News & Announcements

Videos now available! Science Night 2025

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Science Night 2025 – Echoes from the Spill: Science that Shaped a Region

On the evening of Thursday, December 4, 2025, we explored the past, present, and future of science in the Exxon Valdez oil spill region with speakers Jeff Short, Beks Rumley, and Gary Shigenaka.

Thank you to our partner organizations who hosted watch parties! Kodiak at the Seafood and Marine Science Center, Valdez at the Prince William Sound College, and Cordova at the Prince William Sound Science Center.

Presentations

The Scientific Legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

  • Speaker: Jeffrey W. Short, PhD, JWS Consulting LLC
  • The Exxon Valdez was the first intensively-studied oil spill in history. Damage assessment studies discovered far more environmental damage than expected. Dr. Short will discuss the unique scientific opportunity and studies prompted by the spill followed by a brief comparison with science conducted after the Deepwater Horizon.

Coastal Resilience through Tribal Stewardship: Science, Sovereignty and Community Voice

  • Speaker: Beks Rumley, Climate Change Coordinator, Chugach Regional Resources Commission
  • This presentation shares how tribally led consortium Chugach Regional Resources Commission (CRRC) integrates traditional knowledge with western science to address climate change impacts across the Chugach region. We will cover CRRC’s work with ocean monitoring, subsistence species research, tribal conservation efforts, and adaptation planning. The biggest takeaway? Resilience grows when communities lead the research that affects them.

Exxon Valdez: A Look Back and Some Thoughts about the Path Ahead

  • Speaker: Gary Shigenaka, Biologist (Retired!)/Emeritus Scientist, NOAA/Emergency Response Division
  • The Exxon Valdez led to important scientific and institutional changes that continue to shape the spill response community today. This talk will explore the early science after the spill and the creation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 as a lens to examine what has happened since, present status, and an outlook for the future.

Visit our Science Night main page for details on past events.

Council welcomes new staff member

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Peter Casey

In November, the Council welcomed its newest staff member. Peter Casey joined the Council in the position of Project Manager Assistant. He is based in the Anchorage office.

Casey was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and attended the University of Glasgow where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and politics.

Prior to working with the Council, he held various jobs in youth development, including as the program director of multiple summer camps and running a greenhouse and vocational training program in Anchorage.

He is replacing Jaina Willahan, who held the position since 2021. Willahan is staying on staff until early December to help train Casey.

Students learn to master an oil spill disaster

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Maia Draper-Reich

By Maia Draper-Reich, Outreach Coordinator

Each September, when the Council holds a Board meeting in one of our stakeholder communities, we host a youth engagement event called “Become a Master of Disaster.” Following a pause during the Covid pandemic, this event has been revitalized with two successful events, one in Kodiak in 2024 and another in Cordova this fall. The event educates and connects local children with topics related to our mission in an age-appropriate way.

Youth and caregivers move through a series of hands-on oil spill and marine science activities, facilitated by adults including Council Board members, committee volunteers, staff, and staff from partner groups. Students learn how oil spills are cleaned up and how oiled wildlife are cleaned and cared for during a response. They compete in a running race the length of an oil tanker, and learn to identify marine invasive species. Students collect stamps in a passport-style book and complete a reflection activity as their final stop before collecting a prize.

We have been grateful to include local partner organizations in the event. In Kodiak, the Kodiak Ocean Science Discovery Program, or KOSDP, donated use of their lab classroom space and supplies, and some of their educators joined Council staff and volunteers to run activities. KOSDP taught students about oil molecules and where oil comes from. They hosted a station about ocean life, where students could examine plankton under microscopes.

Kate Morse teaches Cordova students how Geographic Response Strategies, or GRS, are developed. GRS are specialized oil spill contingency plans that are tailored to protect specific environments.

In Cordova, staff from the Prince William Sound Science Center led a hands-on opportunity for students to drive mini-remotely operated vehicles to collect ping pong balls (representing oil) floating in water. They also facilitated participants dressing up in oil spill personal protective equipment. Kate Morse, the Copper River Watershed Project’s Executive Director and member of the Council’s Information and Education Committee, worked with her staff to create an activity where youth learned about Geographic Response Strategies, or GRS, and then got to create one for Eyak Lake, a familiar local environmental resource. This tied in well with the Council’s recent work to update the Copper River Delta GRS. The activity successfully scaled the complex topic in an understandable way for elementary-age children.

The 2024 and 2025 participating groups routinely partner with the Council to support projects to educate local students. Their staff also collaborate on other Council projects and areas of overlap. Including local partners in this event strengthens connections with youth, as these partner staff are familiar and known adults and educators within their community.

Council Board member Mike Bender shows a Cordova student how fishing vessels can help respond after a spill.
Students play with remote operating vehicles that simulate collecting spilled oil.

Become a Master of Disaster engages Exxon Valdez oil spill region kids in oil spill and marine science topics that align with the Council’s mission in an age-appropriate educational format. Participants in both Kodiak and Cordova expanded their existing knowledge, learned more about oil spills, and drew connections to their local coastal environment and community. I am grateful to the local entities and partners, as well as Council volunteers and staff, for their contributions to make this event happen and for sharing their oil spill and marine science knowledge with the next generation of stewards.

European green crab spreading in southeast Alaska

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Image shows that green crab can be identified by counting the bumps on the front of the carapace.: 5 pointy spines on left, then an eye, followed by three bumps in the center, then another eye, and 5 more spines on the right.
European green crab, Carcinus maenus

In 2022, the Metlakatla Indian Community first spotted shells of European green crab, or Carcinus maenus, during regular monitoring at the Annette Islands Reserve. Subsequent monitoring turned up live crabs.

This summer, the group reported a large population growth in the surrounding area.

Monitors reported trapping 2,133 in 2023, and 1,865 in 2024. That number jumped to over 40,000 this year.

This species is of particular concern because it is aggressive. It has destroyed habitats and outcompeted local species in other locations. Among its prey are juvenile king crab and juvenile salmon.

The Council has been studying these crab and other marine invasive species since 1996. Research on has shown that:

  • The crab survives in environments like Prince William Sound. A warming climate makes an even more suitable habitat.
  • Larvae of the crabs could survive a trip to Alaska in an oil tanker’s ballast water.

Links to additional resources, and what to do if you see a suspected green crab: www.pwsrcac.org/greencrab

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