Valdez Waterfront Master Plan

After several years of effort and innumerable public meetings of the Port Commission, Planning and Zoning Commission, and City Council, the City of Valdez finally approved their Waterfront Master Plan on 3 December 2007. This master planning effort began as effort to address future growth along the Port Valdez waterfront. The Port Commission could see the danger of unplanned coastal development and the effects of poorly thought out land use decisions on the future of Valdez's marine dependent industries. As a coastal community, access to the waterfront is vital to fishermen, fish processors, the cruise industry, sport charter fishermen, and the oil industry in Valdez.

Every coastal community should consider developing their own waterfront master plan. Building an effective plan isn't terribly expensive and could prevent expensive land use mistakes in a community's future. Coastal communities depend on the waterfront and good planning recognizes this relationship. Use to the Valdez effort as example and think about your own planned waterfront development. Valdez Waterfront Master Plan (PDF).

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Absolute Blogchain No.12

I take part in a blogging activity known as the Absolute Write Blogchain. It's a process were each participant takes a previously posted blog entry from another person playing in the effort and carries the thread forward with their own thoughts. The results can be entertaining and thought provoking. Shauna at Playing With Words relates her experience with a recent job interview where she successfully competed. Congratulations on the new position.

What stood out was Shauna's descriptions of her efforts to approach the process in a very positive manner and put her best foot forward. It's apparent the effort was well founded and later produced some pleasant, unexpected benefits. By maintaining a fresh and professional attitude after accepting the new appointment, Shauna lived up to the expectations developed by her employers in the interview process. Work is such a big part of our lives, it seems important to me that people really should have a passion for what they do and enjoy showing up for work each day.

I would take this a little further. A friend of mine was discussing the ramifications of management authority and project responsibility within the organization where he works. He had a long term employee working for him that refuses to take ownership in any project to which assigned, yet freely snipes and criticizes the results once the task is complete. In most organizations it is hard to transfer the ultimate responsibility for a task or project, yet there is a wide range of opportunities out there for employees to take ownership in a project and run with it.

In most organizations, the only limit on involvement in a project or task to what a person will assume personally. I have seen few managers get in the way of an employee that has great enthusiasm, an sense of ownership and displays commitment to completing a project. If you think about it, a positive outlook is refreshing to experience and can be contagious. These are the people, projects and outcomes we like to associate. Congrats to Shauna and her great outlook.

On to Kat at A Thoughtful Life!

AW Blogchain No.12

Virginia Lee: I Ain't Dead Yet!
Playing With Words
A View from the Waterfront"
A Thoughtful Life
Gillian Polack: Food history
So, You Majored in Creative Writing; Now what?
Life in the Middle
Finding Boddie – A Simple Way to Snort Your Breakfast
Kappa No He

Tags: Absolute Write, Absolute Write Blogchain No.12, awchain

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Sea Grant Superior Achievement Award

I had a chance last week to participate in an awards ceremony with recipients of the Superior Outreach Award from the National Assembly of Sea grant Extension Program Leaders (ASGEPL). Three Louisiana Sea Grant/LSU AgCenter Extension Agents, Albert "Rusty" Gaude' from Plaquemines Parish, Kevin Savoie from Southwest Louisiana, and Mark Schexnayder from Southeast Louisiana were honored for their efforts in assisting commercial fishermen and local governments following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

These men worked to bring a Marine Travelift from Valdez, Alaska to Empire, Louisiana to help get commercial fishing vessels back in the water, helped seafood processors go back into production, acquired and installed ice making equipment for fishermen and processors, assisted in relocating fishing vessels and coordinated storm debris removal. I was honored and humbled to be included in the national award with this trio for helping to rebuild critical fisheries infrastructure with the Marine Travelift portion of their efforts.

“Their work is a magnificent example of what a few dedicated Sea Grant people can accomplish working in a Sea Grant fashion – addressing a critical need in a timely, professional manner, and enlisting and involving multiple agencies and citizens’ groups,” said Jack Thigpen, ASGEPL chair. “What distinguishes their work from the other truly excellent nominees from the Sea Grant network this year is that the Louisiana project was conceived, started, and carried out while the agents themselves were in extremis due to the personal impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on them.”

During the award presentation in San Diego, Grant Chuck Wilson, the Executive Director of Louisiana Sea Grant presented me with a copy of Marsh Mission by CC Lockwood and Rhea Gary. Marsh Mission offers two visual interpretations of Louisiana's imperiled wetlands.

Gaude', Savoie and Schexnayder's efforts are chronicled in a documentary titled Sister Storms: A Louisiana Sea Grant Response. Best of luck to these great people!

Tags: Sea Grant, ASGEPL, Louisiana Sea Grant Extension, Hurricane Katrina

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Absolute Write Blogchain No. 11

Gillian at Food History says in her post for Absolute Write Blogchain No. 11, "I think this calls for chocolate. Eat it while fully focused and aware of every microsecond of smooth richness, then breeze on over to A View From The Waterfront, to see where this chain goes next." This combined with Jim Melvin's introspection at The Death Wizard Chronicles and a love for chocolate leaves me to make a connection to the waterfront.

If it is a matter of finding a sacred place from which to draw strength, the waterfront is my focus. I suspect the coast holds this importance for many of us. Those of us living on the coast, deriving a livelihood from it, and depending on the ocean for food find that a connection of interdependence exists for us.

We take food from the sea and it provides us a vocation. I had the privilege to serve on the Southeast Alaska Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Council were I learned a little of Native concerns for wild foods and protecting our relationship with the resources. Subsistence is a lifeway and not necessarily just a matter of numbers or management regime. Gathering, preparation, sharing, and respect for natural sources of food is shows that a subsistence lifestyle goes beyond the use a simple term.

Drawing these benefits from the waterfront, we are reminded of the need to give something back to the ocean. A concern for the environment and a concern for all of creatures depend on it like we do is a good beginning. My career focus is in community development and the concept of community is an important part of personal well-being and mental health.

It has been another thoughtful Blogchain from the community at Absolute Write. I appreciate everyone contributing the success of this adventure!

Participants in AW Blogchain No. 11
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Virtual Wordsmith
(The Blog Formerly Known as) Taosbound
Virginia Lee: I Ain't Dead Yet!
Kappa No He
Playing With Words
A Thoughtful Life
Mad About Kites
Confessions of a Fat Chick
The Death Wizard Chronicles
Food History
A View From The Waterfront

awchain

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Tags: awchain, aw blogchain, subsistence

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ANAN - Stream of Living Water

Anan Creek is internationally known as one of the most productive Pink salmon streams in North America, making it by default a unmatched location for viewing both Black and Brown bears. Anan Creek is located on the north shore of the Cleveland Peninsula, just south of Wrangell Island and north of Ketchikan. Wrangell resident Bonnie Demerjian has authored Anan: Stream of Living Water, an exhaustive chronicle of the stream and its denizens. The account displays Bonnie’s depth of local knowledge and understanding of the complex relationships that exist between human visitors, feeding bears and spawning salmon meeting together at the creek.

Demerjian paints a descriptive view of the region’s natural history and geology. Using photographs taken by Ivan Simonek, she describes the plant and animal species found in the Anan watershed. There is extensive discussion of the Pink salmon life cycle and development of commercial fishing in the area. Explorer George Vancouver noted Anan Bay in 1793, and there has been aboriginal use of the Creek’s natural plenty since the beginning of human occupation in Southeast Alaska some 10,000 years ago. A great sidebar and continued discussion in the text relates to the Tlingit Cycle of Food and the methods used to capture the salmon. Later industrial fishing endangered the resident Pink salmon population and would prove a driving issue in establishing Alaska Statehood.

The greatest strength of Anan Stream of Living Water is its treatment of the legend, lore and life history of the region’s prime attraction, the bears. Bonnie relates the Tlingit stories of the bears, describes their biology and history within the region, and details the differences found between the Black and Brown species of bear. The USDA - Forest Service operates a wildlife viewing facility at Anan Creek that takes great advantage of the bears feeding on Pink salmon migrating into the stream. The role of the Forest Service at Anan is explained and the author forwards really useful information on bear photography, viewing safety, rental cabins, suggested reading, and contacting local guides. The book enjoys an extensive bibliography and subject index.

As my friend, Rod Brown of Wrangell states on the back cover, “Bonnie Demerjian’s lively and informative account of the Anan area is based on her extensive research and appreciation of the complex interactions between the primeval environment and its human inhabitants. Archival photographs, drawings, and Ivan Simonek’s striking images illuminate and amplify the narrative to produce an intriguing portrait of a memorable corner of our planet.” I couldn’t agree more with Rod. Anan Stream of Living Water is available from Stikine River Books.

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