GIS Analyst
Develop the Copper River Knowledge System
(www.ecotrust.org/copperriver/crks_cd/welcome.htm), an effort encompassing the collection, collation, and integration of data to make publicly accessible the best available information on our natural systems, our communities, and options to manage for resilience and sustainability.

The analyst will develop new avenues to acquire information and data, synthesize information, identify data gaps, integrate historic data, and work with tribal communities to incorporate Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The goal is to create innovative ways to display complicated information on our natural systems: water, salmon, mineral resources, timber, hydrology, habitats, geomorphology, economics, and changing climatic conditions.

Qualifications: three years experience in GIS systems and analysis, cartography, and project development. Full-time position, based in Cordova, Alaska, a small fishing community accessible only by air and boat. Some travel is required. Salary is competitive and includes an excellent package.

Email cover letter and resume to: Nancy Bird, President, Prince William Sound Science Center (nbird@pwssc.org) and RJ Kopchak, Ecotrust (ecotrust@ak.net) .

Full Description

From the Forest to the Sea Science Camps

Oceanography of the Prince William Sound Class

Adult Summer Education Programs

Summer Community Events

Vessel Charter originating in Cordova Harbor for placement of oceanographic moorings recovery of wave recorders and collection of salinity/temp data in route for five charter days during the time period March 24 – April 18, 2008 weather dependent.
Response Deadline: THURSDAY, March 6, 2008 Details (Word Document)

Save the date for Copper River Nouveau - Saturday June 21, 2008
Annual fundraiser event for the Prince William Sound Science Center. A five-course meal, featuring Copper River Salmon and carefully matched fine wines, is prepared by one of Alaska's top chefs. Delicious desserts, silent and live auctions, and live entertainment makes this an event you don't want to miss!
Welcome Executive Chef Patrick Hoogerhyde of Anchorage’s ORSO for 2008

Community Education Programs for 2007, 2008 start October 2.
We have some really interesting programs and fieldtrips planned this season; including an all day fieldtrip doing oceanography on the USCG Cutter Sycamore sometime in November! View the latest calendar (pdf)

The Alaska Oil Spill Curriculum, updated 2007, is now available for use in schools. Download the entire curriculum or individual sections from the Prince William Sound Regional Citizen's Advisory Council (PWSRCAC). The Curriculum is designed grades K-3 (pdf/2.4MB), grades 4-6 (pdf/9.7MB), and grades 7-12 (pdf/11.2MB).

The Center maintains a list of vessels available for Short Term Charter work. We hire both gill net size and seiner size vessels several times per year. Vessels require a USCG licensed captain, insurance and usually work out of Cordova. Boat owners interested in notification of Invitations to Bid should sent an email to pwssc@pwssc.gen.ak.us

Research programs of the Prince William Sound Science Center focus primarily on understanding patterns of ecosystem change. We live in a dynamic world, and these changes have accelerated in the last 100 years. Human population growth and climate change are key manifestations of broad scale influences to which we must understand and adapt. Likewise, marine and terrestrial ecosystems will reflect changes on varying scales in space and time. As the Center moves into the next five year period of its program life (2007-2012) it presents here a refreshed strategic and science plan to guide its continuing efforts to develop understanding, predictive models, and other applications of ecosystem change which support the economies and communities of Prince William Sound and its greater regions.

The Prince William Sound Science Center and Ecotrust are partners in developing a comprehensive Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program to serve the Copper River watershed and Prince William Sound regions in Alaska and have just hired a new GIS Analyst, Stephanie Waite, for this program. Stephanie will further develop the Copper River Knowledge System, an information system designed to help local citizens, conservationists and resource managers to better understand the Copper River Watershed in which they live and work. The purpose of CRKS is to facilitate the exchange of information about the natural and human resources of this region. Currently, the Copper River Knowledge System website is available at: http://www.ecotrust.org/copperriver/crks_cd/welcome.htm

Students review lessons learned since 1989 oil spill

They say what you don’t know can’t hurt you, but a group of four Alaska high school students set out to disprove that. Winners of an essay contest in which they discussed how their families were affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, their reward was the chance to participate in a field trip around Prince William Sound to learn about the spill and lingering oil. Under a motto of “Learning from the past, for the future” they took the lessons they learned about the social and biological effects of the oil spill to educate their peers and others in Cordova and, also, Washington, DC. Read the complete release here.

See the video on YouTube.

New publication released in June 2005: The Prince William Sound 2004 Lagrangian Field Experiment This 125-page report describes a two-week drifter buoy field experiment conducted in central Prince William Sound (PWS) in August 2004. During the 2004 Lagrangian Field Experiment, 10 surface drifters and 10 drifters drogued at 10 meters were released from a central point in the Sound. They were then tracked, telemetered and modeled in near real-time from a base station at the Prince William Sound Science Center in Cordova. The results were compared to several ocean circulation and oil spill trajectory models. The final report describes the methods and results and includes numerous figures and drifter trajectories. (note: this is a large file – approx. 23 MB; you may also request a CD copy of the report to be mailed by contacting pwssc@pwssc.gen.ak.us)