long investigation
of a marijuana cultivation operation in the park which resulted in the
seizure of 427 sensimilla plants.  This operation was unusual because
the plants had been started during the winter and because they were
planted in a wetland area that had been prepared by building nearly 75
dirt mounds.  The wetland is normally covered by a foot of water.  The
full-grown plants had an estimated street value of nearly $90,000. 
[Joe O'Haver, ACR, BICY, 3/2]

98-93 - Big Cypress NP (FL) - Resource Violation Convictions

In a plea agreement accepted on February 27th, 68 members of the
Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity agreed to a five-year ban from the park
and paid $1,000 in restitution for damages inflicted to a campground
during a fraternity event held there on January 4th.  This was
the second time in less than two years that members of the fraternity
held an unsanctioned event which resulted in destruction of park
resources.  Both incidents were investigated by ranger John Wilkins,
who worked with assistant U.S. attorney Lauren Priegues in negotiating
the agreement.  [Joe O'Haver, ACR, BICY, 3/2]

98-94 - Cape Hatteras NS (NC) - Suicide

J.C., 29, disappeared from his home in Norfolk, Virginia,
around 1 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, March 1st.  On the
afternoon of March 4th, ranger JoAnn Gillette discovered
J.C.'s Chevy Blazer in frontal dunes in the park about a mile
south of the village of Salvo.  His body was found inside.  Rangers
Steve Ryan and Paul Stevens and county officers responded.  Evidence at
the scene indicates that J.C. had taken his own life several days
earlier by running a plastic pipe from the vehicle's exhaust into the
passenger compartment.  J.C. was to have appeared in court in
Norfolk on drug charges on March 2nd.  [Jeff Cobb, CR, CAHA, 3/5]

98-95 - Buffalo NR (AR) - Suicide

A college student conducting elk research in the park on March 4th
discovered the body of M.S., 36, of Harrison, Arkansas, in his
vehicle at a scenic pulloff in the Boxley Valley area of the park.  A
garden hose had been duct-taped to the exhaust pipe and was feeding
carbon monoxide into the passenger compartment of the pickup.  The
student contacted a maintenance employee, who called rangers.  The
maintenance employee entered the vehicle, turned off the engine, and
determined that M.S. had no pulse or respirations.  County deputies
investigated.  A police "be on the lookout" message had been
issued earlier in the day indicating that M.S. might be suicidal. 
Wal-Mart receipts found in the vehicle indicated that he had purchased
the hose and duct tape earlier that day.  The park is coordinating a
CISD session for those involved in the incident.  [Bob Howard, LES,
BUFF, 3/5]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Glen Canyon NRA (UT/AZ) - Aquatic Bird Survey

The park's resource management division conducted its first full-lake
aquatic bird survey of Lake Powell between January 28th and
February 2nd.  Because the lake is large (186,000 surface acres) and
has about 2,000 miles of shoreline, it is impossible to cover the whole
lake in a few days of surveying.  But it's estimated that about 85%
of the lake was covered.  A total of 4,725 individual birds from 27
species were counted.  As this was the most extensive survey conducted
to date, it's not possible to compare the results with previous
findings.  However, a 1988 January survey covering about 60% of the
lake counted 3,486 individual birds from 26 species.  There were
several interesting finds, including single individuals of Pacific loon,
Barrow's goldeneye, and greater scaup.  There was also an unusually
high concentration of 31 horned grebes, a species that typically does
not winter in southern Utah.  The most common species was American
coot, followed by gadwall and western grebe.  Counts of fish-eating
diving birds, especially western grebes, were very low compared with
previous surveys in selected bays on the lake.  The primary reason
appears to be the extremely low numbers of small prey fish in the lake,
as reported by Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.  In years of
greater abundance of fish, western grebes are often the most common
species on the lake, with counts as high as 5,000 or more in some
areas.  A total of 22 bald eagles were counted from survey boats. 
Interestingly, this is very close to the number of eagles (23) counted
by aerial surveys a few days later.  The division plans to conduct this
survey every winter in late January.  [John Spence, RMS, GLCA, 2/27]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Spring Flood Potential - On March 3rd, the Department of
Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released
its outlook for spring flooding.  California and the southeast United
States, which have felt the brunt of El Nino-related severe weather
this year, are most at risk.  Although severe flooding such as occurred
last year is not likely, "all communities must be alert to flood
warnings, especially in the Central Valley region of California, along
the West Coast, in the southeastern United States and in New
England."  An area of above average likelihood for flooding
stretches in a triangle from east Texas northeast to central
Pennsylvania, then south to include most of Florida.  Soils are wet,
and more precipitation is likely.  [NOAA Press Release]

MEMORANDA

No entries.

EXCHANGE

Outboard Jet Drives - Upper Delaware has unused outboard jet drive units
and miscellaneous parts for 1980+ vintage Mercury 70 and 80 horsepower
outboard motors.  If you're interested and can use them, please
contact Cliff Daniels at Upper Delaware (717-729-7862) or send him a
note via cc:Mail at UPDE North District Office at NP-UPDE.

*  *  *  *  *

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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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