Updates and Plans for the Future
For those who haven't heard yet, I am the new Executive Director of IOSA based here in Friday Harbor. My family and I have been on the Island for about eight weeks now after coming down from Alaska where we had lived for many years. A bit about me. I am originally from the UK, having arrived here in 1984 after traveling extensively conducting marine geophysical and oceano-graphic surveys in some pretty far flung areas but Alaska suited me best and I was lucky enough to work all over the State. In terms of this position, my experience with oil spill response dates back from the Exxon Valdez and I also responded to numerous spills in Alaska when I worked for Alyeska Pipeline company based in Valdez. I also still managed to go to the Prestige spill in Spain and then of course Macondo in the Gulf of Mexico. I worked for the Regional Citizens Advisory Council in Valdez, a volunteer oversight group helping ensure the safe passage of the oil tankers in Prince William Sound and safe operation of the Valdez Marine Terminal. So that is a little bit of what I have done but this is an exciting time for IOSA and we are entering a period of rebuild and revitalization of the organization.
At the moment we are not a registered Primary Response Contractor (PRC) with WA State but we do have equipment, a great group of dedicated volunteers and a momentum to move us forward to regain our certification and be ready to respond throughout our region. We are getting the boats inspected and serviced as needed and thanks to Patrick, Peter and Randall we have a robust and powerful database to track our operations. The big issues I am working on at the moment is to get our new workshop outfitted with help from Richard Liepelt and start working on our PRC application. Last fall we held two virtual training sessions, wildlife response and Hazwoper training and we will be holding another training event this Spring for both subjects. I wish I could say we were going to hold them in-person but I really doubt it due to COVID.
So in the next few weeks I will be traveling the Islands to view equipment and meet as many people as I can - safely of course - and really conducting as much outreach as possible to bring IOSA back into everyone's lives. I say we are re-building but we still managed to deploy boom at Jensen's Marina as a preventative measure following the roof collapse that occurred after the big storm a week or so ago. Thanks to Jerry Mcelyae for working on that deployment.
The future of IOSA looks very bright, the Board of Directors are very focused and engaged and Industry and Regulators like where we are going. Please join us and be ready to protect our Islands and marine habitat from any future spill events.
Nice to meet you!
Tony Parkin, Executive Director
IOSA Moves Forward
Have you checked out the new IOSA Website yet?
IOSA’s website (
www.iosaonline.org) has been thoroughly redesigned and updated. Great artwork, a new mobile friendly format, and simplified access to things like volunteering, registering for training, signing up for this newsletter (!), and making a donation to IOSA are all part of the rebuild. Check it out, let us know what you think.
We also want to send a special thanks to Mark Brinn, for his beautiful artwork, and to Brendan Cowan, for coordinating the website overhaul and for getting this job, and so many others, done!
New Training in 2021
IOSA has been working with Brian Johnson of DH Environmental to offer a selection of 8 hour HAZWOPER classes via Zoom this past November and December. Brian has taught for IOSA before, both in-person and online. He does a nice job of meeting the requirements of the class, but also keeping things lively and relevant to IOSA's mission.
IOSA also partnered with Focus Wildlife this past December to offer an Oiled Wildlife Responder training led by Jenny Schlieps. Focus Wildlife runs wildlife rehabilitation facility in Anacortes, and they are an international emergency response contractor providing leading edge oiled wildlife response and preparedness services to government, industry and NGO's.
Right now IOSA is anticipating new training to be scheduled for May of 2021. For more info about new classes and schedule please visit IOSA's training page.
There is no cost for our training thanks to the financial support of the citizens of San Juan County (and the elected County Council), vital industry partners, personal donors, and agencies supporting IOSA with grant funds (WA DOE and NFWF). It takes a village, and we are so thankful for all of the support given to IOSA now and throughout the years.
Incident Command System (ICS) Training:
ICS is the guiding system for all oil spill responses (and other emergencies). And the larger or more complex the incident, the more important it is to have a strong structure in place to guide the effort.
FEMA offers online versions of the two introductory ICS classes. We'll just come out and say that this training isn't the most captivating thing you'll ever do, but it does get across some of the basic principles that are important to be aware of. You can do the training anytime. There are a couple of hurdles to jump to get signed up, but the process is straightforward. If you do complete the training, you'll be emailed a certificate. Please forward that email to
info@iosaonline.org so it can be added to your training record.
ICS 100: Introduction to the Incident Command System
ICS 200: Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response
Note that you'll need a FEMA ID Number to complete the training. You may register for a number here.
As always, thank so much to you, our volunteers, for all you do and all you have done. We look forward to an energized and active IOSA heading into the future. Stay safe, take care.
For those who haven't heard yet, I am the new Executive Director of IOSA based here in Friday Harbor. My family and I have been on the Island for about eight weeks now after coming down from Alaska where we had lived for many years. A bit about me. I am originally from the UK, having arrived here in 1984 after traveling extensively conducting marine geophysical and oceano-graphic surveys in some pretty far flung areas but Alaska suited me best and I was lucky enough to work all over the State. In terms of this position, my experience with oil spill response dates back from the Exxon Valdez and I also responded to numerous spills in Alaska when I worked for Alyeska Pipeline company based in Valdez. I also still managed to go to the Prestige spill in Spain and then of course Macondo in the Gulf of Mexico. I worked for the Regional Citizens Advisory Council in Valdez, a volunteer oversight group helping ensure the safe passage of the oil tankers in Prince William Sound and safe operation of the Valdez Marine Terminal. So that is a little bit of what I have done but this is an exciting time for IOSA and we are entering a period of rebuild and revitalization of the organization.
