The Observer, May, 2009

Community Corner:
Changes are ahead for the council website

By LINDA ROBINSON
Outreach Coordinator
Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council

At its most recent meeting, the Information and Education Committee established a new web project team. This team, consisting of volunteers and staff, will oversee a re-design of the council website. The new site will be user-friendly and will include an enhanced search feature to make it easier to obtain information and reports. The team will also be discussing an online presence for the council through social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook. Watch for changes!

The committee is scheduling an in-person meeting for the summer. Agenda items will include finalizing the process for students and teachers to apply for grants for educational projects, discussing outreach for projects such as invasive species and community impacts planning, and devising outreach activities to replace the radio campaign which was eliminated from this year’s budget.

Staff is working to update the volunteer handbook. Copies will be sent to all volunteers and staff. To reduce waste in the future, new handbooks will be distributed in a three ring binder so that individual pages can be removed and replaced as updates are made. The revised handbooks will be out sometime this summer.

The annual Alaska Oceans Festival was held on June 6 in Anchorage, focusing this year on Exxon Valdez spill-related issues. Under blue skies, visitors listened to music and speeches, visited vendor and information booths, and participated in such activities as rock climbing and kayaking. The council booth participated in the treasure hunt. Players had to comb through our informational material to find the answer to the question: Which crab is not native to Alaska? The answer is the European green crab, an invasive species not yet found in Alaska, but which has the potential to ravage Alaskan waters.

The annual Arctic Marine Oilspill Program seminar was held in Vancouver, B.C., June 9-11. Committee volunteer Bob Flint and staff members Joe Banta, Linda Swiss, Amanda Johnson, and I participated. The booth was set up with information for attendees. Joe Banta and Merv Fingas authored a poster “A Review of Oil Spill Dispersants Literature, 1997-2008,” which was well received.

One interesting visitor to the booth was Richard Glenn of the Arctic Slope Corporation, based in Barrow. Richard, along with two others, attended as a guest of Shell Exploration. Richard is hoping to see two citizens’ groups formed to oversee oil industry activities in the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea areas. They are seeking a “bridging” organization that can provide recommendations and advice on formulating these groups.

Patience Andersen Faulkner, Roy Robertson, Donna Schantz and I attended the annual Copper River Nouveau fundraiser for the Prince William Sound Science Center in Cordova. As always, it was a great event with auction items and entertainment. Naomi Everett, born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, now an instructor with the Culinary Arts and Hospitality program at University of Alaska Anchorage, provided delicious food for the event.

In August, Dan Gilson and I will attend the Sixth International Conference On Marine Bioinvasions in Portland, Oregon. Dan has been the council lead for training teachers and students who participate in the green crab monitoring program. For information on this conference, visit: www.clr.pdx.edu/mbic/index.html.
Have a great summer!

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