NOTICES

---

Servicewide
Patriot Day - A Day of Remembrance

Today is Patriot Day, a day to remember and honor the victims of the attacks that occurred two years ago. All flags should be at half staff. President Bush has issued the following proclamation regarding Patriots Day:

Two years ago, more than 3,000 innocent people lost their lives when a calm September morning was shattered by terrorists driven by hatred and destruction.

On that day, and in its aftermath, we saw the greatness of America in the bravery of victims; in the heroism of first responders who laid down their lives to save others; in the compassion of people who stepped forward to help those they had never met; and in the generosity of millions of Americans who enriched our country with acts of service and kindness. Since that day, we have seen the greatness of America further demonstrated in the courage of our brave men and women in uniform who have served and sacrificed in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and around the world to advance freedom and prevent terrorist attacks on America.

As we remember September 11, 2001, we reaffirm the vows made in the earliest hours of our grief and anger. As liberty's home and defender, America will not tire, will not falter, and will not fail in fighting for the safety and security of the American people and a world free from terrorism. We will continue to bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to them. This Patriot Day, we hold steady to this task.

By a joint resolution approved December 18, 2001 (Public Law 107-89), the Congress has designated September 11 of each year as "Patriot Day."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2003, as Patriot Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities, including remembrance services and candlelight vigils. I also call upon the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff on Patriot Day. In addition, I call upon all Americans to display the flag at half-staff from their homes on that day and to observe a moment of silence beginning at 8:46 a.m. eastern daylight time to honor the innocent victims who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-eighth.

INCIDENTS

---

Big Bend National Park (TX)
Follow-up on Homicide

On August 25th, J.M.B., 23, of San Antonio, entered a guilty plea to second degree murder in the case of a body found buried in the park three years ago. J.M.B. appeared before a federal district court judge and admitted to the February, 2000, strangulation of S.R., a 43-year-old medical student at the University of Texas. J.M.B. then buried him in a shallow grave in a remote area of the park. J.M.B. claimed that S.R. asked to be killed and even dug his own grave. S.R.'s remains were discovered in March, 2000, when Border Patrol agents and rangers were pursuing a fleeing drug smuggling suspect in an unrelated incident. J.M.B. entered the plea after authorities agreed not to prosecute him for his August 13th escape from a Pecos jail. J.M.B. was able to climb through an unsecured door, gain access to the roof of the jail, scale a tree, then descend to the ground and walk away. He turned himself in 24 hours later after conferring with his attorney. J.M.B. faces up to life in prison and will be sentenced on November 13th.
[Submitted by Mark Spier, Chief Ranger]

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HI)
Tour Helicopter Crash on Mauna Loa

On the afternoon of Tuesday, September 9th, the park received a report from the Hawaii County Fire Department of a tour helicopter crash on Mauna Loa at approximately the 8,500 foot level. The tour helicopter was an Astar AS 350 helicopter belonging to Sunshine Helicopters flying from the Kona side of the island. Both the park's contract helicopter and the county fire rescue helicopter responded. The park contract helicopter pilot, David Okita of Volcano Helicopters, and park resource manager Ben Kawakami were flying a resource management mission at the time of the crash. They diverted and flew to the reported crash location, but were unable to see the site because of the cloud cover. The pilot of the crashed helicopter was able to reach the park's helicopter by radio and guide it to the scene. The pilot of the crashed helicopter and all the passengers were fine and there were no injuries. The crash was in the park's wilderness. The helicopter was upright and intact except for the landing skids. The park's helicopter shuttled all of the passengers and the pilot to the park's helicopter pad. The NTSB and FAA have been notified and their investigations are underway.
[Submitted by Paul Ducasse, Chief Ranger]

Kenai Fjords National Park (AK)
Rescue, Life Saved

On Friday, September 5th, resource mangers Mike Tetreau and Matt Gray and visiting Klondike Goldrush ranger Anita Gray were working on the upper Harding Icefield Trail above Exit Glacier when hikers requested help for a sick friend. They found R.K., 24, lying on a scree slope about 100 yards off the trail a half mile from the top. He was unresponsive, his radial and brachial pulses were absent, and he appeared to be actively seizing. Language barriers limited the gathering of information on his medical history. Tetreau and Gray recognized this as a life threatening situation and requested an immediate ALS response. A local ER doctor went to park headquarters and established a telephone patch with the people on scene, while a local "flightseeing" helicopter was diverted from its regular operations to transport ranger Jim Ireland and two local volunteer ambulance crew members to the scene. After establishing an IV line and administering IV dextrose (which took his blood sugar level from 35 to 131), responders and bystanders formed a litter team to traverse the scree slope to the helicopter, which transported R.K. to Providence Seward Medical Center, where he was found to have a core temperature of about 88 degrees. Although the day was sunny and relatively warm, R.K. had not eaten for almost 18 hours, then hiked the steep trail in heavy clothing. Upon arrival near the top, cool winds off the ice field coupled with his sweaty clothes caused the rapid onset of hypothermia, with low blood sugar compounding the problem. Given his hypoglycemia and moderate hypothermia, it's likely that R.K. would not have survived continued exposure if not for the timely arrival and assessment performed by NPS personnel and the availability of a helicopter for rapid extrication.
[Submitted by Jim Ireland, Chief Ranger]

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (TX)
Burglary from Environmental Education Center

A building adjacent to Mission San Jose which is being renovated as the park's environmental education center was burglarized some time after the park closed on August 27th. The building has an intrusion alarm, but the system failed to activate because of plywood that had been placed behind the exterior glass in the window which was broken to gain entry. The window was in a small storage area that did not contain a motion detector. Tools with a value of about $1,300 were stolen from the storage room. It appears that no other areas of the building were entered, because the alarms was still set when employees arrived the next morning. San Antonio PD officers processed the crime scene. There are no suspects at present.
[Submitted by Dan Steed, Chief Ranger]

Amistad National Recreation Area (TX)
Drug Seizures

On August 18th and 19th, rangers and other members of an interagency task force participated in a special drug interdiction operation. They saw two separate loads of processed marijuana being transported across the Rio Grande River and taken to a temporary storage location. The storage facilities were placed under surveillance. One suspect was apprehended while leaving the storage location with 309 pounds of marijuana. The remaining marijuana — a total of 802 pounds — was later seized at the storage facilities. Agencies involved in this joint operation were the National Park Service, Border Patrol, Customs, and Texas Department of Public Safety Narcotics Division.
[Submitted by Bruce Malloy, Chief Ranger]

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (IN)
Drowning in Lake Michigan

J.B., 44, of Chicago, drowned after jumping from a boat during an outing with two friends on Lake Michigan on Wednesday, September 3rd. J.B. and friends D.C. and B.C. were swimming off Bailly Beach when J.B. became fatigued while about 100 yards offshore. It appears that J.B. may have stepped off a sandbar and into a lakeward current created by a power station outwash. The C.s tried to rescue J.B. and even managed to grab hold of him at one point, but became exhausted themselves and lost their grip. J.B. then sank to the bottom. The C.s returned to the boat and called 911. A multi-jurisdictional search was begun, employing emergency medical personnel, divers, and rescuers on ATV's, PWC's, boats and helicopters. Participating agencies included the NPS, Coast Guard, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Porter, Portage, Ogden Dunes, Crown Point and Burns Harbor police and fire departments, Porter Memorial Hospital, and the Lake and Porter County sheriff's departments. J.B.'s body was found about two hours later in 10 to 15 feet of water just west of where he was last seen. The park's jurisdiction extends 300 feet into Lake Michigan, so the incident was within NPS jurisdiction.
[Submitted by Joni Jones, Acting Chief Ranger]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

---

Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Report - Thursday, September 11, 2003

Preparedness Level 5

Initial attack was moderate in northern California on Wednesday and light elsewhere. Only 94 new fires were reported, none of which escaped initial attack. Three large fires were contained.

A westerly flow across the Pacific Northwest and the northern Rockies will bring scattered showers to the mountains and areas west of the Cascades. The flow will also bring strong, gusty winds to portions of Montana over and east of the Continental Divide. Gusty north to northeast winds will bring warmer temperatures and lower humidity levels to California, particularly in the north.

Fire Danger

Day	9/3	9/4	9/8	9/9	9/10	9/11
Arizona	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
California	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Colorado	VX	VX	--	--	--	--
Hawaii	VX	--	VX	--	VX	VX
Idaho	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	--
Montana	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Nevada	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	--
New Mexico	--	--	VX	VX	VX	VX
North Dakota	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Oklahoma	--	--	VX	VX	VX	VX
Oregon	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
South Dakota	VX	--	VX	VX	VX	--
Texas	--	--	VX	VX	VX	VX
Utah	--	--	VX	VX	VX	VX
Washington	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX
Wyoming	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX	VX

VX = Very high to extreme danger

Fire Weather Watches and Warnings

FIRE WEATHER WATCHES have been issued for gusty north to northeast winds and low humidity for several locations in California — Lake, Napa and Sonoma Counties, the Bay Area, and the Sacramento Valley and surrounding foothills.

National Resource Commitments

Day	9/2	9/3	9/4	9/8	9/9	9/10	9/11
Crews	470	406	327	568	535	480	439
Engines	793	690	668	1,153	990	781	745
Helicopters	161	159	148	221	205	167	163
Air Tankers	0	1	3	3	2	0	0
Overhead	4,416	4,144	3,827	4,663	4,334	4,039	3,521

National Team Commitments

Teams are listed alphabetically by type. New team commitments or changes in teams (as of this report) are indicated in bold face.

State	Type Team	Team IC	Fire/Location	Acres	Percent Contain	Est Full Contain
MT	ACT	Williams-Rhodes	Flathead NF/Glacier NP Fires	---	---	---
MT	ACT	Greenhoe	B&B Complex	---	---	---
MT	T1	Cable	Robert Fire Flathead NF/Glacier NP	57,570	60	10/1
MT	T1	Cable	Middle Fork Complex Glacier NP	11,179	5	10/1
MT	T1	Cable	Rampage Complex Glacier NP	23,497	0	10/1
MT	T1 T2	Cable Saleen	Trapper Creek Complex Glacier NP	19,150	45	10/1
MT	T1	Frye	Myrtle Creek Fire Idaho Panhandle NF	3,700	45	UNK
WA	T1	Hart	Needle Complex Okanogan/Wenatchee NF	21,000	20	UNK
MT	T1	Lohrey	Fish Creek Complex Lolo NF	36,950	75	9/28
OR	T1 T2	Martin Gardner	B&B Complex Deschutes NF	90,824	77	UNK
MT	T1	Mortier	Blackfoot Lake Complex Flathead NF	28,904	20	9/30
CA	T1	Vail	Grindstone Complex Mendocino NF	3,433	20	UNK
MT	T2	Broyles	Mineral/Primm Fire State Lands	25,202	72	9/20
ID	T2	Brunner	Beaver Lake Complex Clearwater NF	26,307	62	UNK
WA	T2	Halloway/ Reed	Maple Fire Okanogan/Wenatchee NF	1,635	10	UNK
MT	T2	Hoff	Lincoln Complex Helena NF	39,707	80	10/1
MT	T2	Kechter	Cooney Ridge Fire State Lands	25,110	90	10/15
OR	T2	Morcom	Bull Springs Fire Umatilla NF	1,374	80	9/13
CA	T2	Mullenix	Covelo Complex Mendocino NF	160	50	9/12
MT	T2	Saleen	Wedge Canyon Fire Flathead NF	53,315	87	9/15
MT	FUM	Rath	Little Salmon Creek Wildland Fire Complex	43,000	0	UNK

PARK FIRE SITUATION

Glacier NP

Robert Fire — Fire activity subsided when the rain began earlier this week. Yesterday, crews took advantage of the cooler, wetter weather to continue mopping up, control fire lines and rehabilitate cooler portions of the fire.

Trapper Creek Fire — The fire was inactive. Aerial monitoring continues.

Middle For, Complex — Little activity was observed. Crews are continuing with structure protection, monitoring, recon and aerial suppression as needed.

Rampage Complex — The fire continues to back down toward the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. Structure protection remains in place. All backcountry trails and the backcountry campground at Upper Two Medicine and Two Medicine Lakes have been closed because of potential fire danger. The Fish Creek, Avalanche and Big Creek Campgrounds remain closed.

Wedge Fire — The northeast corner of the fire in the Kintla Lake basin was the only area with light fire spread on Monday. Aggressive fire suppression action will continue in order to prevent the fire from spreading into Canada. Mop up activities are ongoing in all remaining divisions along with structure protection patrols. Fire line rehabilitation is underway.

Wolf Gun Fire — The fire is being patrolled by air.

Mt. Rainier NP

Cooler temperatures and precipitation have decreased fire activity on the Mt. Rainier Complex. This fire is being managed under a confinement strategy using natural barriers to check the fire's spread. The Northern Loop Trail remains closed between the Carbon River and the West Fork of the White River. An area closure is in effect beginning north of the Wonderland Trail to the northern park boundary between Carbon River and the West Fork of the White River. The Wonderland Trail remains open.

North Cascades NP

The park had cooler temperatures, cloud cover and up to a tenth of an inch of precipitation yesterday, slowing fire activity. Eight WFU fires are being managed in the NOCA Complex. A seven-mile section of the Big Beaver trail from its beginning at Ross Lake, extending northwest to the Boundary near the mouth of McMillan Creek remains closed because of fire activity. Smoke from the Mineral Park Fire (3,511 acres), Dome Peak Fire (249 acres), and Sonny Boy Fire (390 acres) burning in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie NF continue to impact the park. All roads in the park complex remain open for visitor use.

Sequoia/Kings Canyon NPs

The Williams Fire (984 acres) is being monitored. Trail closures remain in effect. The Giant Fire (64 acres) is being monitored. There are two trail closures in effect near the Giant Fire: the Huckleberry Meadow Trail between the Alta Trail and Squatter's Cabin, and the Alta Trail between Soldier's Trail and the bedrock mortars. The Giant Fire has one new trail closure: Huckleberry Meadow Loop between Bedrock Mortars and Trail of the Sequoias. The West Kern Fire (270 acres) is burning in a very remote area at about 8,000 ft. elevation northwest of the Kern Canyon Ranger Station. It continues to be monitored by air.

Yosemite NP

Fire activity on the Kibbie Complex was minimal as cool, cloudy weather brought some precipitation to the area. The current size is estimated at approximately 1,900 acres, with most activity on the South-SOK Fire. This fire has reached areas of rock and old burn areas on all flanks except the southwest, so growth rates should slow down. Crews are locating containment lines should air quality impacts occur and the fires need to be suppressed. An agreement is still in place to share this fire across agency boundaries. Trail closures remain in effect between the Kibbie Lake Junction (east of Kibbie Lake near its entrance to Yosemite National Park) and Styx Pass (near its exit of Yosemite National park) along the Kibbie Ridge and between Lake Eleanor and Kibbie Lake.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

---

NPS Office at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
Field Training Evaluation Program Update

On August 18th, the first NPS field training evaluation course was held at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Participating in the first session were the lead field training rangers responsible for managing the program at the 20 field training parks. In addition to the 20 field training leads, the chief rangers of Lake Mead, Zion and Mammoth Cave opted to attend and lend their support to the program. The field training course included a combination of lectures, computer labs and field exercises with NPS and FLETC instructors. Additional training sessions are scheduled for September 15th and 22nd and October 27th. National Park Ranger Integrated Class 401 arrives at FLETC on October 15th and will be the first class to complete the field training program. The trainees will be assigned to their respective training parks in the month of February. The NPS field training evaluation manual has been completed and will be available on the NPS FLETC web site shortly. On August 27th, Deputy Director Don Murphy authorized administrative uncontrollable overtime for the program.
[Submitted by Superintendent]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

---

NPS Office at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
Ranger Class NPRI-305 Graduates

National Park Ranger Integrated Training Program Class 305 (NPRI-305) graduated from FLETC on August 25th. Immediately prior to the graduation ceremonies, the graduating class placed a wreath at the FLETC's Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Superintendent Cindy Ott-Jones (BEOL) was the keynote speaker. Associate Director Karen Taylor-Goodrich (WASO-V&RP) also attended the graduation and spoke to the graduating class. Also attending was Deputy Superintendent John Benjamin (EVER). Associate Director Taylor-Goodrich assisted Superintendent Henry, Superintendent Ott-Jones, Superintendent Wendell Simpson (NATR), Supervisory Ranger J.R. Tomasovic and FLETC Program Specialist Walter Sherba in the presentation of graduation certificates and credentials. As the twelfth class to receive training under the NPRI, the rangers established some very high standards for subsequent classes, with superior individual and group achievements. Ranger Christopher S. Kuvlesky (NATR) was the top driver with a perfect 300 score, while three other rangers also received perfect 300 scores. Rangers Kevin J. Dooley (YELL), Kristy J. McGee (AMIS) and Edward J. Visnovske (YOSE) received the Distinguished Fitness Award, while rangers Colorado Cordova (GRSA), Kean D. Mihata (WEAR), Christopher Nickel (HOVE) and Lofton C. Wiley, II (GRCA) earned the Fitness Award (equivalent to scoring above 95%) on the PEB. Visnovske was the high firearms expert with a perfect 300 and was joined by four other rangers who qualified as expert shooters. Visnovske was also the class scholar with a outstanding 98.79 FLETC academic average. He was joined by seven other rangers who scored above 95% in the FLETC academic portion. Dooley received the class nomination for the FLETC Director's Award as the outstanding ranger of the class; Visnovske received the NPS Director's Award, which recognizes the graduating student who achieved the highest overall average in all integrated training phases without remediating any practical exercises. Visnovske's final overall average was an amazing 99.866. A total of thirteen rangers scored above the 95 % level in the overall scoring, while the entire class finished with an overall average above 90%. The overall class average was a remarkable 95.33886, which ranks NPRI-305 as the class with the highest overall class average among all NPRI classes (previous high average was held by NPRI-303 with a 94.841 average). With NPRI-305 added in, the overall average of all NPRI classes combined is an outstanding 94.105%. Congratulations to NPRI-305 on a job well done. NPRI-307 and 308 are now at FLETC and NPRI-401 begins on October 15th.
[Submitted by Don Usher, WASO FLETC]

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.