INCIDENTS

---

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Rangers Rescue Children Stranded on River Rock

Four brothers and sisters between the ages of 8 and 14 years old were playing along the West Prong of the Little River near a picnic area on the afternoon of June 22nd. They began rock-hopping to get to the other side of the river, which is about 200 feet wide at this point. Although it was only raining lightly on the picnic area at the time, a major thunderstorm had hit the upstream drainage; as they were crossing the river, the water began to rise at an alarming rate. All four made it to a large boulder about 100 feet from the shore just before the water reached flood stage, about four to five feet above its normal level. Seeing the water rising swiftly, their father, James Swafford of Morgantown, North Carolina, hopped across on boulders toward them, shouting instructions for them to stay where they were. Swafford was on a boulder 20 feet from the shore when the river reached a level that barred his safe return. He was now stranded and barely within shouting distance from his children. Park maintenance worker Ray Green was working in the picnic area at the time and saw the river rising. A motorist also told him about flashflooding upriver along the Newfound Gap Road. Green went through the picnic area, warning visitors to move away from the river. He then learned about the four children stranded on the rock and called dispatch. Rangers arrived and employed a boat to bring Swafford back to the shore. Because of the steep, boulder-filled gradient, this section of the river is considered to be a Class V whitewater at flood stage. Although the rain had stopped in the immediate area, the forecast indicated that additional thunderstorms were expected within the hour, increasing the urgency of reaching the children. After two failed attempts to get to them by boat, rangers crossed to the opposite bank and made another attempt with the assistance of Gatlinburg FD. A rescue team, anchored by ranger "Big Dale" Culver, employed multi-person wading techniques to pass through the waist- to chest-high water and reach the children. They established a human chain, linked with safety rope, and brought all four to shore, finishing just before dark. Except for being wet, cold and frightened, all the children were in good shape.
[Submitted by Rick Brown, District Ranger]

Everglades National Park (FL)
Operation Gatorbait

On July 1st, a four-month-long joint undercover investigation, titled Operation Gatorbait, was concluded. This joint investigation between Everglades National Park and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) revealed a well-established practice of illegally feeding wildlife for commercial gain. Rangers and FWC officers issued numerous federal and state violation notices against airboat operators and owners of commercial airboat tours operating in the Everglades along Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail), which makes up the northern boundary of the North East District of Everglades NP.  Over the course of the investigation, rangers, paired with FWC officers, took tours in plainclothes and often filmed the violations as they occurred. Alligators and other wildlife have been illegally fed to entertain guests and to get alligators accustomed to the airboat operator so they can touch, grab and manipulate them for the enjoyment of visitors. Large quantities of bread and marshmallows were seized as evidence. Airboat operators often encouraged visitors to feed the wildlife as well. The investigation was begun when several visitors complained to NPS personnel about the illegal feeding practices. Violation notices were issued for illegal feeding, touching and harassment of wildlife, vessel registration and boating safety infractions, preservation of natural resources, and state caging requirements.  In total, 91 infractions were encountered and documented.  Violations were uncovered at Coopertown Airboat Tours, Everglades Airboat Tours, Everglades Safari Park, and Gator Park Airboat Tours. The investigation also showed that about 90% of the tours that they conduct take place in the park, which was documented utilizing GPS receivers and GIS data. Supervisory park ranger Dave Pharo was the IC.

[Submitted by Bill Wright, Chief Ranger]

Joshua Tree National Park (CA)
Wildlife Poaching Incident

On June 27th, a fee collector saw a park visitor who had a long, thin bamboo pole with a string attached to it. This type of snare is commonly used for capturing reptiles.  The fee collector provided rangers with a vehicle description and license plate number. Several hours later, ranger Eric Paul located the vehicle and stopped I on Pinto Basin Road approximately two miles north of the Cottonwood Visitor Center. Paul saw the bamboo snare in plain view in the vehicle. During the subsequent search of the vehicle, 36 items were seized, including a live scorpion approximately five inches in length, a snake hook, assorted tools for the collection of reptiles, nearly an ounce of marijuana and associated drug paraphernalia.  Numerous violation notices were issued to the occupants of the vehicle — P.C.G., Jr., and N.D.H. When questioned, P.C.G. said that he was planning to keep the scorpion as a pet.
[Submitted by Jeff Ohlfs, Acting Chief Ranger]

Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park (GA)
Fatal Fall from Battlefield Monument

While closing portions of Chickamauga Battlefield on the evening of Sunday, July 4th, ranger Eduardo Cartaya noticed a woman at the top of the 85-foot-tall Wilder Brigade Monument. The monument is designed to allow visitor access via a spiral staircase, with an observation platform at the top, and was open at the time. The woman was standing on top of a rock wall that encircles the observation area and provides protection from falling. Cartaya called to her and told her to climb down off the wall and meet him at the base of the monument. She complied with his instruction to climb down off the wall, but was then momentarily lost from Cartaya's view from below. As Cartaya approached the entrance gate to talk with her, he heard a sound and came upon the woman's body lying in the grassy area at the base of the monument. Cartaya called for medical assistance and checked the woman, later identified as 36-year-old C.H. of Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. EMS and other law enforcement agencies responded to assist. C.H. was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no witnesses. An investigation was conducted jointly by NPS and Fort Oglethorpe Police Department personnel, with Cartaya serving as the lead NPS investigator. The death was subsequently ruled a suicide.

[Submitted by Sam Weddle, Chief Ranger]

Shenandoah National Park (VA)
EMS Rescue

Campground hosts at Mathews Arm Campground were awakened and alerted to an elderly camper experiencing heart trouble around 5:30 a.m. on July 5th. After calling for assistance, campground hosts Jerry and Jane Brandt and Bill and Cindy McBride headed for the site. They found Goleina Dove of Richland, Virginia, in cardiac arrest. Cindy McBride and Jane Brandt, a licensed RN, administered CPR and had her breath and pulse restored within a minute. Rangers Dixon Freeland and Anthony Lutz arrived shortly thereafter, took over medical care, and arranged transportation. Dove was flown to the University of Virginia Hospital. A follow-up made 12 hours later revealed that she was in fair condition and being treated for pneumonia.
[Submitted by Clay Jordan, Deputy Chief Ranger]

Mojave National Preserve (CA)
Fatal MVA on Ivanpah Road

E.C. was heading north in his 1995 Mercedes on Ivanpah Road north of Morning Star Mine Road on the evening of June 27th when he allowed the car to drift onto the road's east shoulder. He then overcorrected to the left, causing it to travel across both lanes and onto the west shoulder. He once again overcorrected, this time to the right, and caused the Mercedes to overturn onto its side. His passenger, L.C., 75, sustained fatal injuries, even though she was wearing a seatbelt. The California Highway Patrol is investigating.
[Submitted by Denny Ziemann, Chief Ranger]

Mojave National Preserve (CA)
Fatal MVA on Kelbaker Road

A Mercedes SUV with five people on board was heading south on Kelbaker Road on the evening of July 11th when the driver entered a left hand curve at high speed, drifted off the road, then overcorrected twice, causing the SUV to overturn a number of times. Three people were ejected and a rear seat passenger sustained fatal injuries. Four of the five were airlifted to local hospitals was major trauma injuries. The California Highway Patrol is investigating.
[Submitted by Kirk Gebicke, Supervisory Park Ranger]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

---

NIFC/NPS Fire and Aviation Management
National Fire Situation Highlights — Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Preparedness Level 3

Initial attack was moderate in southern California, Alaska, the eastern Great Basin and the northern Rockies and light elsewhere. A total of 243 new fires were reported, five of which escaped initial attack. Two large fires were contained in southern California.

Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

Warnings and Watches

No warnings or watches have been issued for today.

NPS Fires

General notes:

• An evacuation advisory was issued for Eagle, Alaska, the operational center for Yukon-Charley Rivers NP, on Tuesday afternoon. The Eagle Complex is about six miles from town.
• A fire use management team has been ordered for the Meadow Fire in Yosemite NP. The fire is seven miles southeast of Yosemite Village. The fires has been very active and made a significant run to the north yesterday.

For a brief supplemental narrative on each fire, click on the bar with the arrow. Internal NPS readers can link directly to full reports on each fire by clicking on the notepad icon; public readers of the Morning Report can obtain similar information by going to http://www.nps.gov/fire/news

{||inc|http://data2.itc.nps.gov/fire/includes/bill_table.cfm||}

National/State Team Commitments

Newly listed fires (on this report) appear below in boldface. Changes in the status of a fire (type of team, change from a fire to a complex, etc.) are also noted in boldface.

Fires are sorted by type of team; teams are listed in alphabetical order within each type by the IC's last name.

State	Agency	Team	IC	Fire and Location	7/13	7/14	% Con	Est Con
CA	State	1	Gelobter	Pine Fire, Los Angeles County	----	4,506	35	UNK
AK	State	1	Hart	Boundary Fire, Fairbanks Area	346,150	366,150	20	UNK
CA	State	1	Kerrigan *	Peterson Fire, Fresno-Kings Unit	----	100	50	7/14
AZ	USFS	1	Oltrogge	Nuttall Complex, Coronado NF	29,390	29,400	75	7/19
AK	State	2	Chrisman	Central Complex, Tok Area Forestry	----	70,000	NR	UNK
AK	State	2	Kurth	Taylor Complex, Tok Area Forestry	650,502	742,093	NR	8/1
WA	USFS	2	Johnson **	Pot Peak Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF	9,175	9,175	65	UNK
CA	State	2	McCormick	Verbenia Fire, Riverside Unit	4,000	3,690	43	7/17
NV	BLM	2	Muir #	Chrome Fire, Ely Field Office	4,500	4,500	90	UNK
CO	BLM	2	Mullenix #	Saddle Mountain Fire, Delta County	301	301	90	7/16
AZ	USFS	2	Philbin	Willow Fire, Tonto NF	119,500	119,500	95	7/16
AK	BLM	FU	Bird	Solstice Complex, Upper Yukon Zone	396,711	404,131	5	UNK
AK	BLM	FU	Cones	Eagle Complex, Upper Yukon Zone	472,939	475,534	16	UNK
CO	BLM	FU	Weldon	Oil Springs Fire, White River Field Office	760	760	N/A	N/A

* CDF Type 1 IMT

** Washington Interagency IMT

# Transfer to Type 3 IMT today

National Resource Commitments

Day	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Date	7/8	7/9	7/10	7/11	7/12	7/13	7/14
Crews	165	178	180	166	147	211	237
Engines	217	240	200	190	231	435	497
Helicopters	80	79	78	71	81	94	102
Air Tankers	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Overhead	1,842	1,766	1,783	1,732	1,748	1,838	1,932

Further Information

This report is meant to present just highlights of the current fire situation. Two other NIFC sites provide much greater detail:

Full NIFC Situation Report (PDF file) — http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf
National Fire News — http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html

Information on NPS Fire and Aviation Management (FAM) and on park fires can be found at:

FAM — http://www.nps.gov/fire
Park fires — http://www.nps.gov/fire/news

OPERATIONAL NOTES

---

Department of the Interior
DOI Statement on Removal of USPP Chief

The Department of the Interior has released the following statement regarding the removal of Theresa Chambers from her position as Chief of the US Park Police:

On December 17, 2003, Don Murphy, Deputy Director of the National Park Service, proposed removing Theresa Chambers from her position as Chief of the United States Park Police. Ms. Chambers filed a reply to the proposed removal and the matter was assigned to Deputy Assistant Secretary Paul Hoffman.

According to public sources, Ms. Chambers also filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) on January 29, 2004, alleging that she was entitled to whistleblower protection. OSC has been investigating this matter for several months and a decision was anticipated prior to July 3, 2004. Ms. Chambers, on June 28, 2004, filed an appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Her action ended OSC's review of her whistleblower case.

Today, as part of the Department of the Interior's internal review, Deputy Assistant Secretary Paul Hoffman reached a decision with respect to the employment status of Ms. Chambers.

In making his decision, Mr. Hoffman considered factors prescribed by the Merit Systems Protection Board to determine the appropriate penalty. These factors include: (1) the nature and seriousness of the offense; (2) the employee's job level; (3) the employee's past disciplinary record; (4) the employee's past work record and job performance; (5) the effect of the offense on the confidence of the supervisor in the employee's ability to perform; (6) consistency of the penalty with those imposed on others for similar offenses; (7) consistency of the penalty with applicable table of penalties; the notoriety of the offense; (9) the clarity with which the employee was on notice of the rules violated; (10) potential for the employee's rehabilitation; (11) whether mitigating circumstances surrounding the offenses exist; and (12) the adequacy of alternative sanctions.

Mr. Hoffman provided written notice that Ms. Chambers would be removed from her position as Chief, United States Park Police, effective July 10, 2004. She has been on administrative leave with pay since December.

Ms. Chambers now has the opportunity to have this decision reviewed in the legal forum of her choice.

It is the policy of the Department of the Interior not to comment publicly on personnel actions other than to report the status and process of decisions.

The United States Park Police is now being led by Acting Chief Dwight Pettiford. In the past few months, the Park Police has, under Chief Pettiford's direction, well managed a number of high visibility events involving hundreds of thousands of people including President Reagan's funeral, the opening of the World War II Memorial, and the July 4th Independence Day festivities.
[Submitted by Tina Kreisher, Communications Director]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

---

Intermountain Region
Passing of Douglas Dwight Faris

Douglas Dwight Faris, 58, passed away on July 9th at his home in Fayetteville, Arkansas, surrounded by his loving family.

He was born November 5, 1945, in Marion, Virginia, to Gale L. and Lois Faris of Glade Spring, Virginia. Although he was a native of Washington County, Virginia, he lived in South Carolina, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Maryland, and recently moved to Arkansas.

Doug graduated from Emory and Henry College in 1968 with a B.A. in History and Psychology. He was a member of the Blue Key Honor Society, a student government officer, and captain of his football team.

Doug received a M.A. in Geography with emphasis on Resource Planning and Urban and Regional Studies and Economic Geography at the University of South Carolina in 1972. In 1973 he took a position as an environmental planner for the City of Denver, Colorado. He also taught courses in land planning at Denver Metropolitan State College.

In 1974 he began his permanent career with the National Park Service after being a seasonal employee at Yellowstone National Park in the late 1960s. From 1974-78 he was a planning team captain at the Denver Service Center and worked on plans for many parks, including the Fire Island National Seashore and Assateague Island National Seashore. He was a major player in developmental studies such as the Department of Interior's Open Space and Recreation study for the greater New York City Region.

From 1978-80, Doug was project planner for the Lowell National Historic Park that was the first National Park dedicated to the industrial revolution in the country. In 1981, he was a park planner for the Southwest Regional Office of the National Park Service in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was later promoted to Associate Regional Director for the Southwest Region. He had management oversight for legislative coordination; park planning, land protection planning and design; American Indian Affairs; Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance; and Long Distance Trail Programs.

For the last nine years he served as Park Superintendent for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Park, which runs 185 miles from the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. into Cumberland, Maryland. He had a long distinguished career with the National Park Service and retired after 30 years in January 2004.

Throughout his career, Doug received numerous awards including: United States Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award (2001), 2003 Superintendent of the Year for the National Capital Region, The Justice William O. Douglas Award for Leadership and Outstanding Achievement from the C&O Canal Association (2003), Conservation Achievement Award from the Southwest Regional Office of the National Park Service (1994), The 2003 Shoulder to Shoulder Partnership Award, and a Senate Tribute in the Congressional Record (Vol. 149, No.121).

In Fayetteville, Arkansas, Doug was a member of Sequoyah United Methodist Church. He was a consultant for the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust. He enjoyed gardening, traveling, and was the family genealogist.

Doug is survived by his wife of 34 years, Jean Spears Faris, Fayetteville, Arkansas; one daughter, Shelly Bohach, and her husband LT. Joshua J.G. Bohach, Jacksonville, Florida; one son, Shane Faris, Springfield, Missouri; his parents, Gale L. and Lois Bethel Faris, Glade Spring, Virginia; his brother Ron and his wife Charlotte Faris, Marion, Virginia; his brother Gale L., Jr. and his wife Sandra Faris, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and several nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial contributions to be made in his honor to the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust, PO Box 687, Springdale, AR 72765; the C&O Canal Association, PO Box 366, Glen Echo, MD 20812-0366; or a charity of your choice.

The service were held on July 13th at 2 p.m. at Emory United Methodist Church, Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia. Burial followed at the Old Glade Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery. The Farris Funeral Service, Abington, Virginia, (Tel. 276-623-2700) is serving the family. Cards and notes may be sent to Jean Faris, 2511 Meandering Way, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701.
[Submitted by Kevin Brandt, kevin_brandt@nps.gov, 301-714-2201]

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.