Greetings to you, valuable IOSA volunteers and supporters!
While the Islands’ Oil Spill Association Action Team and Board of Directors have been hard at work diligently rebuilding and revitalizing IOSA, we are painfully aware that we are much overdue with an update to you. Our sincere apologies for not being in better touch – you can expect more frequent communication as the many aspects of IOSA continue to come together through 2019 and we have more to report.
We want to bring you up to speed with our progress. The Action Team has committees who have been working on training, response operations, wildlife response, fundraising and finances, communication, and on the organization’s structure including the bylaws. We intend to be done with all this work and have approval from the state to act in response activities by the end of this year.
Meanwhile -- and this is very important -- please take sixty seconds (literally! – we kept it short) and complete the online form linked below that will give us a sense of your interest in being involved with IOSA going forward and if you want to be included in these updates and newsletters in the future.
LINK TO IOSA SURVEY
Community Meetings
IOSA will be hosting informational community meetings this month and we’d love to see you there! All three meetings will start at 5:30 pm and last for about an hour. A copy of the poster advertising these meetings is attached to this email.
Orcas Island – Tuesday, April 16th, at the Orcas School Cafeteria
Lopez Island – Wednesday, April 17th, at the Lopez Island Community Center
San Juan Island – Thursday, April 18th, at the Friday Harbor Grange
These will be brief events. We’ll give an update on where things are at, talk a bit about where we’re headed, and provide a forum for answering your questions. Bring along your friends and neighbors who you think might be interested in becoming IOSA volunteer responders. Be aware that this is an evolving process and not a finished product. That said, we’re beginning to form the initial response teams and we will have our own HAZWOPER training scheduled for mid-May.
Some other items of note:
An oiled wildlife class
Clallam County is hosting a oiled wildlife training on April 27th that is being produced by Focus Wildlife, a firm which specializes in the capture and rehabilitation of oiled wildlife, and which is also generously hosted by the Northwest Straits Initiative and so is free to attend. IOSA is looking to host similar training, likely in the fall, but this earlier April class is a good opportunity for training sooner than that. More information is online HERE at the Initiative’s Facebook page including how to pre-register.
IOSA in the news
If you didn’t see it, this article in the March 12th edition of the San Juan Journal does a nice job of briefly summarizing the current efforts of the IOSA Action Team to ensure reliable spill response capability in San Juan County.
And finally, we want to thank you all for your patience and support as we work through this challenging time. Without you all, IOSA is nothing more than some good intentions and trailers full of equipment. You’re the heart and soul of IOSA’s efforts to protect our waters from oil, and our sincere hope is to get IOSA to a place where you can get involved and play a useful, valued role in protecting the home we love.
Thank you all for your patience with us as we form an organization capable of protecting our islands!
- Ken
Ken Carrasco
IOSA Action Team Public Information Officer and President, IOSA Board of Directors
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