Cook Inletkeeper is turning 20 this year. The Homer-based non-profit focuses on water conservation and ecology for the Cook Inlet region. They’ve come a long way since the organization started in 1995 with funds from a legal settlement involving oil companies.
The mission of Cook Inletkeeper is simple: to protect Alaska’s Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains. But, Bob Shavelson, Executive Director for Cook Inletkeeper, says it’s as much of a challenge today as it was when the non-profit started, in the wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
“In 1994, the Exxon Valdez was still an open wound and a group of Alaskans came together here – Alaska Natives, scientists, activists and they recognized that Cook Inlet was suffering from a variety of pollution problems. And so they came together and in 1995 they actually filed Clean Water Act claims against Shell, Marathon and Unical for illegal dumping in Cook Inlet. And they won and that started Cool Inletkeeper," said Shavelson.
Shavelson has been with the non-profit since the beginning.
Shavelson says he’s proud of Inletkeeper’s successes in preventing the development of coal bed methane in the Homer area. But he believes the most important thing that Inletkeeper has done is highlight the science between the intersection of salmon and climate change.
“We were the first organization to pioneer the idea of putting temperature data loggers in streams throughout Cook Inlet. So you know the Homer area, the Central Peninsula and up into The Valley. We’ve looked at temperature changes and recognized that increased temperature creates stress in fish and makes them more vulnerable to pollution and predation and disease. So this gives us a strong platform to say we have to address climate change, if we want to protect our salmon," said Collapy.
Shavelson says Climate Change and Ocean Acidification are the two biggest challenges for the organization moving forward.
Tom Collopy joined Cook Inletkeeper in 2002 after he moved to Homer from Minnesota because he liked their mission.
“We joined keeper because it’s an organization that recognized that there are a lot of people and we all have needs, we’re going to develop things. But they’re organized in a way that they’re not to prevent development, but they’re to promote and encourage responsible development,” said Collopy.
Collopy says two reasons he supports Inletkeeper are that he believes they base their work on sound science and because they promote good citizenship through stewardship of the environment.
“We all have a responsibility to make sure we don’t trash the things we love. And we all love how beautiful it is here. We love being outdoors. We all love the fact that we’re surrounded by nature and we’re part of nature. And we have to, as good citizens, make sure that we do any development responsibly, so that we still have access to those things,” said Collapy.
Looking to the future, Shavelson says Inletkeeper will keep raising awareness. And, in 20 more years? He hopes they’ll be partnering for development of renewable energy technology.
Cook Inletkeeper also has staff in Soldotna, Anchorage and Talkeetna. You can learn more about Cook Inletkeeper and how they’re celebrating their 20th Anniversary at www.cookinletkeeper.org
