NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                               MORNING REPORT

To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, September 9, 1999

                               *** NOTICE ***

       There was no Morning Report on Wednesday, September 8th.

INCIDENTS

99-520 - Colonial NHP (VA) - Follow-up: Tropical Storm Dennis

The park appears to have escaped without any major impacts from the
hurricane/tropical storm.  Crews were called out twice over the weekend to
remove several downed trees which blocked Colonial Parkway, and are currently
removing downed trees and cleaning up tour roads at Yorktown and Jamestown. 
Visitor centers operated on normal schedules throughout the weekend, but with
limited services on Sunday due to power outages.  No significant damage to
facilities has so far been found.  Surveys of park shorelines to ascertain
damage occurring during high tides will take some time.  [Jim Burnett, CR,
COLO, 9/7]

99-537 - Canyonlands NP (UT) - Kidnapping Investigation; Search

A 42-year-old male from Racine, Wisconsin, walked into the Island in the Sky
visitor center on the morning of September 3rd and reported that he had been
kidnapped at gun point while providing assistance to motorists with a stalled
vehicle near Racine on Tuesday, August 31st.  He said the stalled vehicle was
a staged event and that the motive was robbery.  He said that he had spent 52
consecutive hours in the trunk of the car, that he was dumped in the middle
of the desert on Thursday night, and that he had hiked to the visitor center
when he saw it at first light on Friday morning.  His abandoned vehicle was
located at a waterfront area near Racine.  Racine police utilized boats and
scuba divers to search the nearby water, as they had reason to believe their
search would lead to the recovery of evidence.  Investigators were assigned
and the FBI in Wisconsin was involved.  Canyonlands rangers and a Utah FBI
agent interviewed the man most of Friday at the Island in the Sky.  An
aircraft was dispatched to search backcountry roads for the suspect vehicle,
and attempts were made to retrace his route through the desert to locate
evidence.  The incident generated many media inquiries.  At the end of the
day, while arrangements were being made to release him and transport him back
to Wisconsin, he stated that he had fabricated the story.  In reality, he had
ridden the bus from Milwaukee to Moab and hitch-hiked to the Island in the
Sky, where he spent the night in a public restroom.  He said that he had some
personal problems and wanted to get the attention of family members.  The FBI
will not prosecute; either the NPS or Racine Police Department will press
criminal charges.  The National Park Service will also issue a bill of
collection for unbudgeted expenses related to incident management.  Ranger
Alyssa Van Schmus was the primary NPS investigator and served as liaison with
the cooperating agencies.  [Steve Swanke, CANY, 9/4]

99-538 - Yellowstone NP (WY) - Visitor Injured by Bear

A park visitor was injured by a bear on the Skyrim Trail to Bighorn Peak in
the northwest area of the park on Friday, August 27th.  A friend of the
visitor notified park officials of the encounter earlier this week.  A man
from Switzerland and a woman from New York were hiking towards Bighorn Peak
when they heard a moaning noise.  Unsure what the sound was and thinking that
the noise was farther away, they continued with their hike.  They had only
taken a few steps when they saw a bear (by their description, probably a
grizzly) approximately 10 yards away on a slope to the left of the trail.  
The woman stepped away from the bear and quickly dropped down on her lower
legs into a ball position; the bear charged the woman, huffed a few times,
but did not touch or harm her.  At the same time, the male hiker stepped
uphill in the direction the bear was first spotted.  He was approached, but
not touched, by two yearlings.  The male hiker employed his pepper spray (he
was unsure whether the spray hit the young bears) and the adult bear
immediately turned away from the woman and charged toward him.  He continued
to spray, falling on his back in the process, but the bear did not touch him. 
Thinking the adult bear was going to attack, the man raised his leg for
protection.  The bear swatted the leg, inflicting two gashes and other minor
injuries.  The adult bear sniffed at the cloud of spray, retreated, then
immediately returned.  The two hikers - now out of pepper spray - remained on
the ground, lying very still, until all three bears left the area.  Although
the hikers had met a ranger patrolling the area on horseback shortly before
their incident, they chose to return to the trailhead where their vehicle was
parked and drive to Bozeman for medical treatment.  Skyrim Trail has been
posted with bear warning signs, but has not been closed; rangers will
continue to monitor the area for bear activity.  This was the first bear
incident in the park this season.  [Public Affairs, YELL, 9/3]

99-539 - Mount Rainier NP (WA) - Commercial Use Violation

Ranger Uwe Nehring discovered a commercial bicycle touring operation underway
in the park on the morning of September 4th.  A tour bus operated by
Northstar, Pacific Coachways, towing a 30-foot bicycle trailer, was picking
up cyclists who had completed a section of Highway 410 at Cayuse Pass.  The
coach was contracted to pick up 17 Swiss nationals at the airport in Seattle
and transport them around the west to cycle portions of roads in western
states and western parks.  The arrangements were made through Euro Guide
Service, a Seattle-based firm.  The driver of the bus said that the group was
scheduled to travel to Glacier NP and Yellowstone NP after leaving
Washington.  A mandatory court appearance is pending.  [Uwe Nehring, MORA,
9/4]
                       [Additional reports pending...]

FIRE ACTIVITY

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL - Level III

LARGE FIRE/INCIDENT SUMMARY 

                                                      Mon      Wed   %  Est
State      Unit              Fire/Incident   IMT      9/6      9/8  Con Con
 
CA    Plumas NF              MHRD Cx          T1   24,321   26,769   35 UNK
      Shasta-Trinity NF      High Cx          T1   38,080   38,080  100 CND
                             Big Bar Cx       T2   15,925   19,081   62 9/10
      Klamath NF             Stein            T1      400      720    0 UNK
      Sequoia NF           * Rich Bar Cx      T2        -      300    0 UNK

NV    Carson City FO         Cemetery         T2    3,000    3,930  100 CND
      Humboldt-Toiyabe NF    China Gulch      --      300      400  100 CND

OR    Warm Springs Agency    Rainbow Quarry   T2    2,586    3,286  100 CND

TX    State                  Oak Creek        --    1,000    1,000  100 CND

NY    State                * Noonmark Mtn.    --        -       90   20 UNK

                                  Heading Notes

Unit        Agency or Area Office = BIA area; NF = national forest; RU = CA
            state resource or ranger unit; RD = state ranger district; FO =
            BLM field office; District = BLM district; NWR = USFWS wildlife
            refuge
Fire        * = newly reported fire (on this report); Cx = complex 
IMT         T1 = Type I Team; T2 = Type II Team; T3 = Type III Team; ST =
            State Team; FUM = Fire Use Management Team
% Con       Percent of fire contained: UNK = unknown; NR = no report
Est Con     Estimated containment date: NEC = no estimated date of
            containment; CND = fully contained; UNK = unknown; NR = no
            report; RBF = resource benefit fire, no containment action being
            taken; LR = last report unless significant activity occurs

NUMBER OF NEW FIRES (FOUR DAY TREND)

                    NPS    BIA      BLM     FWS    States   USFS     Total

Sunday, 9/5          0      4         6       0       89     34       133
Monday, 9/6          0      1         5       0       59     33        98
Tuesday, 9/7         0      4         3       0      379     36       422
Wednesday, 9/8       3      5         9       1      138     31       187

TOTAL COMMITTED RESOURCES (FOUR DAY TREND) 

                  Crews     Engines    Helicopters    Airtankers   Overhead

Sunday, 9/5        344        519          85             2         1,408
Monday, 9/6        321        574          73             4         1,560
Tuesday, 9/7       429        649          94             0         1,957
Wednesday, 9/8     430        606          85             1         1,976

CURRENT SITUATION

Initial attack activity was moderate in California and the South on Tuesday
and minimal elsewhere.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Oregon, Washington,
California, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alabama,
Mississippi, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 9/8-9]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, PROTECTION AND EDUCATION 

Reports pending.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Reports pending.

MEMORANDA

Reports pending.

INTERCHANGE

Allegheny Portage NHS - A park VIP is working on getting automatic external
defibrillators (AED's) donated to parks that need them.  If you're
interested, please contact ranger Diane Garcia, who is on cc:Mail by name or
can be phoned at 814-886-6154.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Reports pending.

                                *  *  *  *  *

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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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