A new grass-roots environmental group taking Prince William Sound as its area of concern will hold an inaugural event this weekend, a cruise to Blackstone Bay from Whittier with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a guest.
The new Prince William Soundkeeper, with board members from Cordova, Valdez, Whittier, Chenega Bay and Anchorage, is modeled after the Homer-based Cook Inlet Keeper and more than 135 similar "waterkeeper" organizations in the Lower 48 and other countries.
The new group describes its mission as protecting "water quality and the life it sustains" in the Prince William Sound ecosystem.
While national and state environmental groups have paid attention to the Sound, especially after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, no group based in local communities has taken on interrelated local issues. The exception is the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council, which gives area residents a role in setting policies affecting oil transportation in local waters.
The new group is being formed under the wing of the National Wildlife Federation, said Cook Inlet Keeper director Bob Shavelson. Its goal is to stand on its own as a member-supported nonprofit, he said.
The Prince William Sound group has been under discussion for five years, Shavelson said. During its formative period, the group has organized several beach and harbor cleanups in the Sound.
Cook Inlet Keeper, marking its 10th anniversary this month, has been involved in volunteer monitoring of water quality and taken part in administrative and legal proceedings around such issues as beluga whale protection and discharges from Inlet oil platforms.
The group, supported by members, foundations and volunteers, has a paid staff of 10 in Homer, Shavelson said. Government water-monitoring contracts also played a part in the group's past finances, but Shavelson said those contracts have dried up in a "hostile political environment."
The waterkeeper movement got started on New York's Hudson River in the 1960s. Kennedy is president of the loose-knit Waterkeeper Alliance. He will attend Soundkeeper's fund-raiser cruise from Whittier at 7 p.m. today. Kennedy also will be keynote speaker at the Alaska Oceans Festival in Anchorage at 5 p.m. Saturday and speak at Cook Inlet Keeper's 10th anniversary celebration Sunday evening in Homer.
Daily News reporter Tom Kizzia can be reached at tkizzia@adn.com or in Homer at 1-907-235-4244.
MORE INFORMATION on the events is available at
www.inletkeeper.org
