INCIDENTS

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Joshua Tree NP (CA)
Follow-up on Arson, Resources Conviction

Rangers Tim Bertrand and Scott Fischer cited J.T. and E.W. last New Year's Eve for exploding a tin of white gas on a rock formation near the Hidden Valley campground. During the course of a subsequent contact that evening, J.T. told the rangers that he planned on doing the same thing in the coming year and the he would also light several other fires. J.T. also said that "as the editor," he was not supposed to do things like this. Several days later, the rangers discovered that J.T. was the senior editor for Climbing magazine, one of the top two publications on rock climbing. When J.T. appeared in court earlier this month, he showed no remorse and did not apologize for his actions to the court. He was sentenced to five years' unsupervised probation, banned from entering the park for five years, and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. The court also required him to provide copies of the rangers' report and the court proceedings to his employer and the magazine's owner, the Primedia Corporation. The following statement appeared in this month's edition of the magazine:

"Yesterday details of an incident and charges involving Climbing magazine editor J.T. and the National Park Service in Joshua Tree National Park first came to the attention of Climbing's management team.

"We immediately undertook action and conducted an internal investigation. Based on the results of those efforts, Climbing magazine this morning terminated J.T.'s employment effective immediately. A successor will be named later.

"For 33 years Climbing's editorial content has been a constant refrain to climbers to act as environmental stewards. We have encouraged the climbing community to employ minimum impact climbing practices, and have strived as employees and representatives of Climbing and the community to maintain even higher standards for ourselves. Violations of that obligation are dealt with swiftly and deliberately.

"Climbing magazine has supported the Access Fund since its inception in 1989, through financial sponsorship, marketing assistance, and editorial coverage of their efforts. Climbing's long-time editor, publisher, former owner and current editorial consultant, M.K., served as a volunteer on the Access Fund board of directors from 1993 through 2002 and as Access Fund president in 1999 and 2000.

"Climbing magazine supported climbing specific efforts of the Conservation Alliance with corporate sponsorship from 1992 through 1998. And more recently, the magazine has supported the Utah Open Lands' Castleton Tower Preservation Initiative, a community and industry supported effort to save Castle Valley from development. Environmental awareness and activism are the core tenets of Climbing's philosophy — past, present and future."

For more information, see http://www.climbing.com/. [Article courtesy of Craig Glassner, GOGA]

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (LA)
Illegal Aliens Arrested

On the morning of April 19th, ranger Leigh Zahm was conducting fishing license inspections in the area of Lower Kenta Canal picnic area. He contacted three anglers and found all of them to be illegal aliens from Juarez, Mexico. One man produced false documentation in the form of an international driver's license. This was the third incident within the park over the past several months in which illegal aliens have used this type of false identification. The men were turned over to Border Patrol agents for processing. The Border Patrol advises that this form of "novelty" identification is easily available and commonly marketed to aliens.
[Submitted by Leigh Zahm, Acting Chief Ranger]

Crater Lake National Park (OR)
Special Operations

Rangers conducted special operations within and around the park over the past month with the objective of intercepting undocumented aliens and drug smugglers. Over the course of five nights, rangers and officers from other agencies apprehended 83 undocumented aliens, many of them from Brazil or the Yucatan. One of them was a wanted felon. More than 200 illegal entries into the country were witnessed, with most of them passing directly through the park. Rangers patrolling the border on foot have identified two new illegal vehicle crossings. Members of the Mexican military were observed operating near the border on several nights. Although drug traffic observations for the month are at a low, the undocumented immigrant traffic continues in high numbers.
[Submitted by James Mar, Park Ranger]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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National Interagency Fire Center
NIFC Situation Report - Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Preparedness Level 2

Ninety-four new fires were reported on Monday. Six of them were large fires; all were in Arkansas, all were contained.

Bennett's Type 1 team has been demobilized from the Columbia Response. Four Type 2 teams continue to support search operations. About 85 percent of the current assigned area (625,963 acres) has been searched and 36% of the total shuttle weight has been recovered. Ground searches in Palestine, Texas, have been completed and the camp has been closed.

Fire Danger

State	4/18	4/21	4/22
Colorado	VH	--	--
New Mexico	--	VH	--

VH — Very high

EX — Extreme

VX — Very high to extreme

National Resource Commitments

Day	4/14	4/15	4/16	4/17	4/18 *	4/21	4/22
Crews	157	149	172	155	155	93	83
Engines	65	71	132	62	62	12	23
Helicopters	14	11	8	8	8	1	1
Air Tankers	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Overhead	2,319	2,099	2,149	1,784	1,784	1,849	1,718

* Numbers did not change from Thursday to Friday.

National Team Commitments

State	Type Team	Team IC	Incident/Fire	Acres	Percent Contain	Est Full Contain
TX	T1	Bennett	Columbia Response	N/A	N/A	N/A
TX	T2	Crisman	"	"	"	"
TX	T2	Morcum	"	"	"	"
TX	T2	Raley	"	"	"	"
TX	T2	Dietrich	"	"	"	"

PARKS AND PEOPLE

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Everglades National Park (FL)
GS-025-11 Supervisory Park Ranger

The park has issued an announcement for a GS-025-11 supervisory park ranger (LE). The vacancy is posted on USA Jobs. The announcement number is EVER-03-27; the closing date is May 9th. The person in this position serves as the East Everglades subdistrict ranger with his/her duty station in Homestead. She/he supervises a staff of four employees (three FTE protection rangers and one visitor use assistant). They are responsible for the planning, coordination and direction of the visitor and resource protection operations for the subdistrict. The East Everglades subdistrict forms the northeastern boundary of the park and plays a major role in the overall Everglades restoration program. The area combines an interesting mix of natural wetlands and agricultural and commercial properties along a lengthy urban-interface zone. The person hired will have to be prepared to work in a non-traditional park setting and deal with numerous challenging issues, including off-road vehicle use, creating a trails and permit system for authorized airboat users, major wetlands restoration, boundary and land acquisition issues, extensive neighbor and community involvement, weapons and poaching issues, arson fires, illegal dumping, etc. The position is ideal for a proactive ranger with strong protection skills seeking to manage a small field staff and the desire to make a difference in restoring a natural area. There are good training opportunities for those seeking to gain additional experience. The position requires a one year probationary period for new supervisors. No government housing is available. For more information, contact Northeast District DR Allen Etheridge at 305-223-2927.
[Submitted by Gary Youngblood]

Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found on the left side of the front page of InsideNPS. All reports should be submitted via email to Bill Halainen at Delaware Water Gap NRA, with a copy to your regional office and a copy to Dennis Burnett in Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO.

Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.