April and May are exciting months in Prince William Sound. Our communities and harbors begin to hum with activity in anticipation of the coming season. Traffic, or our small town version of traffic, picks up as fishing boats are hauled through town from storage to harbors. Local coffee shops and sidewalks buzz with the conversation of fishermen “getting ready for fishing”. Businesses and guides are busy getting ready for the summer tourism season. Sportsmen are holding annual pre-season gear swaps and get togethers. And we are ALL thinking about fish, fish, fish!
Here in the Prince William Soundkeeper office we have been busy putting the final touches on the new website, organizing the spring Cordova harbor clean up and moving forward with the Citizen Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP).
Kirsti Jurica has joined the PWSK team to develop and implement the Citizen Environmental Monitoring Program, bringing extensive personal experience and knowledge of Prince William Sound. Kirsti is first and foremost an avid outdoorswoman. She has a B.S. degree in hydrology from Montana State University. She has worked in fisheries for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the U.S. Forest Service and Copper River Watershed Project. Kirsti also has experience in commercial fishing and enjoys subsistence fishing.
The purpose of Prince William Soundkeeper’s CEMP program is to begin to establish baseline line data regarding the possible impacts of climate change on wild salmon spawning and juvenile rearing habitat across Prince William Sound; and to link student groups across the Sound to leverage local field observation for a Sound-wide understanding of the ecosystem. Community volunteers will be trained to monitor water temperature and turbidity and collect data and field notes for upload onto the PWSK website.
PWSK will also be working this summer to monitor the continuing progress of the Clean Water Initiative. Put simply, voters are being asked whether state law should prioritize protection of wild salmon habitat and drinking water above new large scale mining projects. This past fall, in just 60 days, over 60,000 signatures supporting the initiative were collected statewide. The initiative goes on the ballot for public vote in August of 2008. Nonetheless, mining interests are applying their extensive resources and influence to convince voters to oppose the act.
The Clean Water Initiative is limited in scope, specifically addressing new large scale metallic mining projects in Alaska such as Pebble Mine. The act would protect the statewide interest in water quality by ensuring that Alaska’s waterways, streams, rivers and lakes are not adversely impacted by new large scale metallic mineral mining operations and to ensure that prospective large scale metallic mineral mining operations are compatible with the state’s interest in having clean waters.
A related emerging initiative addresses pollution in mixing zones in wild salmon and other fisheries spawning waters. The “Protect Wild Fish from Pollution Initiative” would prohibit mixing zones in which pollutants, effluents, and other discharges may be allowed into lakes, streams, rivers or other flowing fresh water used for spawning by wild salmon or other resident fish. If enough signatures are collected, this initiative could go on the ballot in 2010.
PWSK supports these efforts to protect Alaskans’ fundamental right to clean water, a right that is essential to the healthy fisheries, communities and cultures of Prince William Sound. We want to know what you think about these two important issues so please email me at Jennifer@pwsoundkeeper.org.
Visit PWSK’s News page to read the Spring 2008 Update and Hot Topics including results of our very successful Whole Truth campaign and information regarding the invasive European green crab. http://www.pwsoundkeeper.org/news.html
On a lighter note, here is an amusing link to a YouTube video spoofing oil tanker safety http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcU4t6zRAKg.
Please drop me an email at Jennifer@pwsoundkeeper.org with your thoughts on these or other issues and definitely send us your Prince William Sound photos and stories that we can share on our website!
Happy Spring!
Jennifer
