- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Wednesday, May 27, 1998
- Date: Wed, 27 May 1998
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Wednesday, May 27, 1998
*** NOTICE ***
There was no Morning Report on Tuesday, May 28th.
INCIDENTS
98-218 - Glacier NP (MT) - Follow-up on Concession Employee Fatality
The park is still awaiting results from DNA tests that may confirm the
identity of the bear or bears who were in the vicinity of C.D.'s body
when it was discovered last week. On Saturday, May 23rd, rangers hazed a
radio-collared 13-year-old female grizzly and her two, two-year old cubs in
order to keep them from entering the Two Medicine campground. This collared
female is thought to be the same bear whose telemetry signal was detected in
the Appistoki Valley above Scenic Point on the 19th. Although these bears
are thought to have scavenged at the site, no action will be taken until DNA
tests verify this assumption. Park officials are also consulting with
various independent grizzly bear experts regarding the incident and the
circumstantial evidence. In the interim, the park has closed all of the Two
Medicine Valley backcountry and is temporarily restricting camping at the Two
Medicine campground to hard-sided campers. Pathology results from C.D.'s
autopsy will not be available until next week, but preliminary assessments
indicate that he suffered no head trauma or other injuries that would be
caused by a fall. [Amy Vanderbilt, PIO, GLAC, 5/26]
98-223 - Denali NP (AK) - Climbing Fatality; Missing Rescuer
D.R., 25, of Whistler, British Columbia, died in a fall on Mount
McKinley around 2 p.m. on May 24th. The accident took place as he was
descending the mountain's West Buttress route at 16,500 feet. D.R. fell
about 1,200 feet onto the Peters Glacier. Volunteer park rangers were
notified and descended to the accident scene from 17,200 feet. D.R. could
not be located until late that night due to 60 to 80 mph winds and whiteout
conditions. A volunteer physician pronounced him dead at the scene. During
the rescue, NPS volunteer climber Mike Vanderbeek of Talkeetna apparently
fell and disappeared from his partner's sight while attempting to descend to
D.R.'s location. Two other rescuers joined Vanderbeek's partner and
searched for him until exhaustion and darkness set in. They bivouacked for
the night at 16,000 feet in storm conditions. Vanderbeek's pack was
subsequently found about 20 feet from D.R.'s body, but there was no sign
of him. Rescue efforts continue. Plans call for a descent on 1800 feet of
rope to search for him. High winds, poor visibility and extreme cold
continue to hinder rescuers. At the time of the report, yet another rescue
was underway, this one for a climber who fell into a crevasse at the
mountain's 14,200-foot level. [Tom Habecker, Acting CR, DENA, 5/26]
98-224 - Minute Man NHP (MA) - Aircraft Crash; Two Fatalities
A single-engine plane crashed in a swampy area of the park early on the
evening of May 23rd. The pilot and a four-year-old passenger were killed.
Rangers responded along with state police officers and officers and rescuers
from three surrounding towns and Hanscom AFB. No further details are
currently available. [Flo Smith, PR, MIMA, via Karen Fleming, Dispatch,
SHEN, 5/23]
98-225 - Walnut Canyon NM (AZ) - Sexual Assault; Homicide
On the morning of May 23rd, ranger Mary Blasing responded to a visitor report
of a body in the road. She found the partially-clothed body of a 26-year-old
woman with a gunshot wound in her head at one of the picnic areas along the
entrance road. The woman was still alive, but died two days later. A bullet
was found at the scene, and it appears likely that the victim was shot at
point blank range in the picnic area after she was sexually assaulted
elsewhere. A joint investigation with the county sheriff's department is
underway. [Tom Ferrell, DR, WACA, 5/26]
[Additional reports pending...]
FIRE ACTIVITY
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II
LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY
Mon Tue % Est
State Unit Fire/Incident IMT 5/25 5/26 Con Con
FL Apalachicola NF * Holiday T2 500 1,200 25 NEC
AK Fort Greely * Carla Lake -- 6,800 6,800 NR NEC
Heading Notes
Unit Agency = BIA area; NF = national forest; RU = CA state resource
or ranger unit; RD = state ranger district; District = BLM
district; NWR = USFWS wildlife refuge
Fire * = newly reported fire (on this report); Cx = complex
IMT T1 = Type I; T2 = Type II; ST = State Team
% Con Percent of fire contained
Est Con Estimated containment date; NEC = no estimated date of
containment; CND = fully contained; NR = no report
NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FOUR DAY TREND)
NPS BIA BLM FWS States USFS Total
Saturday, 5/23 2 10 0 0 4 5 21
Sunday, 5/24 0 6 0 0 11 21 38
Monday, 5/25 0 5 1 0 13 14 33
Tuesday, 5/26 0 12 10 1 386 16 425
TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND)
Crews Engines Helicopters Airtankers Overhead
Saturday, 5/23 12 26 7 0 34
Sunday, 5/24 8 1 7 0 12
Monday, 5/25 7 16 6 0 25
Tuesday, 5/26 6 2 8 0 26
CURRENT SITUATION
Initial attack increased significantly yesterday in the East and Southwest.
Very high and extreme fire indices were reported in units in Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, New Hampshire and Utah.
[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 5/27]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No entries.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
No entries.
MEMORANDA
No entries.
EXCHANGE
No entries.
MEETINGS, CONFERENCES AND EVENTS CALENDAR
Two calendars alternate in the Morning Report on Mondays - this one, which
contains meetings, seminars, conferences and events, and a second, which
contains workshops and training courses. If you know of a conference,
meeting, workshop or training session with Servicewide interest and
implications, please send the information along.
Entries are listed no earlier than FOUR months before the event, EXCEPT in
instances in which registration dates close much earlier. Asterisks indicate
new entries; brackets at end of entry indicate source of information.
Brevity is appreciated.
6/6 Event: National Trails Day
Location: ---
Details: ---
Contact: American Hiking Society
Phone/fax: 301-565-6704; ---
E-mail: ---
Submitter: Sheila Lee, WASO
6/24-27 Meeting: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation
Review Committee
Location: Downtown Portland Embassy Suites, Portland, OR
Details: The agenda for this meeting will include an update on
federal agency compliance with NAGPRA, the
disposition of culturally unidentifiable human
remains, and the status of implementation in the
Pacific Northwest.
Contact: Frank McManamon, Department Consulting Archeologist
Phone/fax: 202-343-8161; ---
E-mail: FP McManamon at NP-WASO-DCA
Submitter: Federal Register, Vol. 63, No. 72, page 18441
6/26-28 Event: 50th Anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt NP
Location: Theodore Roosevelt NP, ND
Details: The park is celebrating the addition of the North
Unit to the system in 1948. The formal ceremony will
be at 5 p.m. on June 27th and will be followed by a
buffalo barbecue. Park staff are inviting all former
THRO employees to join them for the celebration.
Contact: Noel Poe, superintendent, or Bruce Kaye, chief of
interpretation
Phone/fax: 701-623-4466; ---
E-mail: Noel Poe at NP-THRO, Bruce Kaye at NP-THRO
Submitter: Noel Poe
6/29-7/2 Meeting: 30th Annual Meeting, Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage
Foundation
Location: Great Falls, MT
Details: ---
Contact: Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
Phone/fax: 509-783-1207; ---
E-mail: ---
Submitter: Sheila Lee, WASO
7/2-6 Meeting: "Ecological Exchange Between Major Ecosystems,"
Annual Meeting, Ecological Society of America
Location: Baltimore, MD
Details: ---
Contact: Fred Wagner
Phone/fax: 801-797-2555; ---
E-mail: ---
Submitter: Sheila Lee, WASO
Various Seminars: American History Summer Seminars
Location: The titles, dates and locations of relevant seminars
are as follows: "Lincoln," Gettysburg College, 7/5-
11; "The Origins and Nature of New World Slavery,"
Yale University, 7/6-17; "Passages to Freedom:
Abolition and the Underground Railroad," Amherst
College, 7/19-26; "Thomas Jefferson and the
Foundations of American Democracy," Monticello and
the University of Virginia, 7/19-25; "The Private and
Public George Washington," Brown University, 7/26-8/1
Details: As above
Contact: Sandra Weber and Laura Feller, WASO
Phone/fax: Weber: 202-565-1057, Feller: 202-343-9285; ---
E-mail: Sandy Weber at NP-WASO-ITC-MIB, Laura Feller at NP-WASO-NRHE
Submitter: Joyce Howe, STMA
8/13-16 Meeting: Pecos Conference
Location: Pecos NHP, NM
Details: The focus of this year's annual conference will be on
the archeological concepts of culture. Short papers
are also solicited on archeological breakthroughs,
updates, unique discoveries, challenges and concerns.
Abstracts of papers are due by June 1.
Contact: Judy Reed, Pecos NHP, PO Box 418, Pecos, NM 87552
Phone/fax: --- ; ---
E-mail: Judy Reed at NP-PECO
Submitter: Pecos NHP
9/16-19 Meeting: Fourth National Conference on Battlefield
Preservation
Location: Westin Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston, SC
Details: The conference will explore the tools and techniques
used to define historic battlefields and effective
methods of protecting battlefield land.
Contact: Hampton Tucker
Phone/fax: 202-343-3580; ---
Submitter: Same
* * * * *
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
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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