NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Friday, May 21, 1999

INCIDENTS

99-194 - Great Smoky Mountains NP (TN/NC) - Search; Attempted Suicide

On May 17th, Cades Cove rangers discovered that a vehicle registered to J.W.,
30, of Knoxville, Tennessee, had been parked for more than 24 hours
at a well-known fishing access on the Laurel Creek road.  They looked through
the passenger window and discovered a suicide note left in a position where
it could be read from outside the vehicle. Investigation revealed that
J.W. was despondent due to a recent breakup with his girlfriend and had
attempted suicide in the past by drug overdose for similar reasons.  An empty
prescription container belonging to the girlfriend was found in the vehicle. 
According to doctors at the University of Tennessee hospital, the medication,
if taken at once, would result in a coma for several hours, but should not be
fatal.  Rangers searched the area near the vehicle until about 2 a.m. the
following morning.  The search resumed after daybreak on the 18th.  J.W.
was located near the West Prong trail by rangers Richard Jenkins and Ken
Davis after being in the woods for almost three days.  His physical condition
was good, but he remained suicidal and agreed to be hospitalized.  District
Ranger Keny Slay was the IC.  [Jason Houck, CR, GRSM, 5/20]

99-195 - New River Gorge NR (WV) - Search

On the afternoon of May 12th, K.S. and L.J. began what they
intended to be a short loop hike, beginning and ending at the campground of
Babcock State Park, which is adjacent to New River Gorge NR.  K.S. stopped
to tie her shoes and told L.J. to go ahead on up the trail and she would
catch up to her.  L.J. continued to the trail's junction with another,
unnamed trail, saw a sign indicating that the trail she was following turned
right, and headed in that direction; K.S., only minutes behind L.J.,
missed the sign and continued straight on the unnamed trail.  About a quarter
mile past the junction, L.J. came to a road crossing and waited for K.S.
for about 15 minutes.  When K.S. did not show up, L.J. backtracked and
tried to find her, but got turned around on a maze of ATV trails just outside
of both park boundaries and emerged at a residence about five miles away
around 8:30 p.m.  L.J. was able to get a ride back to the campground and
report her companion missing to state park rangers.  A hasty search was
initiated by state and NPS rangers around 10 p.m.  Rangers tracked K.S.
through the network of undesignated ATV trails and finally into New River NR. 
They found two notes that K.S. had left attached to tree branches that
directed L.J. to continue downhill on the Manns Creek Canyon trail toward
the New River, but subsequently lost K.S.'s trail.  The search was continued
at 6 a.m. the following morning.  One of the dog teams employed in the search
made voice contact with K.S. along the banks of Manns Creek just before
midnight.  As the dog's handler approached her location, K.S. suddenly
turned and ran in the opposite direction back up the creek.  Thinking that
K.S. was disoriented, he ran toward her with his dog, stopping just a few
feet short of a four-foot-long timber rattlesnake.  It was later determined
that K.S. came face-to-face with the snake at eye level as she was
scrambling over boulders to meet the rescuer, which was the reason for her
sudden about face and flight.  There were no injuries to the victim, rescuer
or snake.  K.S. said that she had left the main trail and scrambled up the
creek bank about a mile from the main trail.  She stopped moving about 11
p.m.; even though she'd fallen into the creek, she had matches and was able
to light a warming fire.  She backtracked downstream toward the main trail
the following morning until she heard shouts from the rescuers.  [Rick Brown,
Protection Operations Leader, NERI, 5/14]  

99-196 - Indiana Dunes NL (IN) - Domestic Dispute; EMS Assist
     
Ranger Kevin Grossheim responded to a loud verbal dispute between neighbors
living in park owned reservation-of-use homes on May 3rd. Grossheim separated
the disputing parties and determined that the argument had evolved from one
neighbor's dog biting the other neighbor's dog sometime in the past. 
Grossheim was in the process of interviewing the owner of the alleged
attacking dog when the neighbor came out of her house and stated that she had
just accidentally taken a 500 milligram tablet of K9 Cephalexin which had
been prescribed for her injured dog.  Grossheim contacted the woman's doctor
and the animal clinic that prescribed the medication and was advised the
Cephalexin would not cause any harm.  The woman said that she took the
medication by mistake because she was so stressed out over the incident. 
Grossheim suggested that both parties pursue alternative means for resolving
their dispute. [Rich Littlefield, CR, INDU, 5/19]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level II

LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY 

                                                      Tue     Wed    %   Est
State      Unit              Fire/Incident   IMT      5/18    5/19  Con  Con

FL   Everglades NP         * Max Fish Camp    --         -   4,000  UNK  NEC

AK   State - Mat-Su Area   * Clark Wolverine  --         -     100   NR  NR
                           * Eklutna          T2         -     300   NR  NR

                                  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; LSS =
            limited suppression strategy; CSS = containment suppression
            strategy
IMT         T1 = Type 1; 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

FIRE NARRATIVES

Everglades NP - The Max Fish Camp Fire was started by lightning on May 18th. 
The fire is located a mile west of U.S. 27 in sawgrass area. Several trailer
parks and fish camps were saved Wednesday night with burnout operations. 
Aircraft were utilized yesterday to defend additional trailer parks and fish
camps and continue the burnout operations. The fire is burning around
trailers at the fish camp. 

NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FOUR DAY TREND)

                    NPS    BIA      BLM     FWS    States   USFS     Total

Sunday, 5/16         0      5         0       0       28     10        43
Monday, 5/17         0      1         1       0       97     10       109
Tuesday, 5/18        1      4         1       0       76     11        93 
Wednesday, 5/19      1      1         1       0       60      6        69

TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND) 

                  Crews     Engines    Helicopters    Airtankers   Overhead

Sunday, 5/16        31         49           9             3           187
Monday, 5/17        30         35           8             4           198
Tuesday, 5/18       27         45           5             4           178
Wednesday, 5/19     29         46           6             0           187

CURRENT SITUATION

Initial attack activity was reported in the South and Alaska on Wednesday.

Very high and extreme fire indices were reported in Maine, New Hampshire,
Georgia, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Prince Edward Island, Quebec
and New Brunswick.  [NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 5/20]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION

No entries.


MEMORANDA

"Telecommunications for Managers (Mandatory Attendance)," signed by the
director on May 18th and sent to all regional directors and superintendents. 
The text follows:

"In the early months of this year, the National Park Service along with all
other Federal land agencies, was threatened with adverse legislation that
would, among other things, have removed the statutory protections we have to
prevent derogation of our resources when siting telecommunication antenna
towers.  To prevent that, the National Park Service pledged to the House
Subcommittee to make certain changes in our policy and procedures.  
     
"Those changes became policy in February 1999 through a memorandum from
Deputy Director Galvin.  One of the stipulations agreed to was a series of
Servicewide training sessions, and each regional director was requested to
ensure that the regions' telecommunications or special park uses coordinators
and regional environmental coordinators would attend one of the sessions. 
Superintendents having or expecting to have telecommunications antenna siting
applications were also requested to attend.
     
"The training sessions, presented as workshops, are designed for park
managers and regional coordinators who deal with telecommunications now or in
the future.  
     
"The purpose of the training is as follows: 
     
o     To brief these managers on the new requirements; 
o     To ensure compliance with existing policy and procedures; 
o     To make sure each manager in the Service knows the options available 
      and particularly the mandated time frame when dealing with
      applications; 
o     How to deal with the cost recovery, fees, the National Environmental 
      Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.

These will be intense 8-hour workshops designed to supply exactly what the
manager needs to know to feel more comfortable with telecommunications
applications.  The sessions will encompass a managerial overview, intended to
provide the decision-makers and their designated regional contacts, the park
managers and regional coordinators the applicable information.  The workshop
agenda has a 1 1/2-hour question and answer period at the end of each
session.  As always, the opportunity to share common problems will probably
be one of the more helpful things provided.
     
"The dates and locations for these workshops appear in the attached training
announcements [Editor's note: See below].  Attending superintendents and
regional coordinators may bring one additional person from their staffs if
they choose.
     
"The telecommunications industry has consistently chosen antenna locations in
or near national parks.  These areas are high priority because of high ground
elevation. In addition, the line-of-sight character of these antennas dictate
that they be installed at high elevations.  Most of the initial pressure has
been in the urban areas, but that is quickly changing.  
     
"It is essential that superintendents understand that when an application for
a telecommunication antenna site comes into the park, a time clock starts
that the National Park Service is obligated to follow.  This is a very
sensitive issue and requires your attention to enable appropriate
administration in application of telecommunication antenna towers."

[Courses are being offered at the following dates at the specified locations:
July 7th, Omaha, Nebraska; July 13th, Las Vegas, Nevada; July 20th,
Washington, D.C.  Contacts for each location are Jim Loach (402-221-3436) and
Delpha Maunders (505-988-6015) for Omaha; Jay Wells (415-427-1386) for Las
Vegas; and Mary Davis (202-208-5572) for Washington]     

INTERCHANGE

No entries.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Acadia NP - Chief ranger Norm Dodge will retire on June 30th after a 35-year
career with the NPS.  His retirement party will be at the White Birches in
Ellsworth, Maine, on the evening of June 19th.  Reservations should be made
by June 5th.  Short testimonials are welcome.  Speakers, and those interested
in contributing letters, stories, photographs or newspaper articles for a
scrapbook, should contact Cathy James.  Ditto for those wanting to make
contributions.  She can be reached via cc:Mail as Catherine James at NP-ACAD.
[Len Bobinchock, Assistant Superintendent, ACAD]

Denver Area Offices - The NPS-Denver Employee Association extends a special
thanks to the generous donations from all who contributed to "The Healing
Fund" for the families and victims of the Columbine High School tragedy.  A
total of $2,190 was received in donations from throughout the United States,
including Puerto Rico.  [Mary Estep, President, NPS-Denver Employee
Association]

Grand Canyon NP - Some time ago, your editor inadvertently placed Grand
Canyon NP in Colorado in an incident report.  It has therefore been somewhat
comforting to find that the U.S. Postal Service had the same problem.  USPS
recently had to halt production on an order for nearly 101 million stamps
engraved with the words "Grand Canyon, Colorado" on them.  The revised
stamps, which may or may not include the name of the correct state on them,
are scheduled for issue in early 2000.  They will sell for 60 cents each for
international mail use and will have a picture of the Grand Canyon on them.  

                                *  *  *  *  *

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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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