During his summer vacations from college, council volunteer John LeClair got his start in the field that he would come to love. He went to Idaho each summer to work for the Forest Service as a lookout, which evolved into a full time job as a “smokejumper,” or a firefighter who parachutes in to fight forest fires.
On the way out the door on her last day before she retired from 23 years on the council’s staff, Linda Robinson turned in her application to volunteer on the Information and Education Committee, the group she helped re-form in 2008. Today’s committee has roots in an “education committee” which existed in the early days of the council, but was later dissolved.
“Over the 23 years I worked for the council, I’ve watched volunteers dedicating a lot of time and passion to the mission of the council and I feel like it’s my turn to do that too.”
The council held its annual board meeting in Valdez during the first week of May. Among other business, new board officers were elected for the year.
The 2014-2015 executive committee includes:
• President: Amanda Bauer, representing the City of Valdez
• Vice President: Thane Miller, representing Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corporation
• Treasurer: Jim Herbert, from the City of Seward
• Secretary: Cathy Hart, representing the Alaska Wilderness Recreation and Tourism Association
Volunteer Spotlight
On March 23, 1989, Prince William Sound fisherman Gordon Scott didn’t know a thing about oil spills, and if you had asked him that day, he probably wouldn’t have been too interested.
“I was in Anchorage selling shrimp when the Exxon Valdez hit the rocks.”
On Friday morning, March 24, he saw the headlines about the spill. He didn’t fish near Bligh Reef, so at first he wasn’t worried. On his rounds delivering shrimp, however, all the customers he talked to were asking if this would affect him. Would he still be able to keep fishing for shrimp?
“Of course,” he told them, “this isn’t going to affect me! I’m a fisherman, that’s an oil spill, it’s a tanker.”