Online Observer

Community Corner: Music, Salmon, and Oil Spill Prevention

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By Maia Draper-Reich, Outreach Coordinator

In early August, the Council hosted a booth at Salmonfest in Ninilchik, Alaska. The annual music and arts festival welcomes nonprofits to host information booths and share with attendees about their work in the ‘Salmon Causeway’. Salmonfest is a festival rooted in advocacy, working with organizations on the front lines to protect Bristol Bay and its wild salmon fishery. They also support other causes throughout the year. The variety of booths at the 2023 Causeway included salmon-focused and environmental groups, as well as advocacy and education of other issues like Alaska Native interests, women’s health, and more.

Board President Robert Archibald, Port Operations and Vessel traffic System Committee member Max Mitchell, and I staffed the Council’s booth across the three-day festival. The Council’s booth tied into the festival’s theme of healthy salmon through sharing about citizen engagement in marine oil spill prevention and response, and marine invasive species.

We spoke to individuals from the Exxon Valdez oil spill region and beyond about the spill, its aftermath, and the ongoing work the Council does to promote the safe transport of crude oil through Prince William Sound. We handed out Council publications and logoed giveaway items. Ear plugs were popular as they are highly useful at a music festival event and exemplary of how prevention is key. Because of the festival’s environmental advocacy origin, the approximately 350 attendees who stopped by the booth were engaged and receptive with many eager to stay connected and learn more through our newsletter and receiving a copy of The Spill book.

Sharing about invasive species took the form of a carnival game-style activity. Booths were encouraged to have an activity that attendees could complete or engage with to get a stamp on their Causeway bingo card. The Council’s carnival game was the Green Crab Attack explainer activity where the participants get to step into the shoes of a marine scientist monitoring for invasive crab species such as European Green Crab. Youth and adults of all ages tried out removing foam sea creatures from the crab trap and sorting them into categories keeping an eye out for any green crabs.

Salmonfest was a great opportunity to connect with community members from lower Cook Inlet and the Kenai Peninsula, as well as those from elsewhere in Alaska and visitors, on citizen engagement in oil spill prevention and response in Prince William Sound and the downstream communities. On Sunday, people carrying large salmon puppets paraded by the nonprofit Causeway as a local act played on the nearby Inlet Stage, illustrating how the festival allows art, local environmental issues, and people to converge.

Analysis of weather conditions released

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A new report summarizes weather data collected in Port Valdez. Two buoys, one near the Valdez Marine Terminal and another near an environmentally sensitive area called the Valdez Duck Flats have been collecting information since 2019.

Dr. Rob Campbell, researcher at the Prince William Sound Science Center, has been analyzing the data and just published a report on his analysis of the first three years of data. He is looking at ocean currents, wind direction and speed, wave direction and heights, and other information for possible trends between years and seasons.

This report and previous year’s analyses are available on our website: Port Valdez Weather Buoy Analysis 2019 – 2022

How learning to listen can help communities heal from disasters

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In 1989, when a young Patience Andersen Faulkner was working as a legal aide in the picturesque town of Cordova, disaster struck when crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound from the tanker Exxon Valdez.

Part of her job was to listen to the folks who came into the law office talk about their experiences with the spill.

“They would tell me how things devastated them emotionally,” she says. Even though the spill affected her too, she just listened.

The town didn’t have much in the way of mental health services, so Andersen Faulkner pushed the lawyers she worked for to get the community some help. They introduced her to Dr. Steve Picou, a sociology professor at the University of South Alabama.

Dr. Picou had been studying the impacts that technological disasters had on communities. While the effects of natural disasters were well-understood, technological disasters were a relatively new field, with little documentation. After the spill, he came to Alaska to study how the disaster affected the community of Cordova. This work developed into the Council’s guidebook called “Coping With Technological Disasters,” designed to help communities cope better with similar disasters in the future.

A technological disaster is human-caused. These accidents are caused by the failure of systems that are in the control of people.
Examples include an oil spill, train derailment, plant explosion, or other accident, which have different effects on communities than a natural disaster.

How different types of disasters create different social environments

Not only are the effects of a technological disaster long-lasting, they differ from other types of disasters. After natural disasters, such as earthquakes or typhoons, there are systems in place for support, such as government agencies. Communities often bond during efforts to rebuild.

Following a technological disaster, there are questions about responsibility, victim-blaming occurs, and complex lawsuits are common. All of these can cause lingering psychological damage.

In 2006, Dr. Picou surveyed Cordovans to examine the long-term effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. His work showed that 17 years after the spill, recovery was progressing, but psychological stress from the spill was still present.

Some natural disasters can have elements in common with technological disasters. Problems with preparation and response, such as occurred after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, can cause similar community effects.

Lessons on listening

Andersen Faulkner noticed that when the clients talked through their problems, they often left feeling better.

“They weren’t cured of anything, they didn’t have any money, but they at least knew they had a tool within themselves on which to draw,” she says about the experience at the time.

The Council’s 1996 guidebook by Dr. Picou included a section on training community members to become peer listeners. This work was based on the experiences of Andersen Faulkner and other Cordovans. In 1998, Andersen Faulkner joined the Council’s Board of Directors, where she served as a representative of the Cordova District Fishermen United until 2022. She helped guide the development of updates to the guide and manual.

Over the years, this program was used and adapted for recovery following disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, the Council updated the “Coping With Technological Disasters” Guidebook. This year, the Council sponsored a major overhaul of the peer listener program. A newly revised Peer Listener manual incorporates many advances in the fields of peer-to-peer support and community resilience.

How the new manual can help

The revised manual is designed to assist communities that have been through a disaster. Here are a few ways the manual can be beneficial.

For individuals:

  • Skills to be a better listener
  • Examples of supportive and reassuring responses
  • Warning signs that additional help is needed beyond peer support
  • How to recognize when you are getting overwhelmed and need to take care of yourself
  • Links to resources for additional help, including many specifically for Alaskans

For communities:

  • Promotes a network of support that increases resiliency
  • Fosters empathy among community members
  • Identifies vulnerable populations

Download the new Peer Listener Manual: Coping with Technological Disasters Appendix F: Peer Listener Training Manual

Surveys emphasize importance of protecting nearshore habitat for wintering birds

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Three years of data from surveys of marine bird species is now available online. The data is intended to help identify areas where marine birds tend to congregate in the winter, so that protective measures can be taken in the event of a spill in Prince William Sound.

Previously, most surveys of birds and mammals were conducted in Prince William Sound during spring, summer, or fall. This data from winter adds depth to our understanding of bird populations and the risks posed to birds from an oil spill.

Additionally, these surveys provide baseline monitoring information that can be used to understand the environmental impacts of terminal and tanker operations on marine bird species. The surveys were conducted in winter, which is an important time for marine bird survival given the typically harsh conditions.

Researchers identified 23 distinct bird species. Murrelets were the most common marine bird at 38% of sightings. Pelagic cormorants and common murres were the next most common.

Data available online

The results of the surveys are publicly available online. A map of the data is through the Alaska Ocean Observing System and NOAA’s Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA).

These surveys continue the work done by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council’s Gulf Watch Alaska, which started monitoring in 2007. Datasets from 2007-2023 are available on the Alaska Ocean Observing System’s website (aoos.org).

Download the final report

Marine Bird Winter Surveys in Prince William Sound – 2023

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