Community Conversations

Coastal Catastrophe

A paper prepared by Dr. Deland S. Anderson based on the Pratt Museum's Community Conversation of 23 September 2005.

The Pratt Museum's Community Conversations program went visiting this September. The facilitator, Deland Anderson, and about 20 people assembled at the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies headquarters on Lake Street in Homer. Marilyn Sigman, director of the locally based non-profit educational organization, and staff hosted the group. The date of the conversation fell within the month of Coastwalk, an annual international beach clean up effort and an annual local survey of the beach ecology of Kachemak Bay. The survey establishes baseline data in the event of future coastal catastrophes such as loss of wetlands, beach erosion due to development, and crude oil, fuel, or chemical spills. A partnership was thus in order on this vital topic.

Given the widespread devastation caused around the Indian Ocean by the Christmas Tsunami of 2004 and the more recent destruction along the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Mexico caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it is no wonder that this conversation on coastal catastrophe was dominated by concerns of civil defense in the face of natural disasters. On the list of local concerns were volcanic eruptions, major earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, severe storms, wildfires, as well as avalanches of snow, mud and steep slopes. The comments and questions of the participants were tempered by the fact that events of each of these types have occurred in the area in living memory, and some have occurred multiple times. It was also abundantly clear that it is distinctly probable that such events will continue to occur in the future in the Kachemak Bay region. "Just a matter of time," is the sentiment that sums it up. People shared personal stories of shoreline bluff collapses, massive floods due to rainfall, the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964, the avalanche of Alpine Ridge and the resulting 200-foot wave generated in Grewingk Lake, eruptions of Redoubt and Spurr volcanoes and multiple eruptions of Augustine Volcano with resulting landslides and a tsunami witnessed in Port Graham. No one seemed ready to pull up stakes and leave because of these threats. Part fatalism, part denial, and part self-reliance. The last was most prominent in the conversation. People emphasized the importance of individuals taking precautions for such eventualities and for responding with common sense when a disaster did occur. Of lesser concern to the group were matters pertaining to human-caused events such as fuel or oil spills, chemical spills and/or fires, and terrorist attacks. Still events such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 and the Icicle Seafoods fire of 1998 were given due attention, and lessons and corollaries were drawn. Improvements in safeguards were also mentioned, such as the oil spill response units stationed locally and the recent construction of the bike and pedestrian way on the Spit, which would help in the event of an evacuation.

Some concern was expressed over the gradual catastrophe developing on our coastline due to development and associated runoff and beach erosion, loss of wetland buffers, non-point source pollution exacerbated by hard surface development and automobile use, and the plugging of littoral zones with itinerant plastics from around the world. Finally, the topic of global warming and associated rises in sea level and increased frequency and intensity of major storms was raised.

The Homer City Manager, Director of the Port and Harbor of Homer, and Homer Fire Department Chief were present, as were top-level officials from South Peninsula Hospital and KBBI radio station. These experts shared specific technical information regarding both human-caused and natural catastrophes and what resources are available to the public. Major assets mentioned were redundant communications technologies at the disposal of the police and fire departments, among others. The local public radio station, KBBI, is also being fitted with a new generator that will allow improved broadcast coverage for emergencies on the lower Kenai Peninsula. In addition to its advanced communications infrastructure, the area enjoys the added security benefits of having an airport capable of handling the C130 aircraft employed by the Alaska Air National Guard and the United States Armed Services. Two Coast Guard ships and their crews are stationed in our port. A local Coast Guard Auxiliary and Civil Air Patrol bolster their presence. The privately owned Maritime Helicopters has units fitted with stretchers for search and rescue. They are also vital in keeping our electrical transmission lines in good order despite the fact that these traverse many miles of daunting terrain covered with dead and falling spruce forests. Even the locally-based nonprofit Snomads snowmobile organization is ready to assist in winter time emergencies.

It was agreed by the group that we are very well equipped for meeting the concerns of our coastal population and environment, but that nevertheless a constant need exists for education of the public, especially those new to the area and unaware of the inherent dangers of the locale. Particularly important in this regard are the several educational and watchdog service organizations we have in the area. Among them are the Kachemak Bay Estuarine Research Reserve, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Islands and Oceans center, Cook Inlet Keeper, Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council, and, of course, the Center For Alaskan Coastal Studies and Pratt Museum. Collectively these organizations form a vital link in our chain of defense against coastal catastrophe. They serve to educate the general public, private concerns, and the government about what resources are found along our coastlines, what threatens those resources, and how in turn resources such as wetlands and beach debris berms protect the infrastructure of our roads, developments, and economy from catastrophes.