INCIDENTS

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Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve (AK)
Airplane Crash with Four Fatalities, Two Survivors

A multi-agency search has been suspended for survivors of a private twin-engine Cessna 401 aircraft that crashed into the waters of Icy Strait outside of Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve on the night of July 13th. Two of the six occupants of the aircraft, all of whom resided in Utah, survived by exiting the plane while it was still floating in the water and swimming to shore at Eagle Point, about 11 miles northwest of Hoonah in the Tongass National Forest. Four of the plane's occupants have not been located. Prior to the accident, the pilot called in that the plane was running out of fuel short of its intended destination at the Gustavus Airport. Several items from the aircraft, including part of the plane, were found floating offshore in the area of Pinta Cove. NPS rangers assisted the Coast Guard, Alaska State Troopers, the Gustavus Volunteer Fire/EMS Department, the Forest Service, and local charter aircraft and boat operators with the search in both field and incident management overhead functions.
[Submitted by Chuck Young, Chief Ranger]

Rocky Mountain National Park (CO)
Bear Mauls Two Campers

On the morning of Sunday, July 13th, park dispatch was notified of a black bear attack that had taken place about 45 minutes previously at the Fern Lake group backcountry site. Five people were camping in three separate tents. The bear approached one tent and bit through it to reach P.F., 22, of Boulder, Colorado. P.F. was bitten in the forehead and scalp, but the bear let go when he screamed. The bear then walked over to another tent and scratched through it to reach T.S., 23, of Glen Ellyn, Illinois. T.S. was just beginning to wake up after hearing P.F.'s screams; he also yelled out, and the bear walked away. The three people in the other tent were not touched. Rangers reached the group within two hours and stabilized and cleaned the two men's wounds. Both suffered serious lacerations. It appears that the members of the group took all proper measures for food storage, including hanging food and cooking away from their tents the previous evening. About an hour after this incident, a bear matching the above bear's description was seen at a backcountry site in Fern Lake, aggressively striking a food storage container. All backcountry sites in the Odessa Gorge area were closed and rangers are attempting to locate the bear. Black bears are rarely aggressive towards humans in Rocky Mountain National Park. The last incident in which a bear attacked a human led to a fatality in 1971 on the west side of the park.
[Submitted by Joe Evans, Chief Ranger]

Shenandoah National Park (VA)
Manhunt For Fleeing Felon

Ranger Joshua Shimko contacted a group in Big Meadows campground on the morning of July 13th regarding repeated camping violations. An NCIC check revealed that one of the members of the party, D.W. of Havre De Grace, Maryland, was wanted in Maryland on felony warrants and might be armed. D.W. disobeyed commands from the ranger and fled into the woods on foot. During a manhunt that followed, ranger Bobby Fleming gave the suspect's physical description to J.C., a vacationing U.S. deputy marshal from Washington, D.C. While hiking with his wife about two hours later, J.C. spotted D.W. on the Rose River Trail, about a mile from the campground. With the benefit of surprise, J.C. confronted D.W. and held him at gunpoint while his wife ran up the trail in order to call rangers on her cell phone. Rangers took D.W. into custody without further incident. Supervisory ranger Dixon Freeland was the incident commander.
[Submitted by Clayton Jordan, Acting Chief Ranger]

Lake Meredith National Recreation Area (TX)
Boating Accident

Park dispatch received a 911 call around 4:45 a.m. on July 13th reporting an overdue boater who should have been home three hours earlier. Rangers were notified of the problem and were on the water by 5:10 a.m. Their initial search was unproductive, but they found the missing boat on their second pass. It was located well up on shore from the lake. According to operator J.B. and passenger R.B., the two men were en route to Bugbee Canyon just after midnight when they developed steering problems. They said that they became disoriented and while operating at full throttle ran aground at the west end of the lake. The boat went through approximately 300 feet of mud before coming to rest on the dry beach 100 yards from the water's edge. Neither was injured. Staff from the marina coordinated the boat's removal. The park's small flat-bottomed boat with Mud Buddy engine was utilized and proved to be effective to within 10 feet of the dry beach. Over 1200 feet of rope was used to tow the boat back into the water. Recovery was completed later in the afternoon.
[Submitted by Bill Briggs, Chief Ranger]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

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National Interagency Fire Center
NIFC Situation Report - Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Preparedness Level 3

Initial attack yesterday was heavy in the Southwest, moderate in the Rockies and light elsewhere. A total of 159 new fires were reported, five of which became large fires. Another four large fires were cotnained.

Fire Danger

Day	7/11	7/12	7/13	7/14	7/15	7/16
Alaska	VX	VX	--	VX	VX	VX
Arizona	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
California	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Colorado	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Hawaii	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Idaho	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Michigan	VX	--	--	--	--	--
Montana	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Nevada	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
New Mexico	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Oklahoma	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Oregon	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Texas	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Utah	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Washington	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Wyoming	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX

VH — Very high
EX — Extreme
VX — Very high to extreme

Fire Weather Watches and Warnings

A FIRE WEATHER WATCH has been issued today for isolated dry thunderstorms, low humidity and gusty winds for the northern Rockies east of the Continental Divide.

National Resource Commitments

Day	7/10	7/11	7/12	7/13	7/14	7/15	7/16
Crews	246	278	279	253	273	293	365
Engines	358	398	369	394	425	457	507
Helicopters	81	84	91	93	102	101	129
Air Tankers	0	0	1	1	3	2	3
Overhead	2,142	2,416	1,834	2,457	2,615	2,598	2,885

National Team Commitments

New team commitments indicated in bold face.

State	Type Team	Team IC	Fire/Location	Acres	Percent Contain	Est Full Contain
AZ	T1	Oltrogge	Aspen Fire Coronado NF	84,750	100%	CND
UT	T1	Hart	Farmington Fire Wasatch-Cache NF	1,935	80%	UNK
AZ	T1	Humphrey	Kinishba Fire Fort Apache Agency	12,600	10%	UNK
WA	T1	Lohrey	Fawn Peak Complex Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	17,750	35%	UNK
NM	T2	Raley	Encebado Fire Taos Northern Pueblo	5,382	80%	7/16
CO	T2	Blume	Brush Mountain Fire Grand Junction County	4,823	45%	7/17
UT	T2	Brunner	Bulldog Fire Richfield FO, BLM	32,980	30%	7/20
WY	T2	Broyles	East Table Fire Bridger-Teton NF	2,650	20%	7/20
ID	T2	Kechter	Blackwall Fire Salmon-Challis NF	280	NR	UNK
ID	T2	Van Bruggen	Tobias Fire Salmon-Challis NF	16,545	0%	7/22
OR	T2	Gardner	Clark Fire Willamette NF	1,200	5%	UNK
NM	T2	Thilbin	Molina Complex Santa Fe NF	5,676	15%	UNK
NM	T2	Bateman	Spruce Complex Gila NF	1,950	0%	8/13
WY	T2	Mullenix	Gramm Fire Medicine Bow NF	300	10%	NR
NV	T2	Hefner	Robb Fire Humboldt-Toyabee NF	2,196	90%	7/16
OR	ST	Keith	Jenkins Cabin Fire State Lands	772	80%	7/17
WA	ST	Bernt/ Andring	Middle Fork Fire State Lands	2,100	70%	7/16
MT	T2	Swope	Jimtown Fire Helena NF	1,001	50%	UNK
NM	FUM	Rath	Dry Lake Complex Gila NF	91,300	N/A	N/A
NM	FUM	Rath	Turnbo Fire Gila NF	3,900	20%	UNK
CO	FUM	Clark	Bear Creek Fire San Juan NF	1,864	N/A	N/A

OPERATIONAL NOTES

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Northeast Region
NPS Holds First Counter-Terrorism Academy

Northeast Region conducted its Counter-Terrorism Academy at Camp Dawson, West Virginia, during June - the first such training conducted in the agency. The academy was established by Regional Director Marie Rust to quickly train NER rangers in this relatively new mission for NPS law enforcement.

Seventy students successfully completed the course in three classes. The first class consisted primarily of the NER Special Events Team (SET) and representatives from NCR and MWR SET. The second and third classes consisted primarily of "Icon Rangers" from Independence NHP and other parks of the region.

The training was conducted by hand-picked NPS firearms instructors, other experts in the field, and the West Virginia Army National Guard's 19th Special Forces Group. Camp Dawson has state-of-the-art classroom training facilities and residence dormitories, and firearms ranges which were ideally suited for this type of tactical training.

The curriculum included briefings on the threat terrorist groups and their tactics, familiarization with the M16 rifle, physical training, check point operations, and small unit tactics with an emphasis on urban terrain. There was also training conducted on weapons of mass destruction response, fit-testing of the masks, and "mask confidence" exercises conducted in a gas chamber.

The bulk of the academy was 16 hours of tactical firearms training, including cover and movement drills, long arms confidence exercises, non-lethal training ammunition scenarios, a squad-sized firearms training simulator, and judgment shooting using pop-up targets. The students fired over 15,000 rounds of pistol, rifle, NLTA, and shotgun ammunition.

In addition to the NPS curriculum, the Special Forces Group conducted a 6 a.m. physical training session, rappelling from a 60 foot tower, fitness swimming, and rock climbing.
[Submitted by Jeffrey Pascale, Special Agent]

Voyageurs National Park (MN)
Judge Upholds NPS Management Actions

On Tuesday, July 8, 2003, Federal District Court Judge Donovan Frank ruled in favor of Voyageurs National Park and against several environmental groups, holding that the park acted properly when it opened 11 bays on four lakes to snowmobiling. The park originally closed 17 bays in 1992 because it appeared that the approximately 40 wolves that inhabit the park differentially used the frozen lake bays. Six of the 17 bays were reopened in 1996 as research showed that there did not appear to be differential use. In 2001, Superintendent Barbara West reopened the final 11 bays stating that there was no biological reason to keep them closed. The Voyageurs National Park Association and other environmental groups contend that the park's research findings are incomplete. Snowmobiling in the park has dramatically increased in the past two decades while the wolf population has remained stable. The ruling is important because of its explicit support for NPS management flexibility to use 36 CFR Sec. 1.5 for temporary closures.
[Submitted by Barbara West, Superintendent]

Glacier National Park
Court Supports Park's Snowmobile Policy

Glacier National Park Superintendent Mick Holm says he's pleased that U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy dismissed a lawsuit seeking snowmobile access to the park's North Fork area.

"We believed all along that our policy on snowmobiles and other motorized access to the park during the winter is the correct policy," Holm said. "I'm pleased the court agreed."

Private landowner Jack McFarland filed the lawsuit in February, 2000 asking the court that he be allowed snowmobile and other motorized vehicle access to his cabin in the North Fork area.

Snowmobiling in Glacier National Park was prohibited after a public involvement process in the mid-1970's. That decision was reaffirmed in the park's 1999 Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision.

Unplowed roads in the park are treated as backcountry trails. As such, non-motorized recreational use (skiing, snowshoeing, walking) is welcome on all non-plowed roads.

"We have a responsibility to protect the natural and cultural resources of the park for the public to enjoy," Holm said. "The court's decision supporting our policy helps us meet that responsibility."
[Submitted by Public Affairs, Glacier NP]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

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Coronado National Memorial (AZ)
GS-7/9 Protection Ranger

Dates: 07/03/2003 - 08/01/2003
Performs resource and visitor protection work including law enforcement, emergency medical services and search and rescue. Performs a full range of law enforcement work in a high intensity drug trafficking and illegal immigrant smuggling area. Conducts patrols, investigations and drug and illegal immigrant interdiction. Provides emergency medical services at the First Responder or EMT level. Frequently speaks Spanish to park visitors and violators. Maintains working relations with a wide variety of federal, state and local agencies. Educates, interprets and informs visitors about park resources. Performs resource education work approximately 10% of the time. The resource education work will include some or all of the following: conducting guided walks, presenting onsite talks and offsite presentations and operating a visitor center. Performs resource conservation work approximately 10% of the time. The resource conservation work may include natural and cultural resource monitoring, control of introduced species, rehabilitation of damaged resources and taking the lead in implementing a specific resource management project. May serve as park safety officer or be assigned other collateral duties.[Submitted by Thane Weigand, thane_weigand@nps.gov, 520-366-5515 ext. 32] More Information...

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.