Volunteer Spotlight

Volunteer Spotlight

Sarah Allan, newest member of the council’s Scientific Advisory Committee, known as SAC, has been fascinated by science and the natural world from a young age.

Allan was born and raised in the tiny Southeast Alaska community of Thorne Bay on Prince of Wales Island.

“I was always interested in science from a really young age, my folks were both high school science teachers, so I was exposed to a lot of science,” she says. “There’s a mentality that lends itself to science, that wanting to know the why and how of things.”

“Understanding the why and how actually makes things that much more interesting and fascinating.”

Read more

Volunteer Spotlight:

John Kennish, chair of the council’s Scientific Advisory Committee, also known as SAC, found his life’s calling early.

“I knew I’d be a chemist in the 11th grade when my teacher told us how scientists first figured out the composition of water,” Kennish said. “What excited me was how you could take indirect evidence and use your own sense of logic to draw conclusions about what was really occurring.”

“I thought that was awesome.”

Read more

Orson Smith, the newest member of the council’s Port Operations and Vessel Traffic System committee, loves a good mental challenge.

Smith was recruited by council project manager Alan Sorum to the committee a little over a year ago. Working with the committee has given him a chance to understand the terminal and the Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic System better.

“Port operations in the Valdez Arm represent truly challenging port and coastal engineering issues with the extreme weather,” Smith said, “The risk of an accident, even at a low probability, has a high cost.”

Read more

Volunteer Spotlight

Harold Blehm, newest member of the council’s Terminal Operations and Vessel Traffic System committee is passionate about using his time to help make Valdez, Prince William Sound, and the Chugach mountains a better place.

Blehm first moved to Alaska in 1982, after he graduated from Colorado State University’s School of Forestry with a degree in outdoor recreation administration.

Colorado’s population has grown so much that Blehm said he doesn’t think he could ever return there.

“All the lakes we used to fish in are now inside city limits and you can’t fish there anymore,” Blehm said, “It’s sad.”

For his first few years in Alaska, Blehm worked for the City of Valdez as a firefighter, emergency medical technician and police officer. In 1988, Blehm finally got his dream job with the Alaska State Parks as district ranger for the Copper Basin Ranger District in Tazlina, Alaska.

“I got that job in ‘88, and in ’89, guess what happened?”

Read more