A Coast Guard helicopter crew lands in Valdez, Alaska, in response to the grounding of the passenger vessel Lu-Lu Belle, which ran aground in Columbia Bay near the Columbia Glacier in August 2023. Communications with the vessel were routed through the Vessel Traffic Service Center located at Marine Safety Unit Valdez, leading to the safe transfer of 18 people. Coast Guard photo by CDR Bryson Jacobs
ISSUE: Fall 2025
AUTHOR: LT Abigail Ferrara
Vessel Traffic Service Director
Marine Safety Unit Valdez
U.S. Coast Guard
When I reported to Marine Safety Unit Valdez in 2022 as a lieutenant junior grade, I realized I had a role on the Valdez Marine Safety Committee, which serves as Prince William Sound’s equivalent of a harbor safety committee. On a rainy day at my first committee meeting, a group of eight stakeholders gathered in a conference room to talk about waterway activities in Valdez. Someone brought homemade cookies and passed them around. Everyone in the room seemed to know each other, and the attendees were so friendly and welcoming. I thought to myself, “If this is what committee meetings are like, I’m lucky to be here.”
Stakeholder meetings like this are commonplace in Valdez, Alaska, located in the Prince William Sound Captain of the Port Zone, and include the Area Maritime Security, Valdez Marine Safety, the Prince William Sound Area Committees, and the Alaska Regional Response Team.
Last spring, Jim Ujioka, with the Valdez Native Tribe and a member of the Area Maritime Security Committee, gave a presentation on Alaska Native history in Prince William Sound to a small group from Marine Safety Unit Valdez. He described the Chugach people in Prince William Sound, the seven villages within the Chugach region, and the approximately 800 beneficiaries of the Valdez Native Tribe, which is not federally recognized, residing in Valdez city limits.1 During the presentation, he shared the history of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Signed into law in 1971, ANCSA granted title of 40 million acres of land and nearly $1 billion to Alaskan Natives. The related ANILCA became law in 1980 and designated more than 100 million acres of Alaska’s federal lands for conservation.
Mr. Ujioka had a twinkle in his eye when he noted that his mother was born in New London, Connecticut, in the 1930s while his grandfather, an enlisted Coast Guardsman, taught as an instructor at the Coast Guard Academy. These nearly centurylong connections between the Coast Guard and Prince William Sound remind us that, despite how large the sound is, it has an equally large Coast Guard footprint and commitment to serve our stakeholders.
After serving in Valdez for almost three years, and in the state of Alaska for five, the more I reflect on Valdez, the more I wonder about the Coast Guard’s involvement with Valdez’s history and how that involvement has enhanced stakeholder relationships and improved our operations.
Military History in Valdez
Predating the port of Valdez, the Chugach native peoples were well-established in the area by the time Spanish, Russian, and English explorers arrived in Prince William Sound in the middle to late 1700s.2 When the United States purchased Alaska from Russia2 in 1867, it paved the way for the U.S. military’s presence.
In 1884, Army LT William R. Abercrombie led his first expedition in the region and reported that he had successfully traversed the “Valdez Glacier Trail,” a route allegedly connecting Valdez to the interior of Alaska. His report described the trail as a viable pathway for reaching the Klondike region, a report that was later misinterpreted by gold prospectors as confirmation of an established, accessible trail. In reality no such trail existed, but the result was an influx of hopeful prospectors to Valdez in search of this supposed shortcut to the gold rush.
Interestingly, the retired revenue cutter Wolcott, once part of the Coast Guard’s predecessor, played a key role in bringing these prospectors to Valdez.3 The vessel, which had been repurposed for civilian use, ferried many of the would-be gold seekers to the region, further fueling the rush.
In 1898, Abercrombie, now a captain, arrived in Valdez for a second expedition, which included members of the military and the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Upon its arrival, the expedition encountered an angry group of men who had been under the impression the Valdez Glacier led to a lake after only a short distance. The prospectors angrily informed them that more than a 1,000 people had been toiling up Valdez Glacier for over a month with no indication yet of what lay on the other side.4
The second expedition explored previously uncharted areas of Alaska, and provided crucial information about Alaska’s geography, including potential access routes to areas rich in natural resources, like gold and copper.
Abercrombie’s expedition, along with other surveys of the time, helped foster U.S. interest in Alaska’s resources. As news of gold discoveries spread, the surveys also contributed to the sense that Alaska was ripe for settlement and economic development, which in turn attracted prospectors, miners, and settlers to the region.
While much of the expedition’s focus was on surveying and mapping the vast, rugged terrain, its impact went beyond just geographic knowledge—it helped shape the future of Alaska’s development, including infrastructure projects and military strategy. The expedition was an integral part of the broader American interest in Alaska during the late 19th century, a time when the region was beginning to play a more significant role in the nation’s expansion and economic future.
Abercrombie’s expeditions also helped Valdez residents acclimate to the military and laid the groundwork for the area’s modern relationship with the Coast Guard. The population surge brought about by the 1898 Gold Rush highlighted the pressing need for law and order and was just one factor that necessitated the building of the Army’s Fort Liscum in 1900. The other consideration was the government’s desire to establish a miliary road and telegraph line to the Alaskan interior.
Hector Morales, a traffic specialist in the Vessel Traffic Service Center Prince William Sound, communicates with vessels operating in the sound to ensure their safe movement. He joined the Coast Guard in 1974 and has enjoyed a 52-year-career, spanning active duty and civilian service. Coast Guard photo by CDR Bryson Jacobs
Disaster Strikes
The 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake created a domino effect for the Coast Guard’s presence in Valdez. The 9.2-magnitude earthquake, still the most powerful recorded quake in North America, struck Valdez on March 27, 1964, killing 33 people and devastating the town. The location of the town, chosen during the 1898 Gold Rush, had a poor foundation of “loosely consolidated alluvial” sediment, which led to further destruction from landslides.5 Tsunamis generated by underwater landslides further devastated Valdez, forcing the town to relocate five miles west due to structural damage.6 From 1964 to 1967, the Army Corps of Engineers helped construct the new town of Valdez.7
In 1969, with reconstruction complete, Valdez was selected as the as the terminus for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.8 “Valdez… had just come through a profoundly bureaucratic, labor-intensive, and capital heavy project. Council members had … frequented the halls of Congress and the office of public agents. They’d fought for money, for legislation, for attention…. The town, thanks to the relocation project, was also well petitioned for this opportunity.”9 This provided the foundation of the Coast Guard’s presence in the region.
Passed by Congress in November 1973, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act required the Coast Guard to establish a Vessel Traffic Service in Prince William Sound.10 The Trans-Alaska Pipeline finally opened in July 1977 on the location of Fort Liscum,11 and more Coast Guard presence soon followed. From March 1977 to September 1978, Marine Safety Office Valdez was stood up and the Vessel Traffic Service Prince William Sound followed.12
In June 1977, while the safety office was being established, the CGC Bitt arrived, with a crew of six men and under the operational control of Marine Safety Office Valdez.13 Today, about 100 Coast Guard personnel and their families reside in the town of Valdez. Given that it’s a small town with a population of 3,800, the Coast Guard presence here is more prominent than in larger communities.
The service’s presence in the area was fortuitous, as the service was intimately involved in the response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez grounding which released approximately 11.2 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound impacting approximately 1,300 miles of Alaska shoreline.14 Steve McCall, the commanding officer of Marine Safety Office Valdez, and Mark Delozier, the marine inspector and marine investigator, boarded the Exxon Valdez the night it ran aground,15 and the Commandant of the Coast Guard, ADM Paul Yost, arrived within the first few days.16 Concluding on September 15, 1990, the cleanup lasted for 541 days with Coast Guard presence as federal on-scene coordinators.17 More than 30 years later, Coasties from Marine Safety Unit Valdez respond to reports of oil sheens across Valdez and exercise response plans with port partners to simulate large oil spills, reflecting on the pivotal and devastating operation from years ago.
Working With Valdez’s Port Partners
In day-to-day operations, Coast Guard personnel interact with the maritime stakeholders of Valdez through committees and emergency preparedness exercises, like oil spill exercises. You can find our marine science technicians walking the docks of the harbor wearing bright orange Coast Guard float coats as they work with the city of Valdez and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation on oil sheens or vessel sinkings. The Coast Guard also works with the department to ensure compliance with vessel response plans, exercise planning, and exercise compliance. Our marine inspectors ensure that the passenger vessels that thrive on the summer tourism and the oil spill response barges are safe for operations. Finally, boatswain’s mates and machinery technicians at Station Valdez respond to search-and-rescue calls.
Stakeholder engagement before an event is critical for smooth operations during an emergency; and connecting with the community to hear their concerns is one of the Coast Guard’s operational jobs. In addition to day-to-day operations that allow Coasties to interact with residents, regular committee meetings give constituents a seat at the table to address the captain of the port. After attending Coast Guard-facilitated committee meetings, Mr. Ujioka stated that “it’s an important step that the Valdez Native Tribe participates in the Area Maritime Security Committee so that we put our name out there and that we are involved in emergency efforts.”18
The Prince William Sound Area Committee (PWSAC) is an example of priming operational readiness and resilience in the Coast Guard through partnership. Its mission statement champions coordination:
The PWSAC ensures expedited processes exist for exigent circumstances related to dispersant use and other mitigating substances and devices. The PWSAC is the venue for public input on all relevant government processes and scientific issues related to oil and hazardous substance spill prevention, preparedness, planning, and response within the Prince William Sound area.19
During the fall 2023 PWSAC meeting, participating agencies conducted a tabletop exercise focused on an oil spill from the grounding of a commercial vessel. During this exercise, the agencies considered their roles, jurisdiction, and resources.
Machinery technicians are part of the boat crew on search-and-rescue missions making sure the small boat’s machinery runs smoothly during the response.
“Practicing this tabletop is particularly important for Prince William Sound,” said LT Shelby Frasca, the incident management division chief at Marine Safety Unit Valdez. “Besides the Ship Escort Response Vessel System or SERVS, which is an oil spill response organization [OSRO] that is only required to respond to tankers servicing the Trans-Alaska Pipeline facility, there is only one hirable OSRO by the Coast Guard in Prince William Sound. This OSRO is located about 85 miles away in Cordova. What this means is that the Coast Guard is relying heavily on local partnerships for an initial response, as the OSRO is homeported elsewhere and may be hindered by heavy weather or other factors.”
This example underscores the importance of relationship-buildings to operational resilience. Through partnership, the Coast Guard and other agencies build technical expertise and understand capabilities, allowing us to respond efficiently and effectively in the face of tragedy.20
Creating Resilience Through Community Engagement
In Valdez, the operational mission demands that Coast Guard personnel be resilient. The city’s remoteness is difficult to comprehend—the nearest city center is a more than five hours away by car, and sometimes, Coasties cannot reliably travel in and out due to inclement weather along Richardson Highway. Thompson Pass, the highest point along the route, is a harrowing, dangerous drive through the Chugach Mountains. Single Coast Guard members often live thousands of miles away from their support networks and traveling out of Alaska requires significant time and money.
Becoming involved with the community is one way Coast Guard personnel stationed here build resilience. During the nearly 50 years of the service’s presence in Valdez, Coast Guard members have contributed much to the community. After years of setup for the 1980 commissioning of Marine Safety Office Valdez, Coast Guard members were cited in an award for their participation in the Valdez Volunteer Fire Department, Volunteer Ambulance Service, Community Schools Program, and the Valdez Heritage Center.21 The Valdez Coast Guard Auxiliary also received a citation in 1985 for spending more than 2,500 hours on both surface and airborne patrols in Prince William Sound and assisting in 25 search-and-rescue cases.22
Today, Coasties and their families from the five units—Marine Safety Unit Valdez, CGC Liberty, Station Valdez, Electronics Support Detachment Valdez, and Sector Field Office Valdez—make a real impact on the community. For example, Andrew Doherty, the port operations manager for the Port of Valdez, noted that two Coast Guard spouses, Kylie De La Mora and Callie Hatfield, provided the community with a huge benefit to the Valdez Cooperative Preschool and the community. Within a year, they increased the preschool’s capacity from 18 kids to 32 kids.23
Aaron Baczuk, the emergency manager for the Valdez Police Department, said that he works with the Coast Guard during all-hazards training and for incident management exercises, noting that Coasties stationed in Valdez are willing and motivated to participate in the community during their personal time. He expressed gratitude for the expertise that Coast Guard members brought to high school sports as volunteer assistant coaches.
Mike Day, the ship escort response vessel system operations manager for Alyeska Pipeline, works with the Coast Guard on contingency planning and ensures that a fleet of a dozen inspected vessels remain operational. His family has lived in Valdez since before the 1964 earthquake. He recalls the Coast Guard children he grew up with taught him a richer and different perspective as a young person and that things in life are not permanent.
Joe Lally is the director of programs at the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council (PWSRCAC). He works with the Coast Guard on many ventures including monitoring drills and exercises, spearheading advisory committees, publishing papers and reports on topics like requesting weather buoys to be serviced that the Vessel Traffic Service uses to make informed decisions about tanker movements.24
Before his tenure at PWSRCAC, Mr. Lally served as the commanding officer of Marine Safety Unit Valdez from 2014 to 2017, before retiring from the Coast Guard with the rank of commander. “The Coast Guard is always there, at memorials, public events, and they are the first to volunteer and attend exercises and incident command system trainings,” he said describing the Coast Guard’s community involvement. “The town is always the sorriest to see them go.”
Conclusion
One slogan stuck with me after attending the March 2024 National Harbor Safety Committee Conference in Chicago, “The best ship is a relationship.” The Coast Guard in Valdez builds relationships with the community in advance of a crisis through committee meetings, working together on the water, and through volunteer opportunities outside of our professional duties. The reality is that Coast Guard members stand duty in this stunning Prince William Sound for a handful of years before they transfer to another tour of duty. Our legacy is rooted in our reputation as the Coast Guard presence in Valdez. By bringing together a workforce from across the country and integrating expertise into local operations, we not only contribute to the community but also gain valuable perspective on enduring life lessons of resilience and relationships from the town itself.
Marine science technicians Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Zimmerman, right, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Noah Twiggs check the pier before an ammunition outload. The Port of Valdez is strategic for supplying ammunition to Army and Air Force bases in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska. Coast Guard photo by CDR Bryson Jacobs
Light Station Isolation
The enduring hardship for Coast Guard personnel living far away from home is epitomized in the history of Light Station Cape Hinchinbrook, which is located at the entrance to Prince William Sound and was run by the Coast Guard from 1938 to 1974. While operational, four personnel were assigned to the light station for one-year stints. During this time, they could not leave the small island, which only had the lighthouse. There was no access to a town, road, or store, and the members had their food barged in from Cordova once a month. One boiler tender 3rd class waxed poetic about his yearlong duty at Light Station Cape Hinchinbrook in 1960:
The 11th of December is here, the CGC Sedge is near; it’s time for me to leave and, for this, I sure won’t grieve.
For when I go, I know this: I will never forget the times I’ve cussed for being stuck out here in the sticks.
It was just across the border, Alaska was the spot where we were doomed to spend a year in the land God forgot.
Up in the land where the ice is colored blue, right in the middle of nowhere, two thousand miles from you.25
Although Light Station Cape Hinchinbrook is more isolated than Valdez, 50 years after the unit’s closure, Coast Guard members stationed in Alaska for the first time are still apprehensive about isolation. However, many of those who are stationed in Alaska ask to be stationed there again later in their careers. Whether it’s the hunting, the landscape, the fresh air, the wildlife, or, as Joe Lally from Prince William Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council puts it, “the small-town bug,” something about Alaska is still the “final frontier,” and Coasties gravitate to that idea and to test their mettle.26
About the author:
LT Abigail Ferrara is the Vessel Traffic Service director for Prince William Sound and the Waterways Management Division chief in Valdez, Alaska. Prior to her current position, she served as the operations officer and 1st Lieutenant on the CGC John McCormick in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Endnotes:
1. Ujioka, Jim. Prince William Sound Alaska Native History. Prince William Sound Alaska Native History, 28 Jan. 2025, Valdez, Marine Safety Unit Valdez.
2. Lethcoe, Jim, and Nancy Lethcoe. A History of Prince William Sound Alaska. Prince William Sound Books, 1994, pg 2.
3. Lethcoe, Jim, and Nancy Lethcoe. A History of Prince William Sound Alaska. Prince William Sound Books, 1994, pg 31.
4. Lethcoe, Jim, and Nancy Lethcoe. A History of Prince William Sound Alaska. Prince William Sound Books, 1994, pg 46.
5. Lethcoe, Jim, and Nancy Lethcoe. A History of Prince William Sound Alaska. Prince William Sound Books, 1994, pg 125.
6. Lethcoe, Jim, and Nancy Lethcoe. A History of Prince William Sound Alaska. Prince William Sound Books, 1994, pg 128.
7. Gregory, Tabitha. Valdez Rises: One Town’s Struggle for Survival after the Great Alaska Earthquake. Sapphire Mountain Books, 2021, pg 127.
8. Lethcoe, Jim, and Nancy Lethcoe. A History of Prince William Sound Alaska. Prince William Sound Books, 1994, pg 131.
9. Gregory, Tabitha. Valdez Rises: One Town’s Struggle for Survival after the Great Alaska Earthquake. Sapphire Mountain Books, 2021, pg 300.
10. Marine Safety Office Valdez, Alaska Pamphlet, Valdez Museum & Historical Archive, 2015.045.0006.8
11. Lethcoe, Jim, and Nancy Lethcoe. A History of Prince William Sound Alaska. Prince William Sound Books, 1994, pg 133.
12. Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendations 1977 to 1980, Valdez Museum & Historical Archive, 2015.045.0006.41
13. Coast Guard Photo: Cutter Bitt Arrives in Juneau, 1977, Valdez Museum & Historical Archive, 2015.045.0006.36
14. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: Final Report, State of Alaska Response, June 1993, 1.
15. Bushell, Sharon, and Stan Jones. The Spill: Personal Stories from the Exxon Valdez Disaster. Epicenter Press, 2009, pg 29.
16. Bushell, Sharon, and Stan Jones. The Spill: Personal Stories from the Exxon Valdez Disaster. Epicenter Press, 2009, pg 125.
17. Federal On Scene Coordinator’s Report T/V EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL, pg 287, USCG Department of Transportation.
18. Ujioka, Jim. Prince William Sound Alaska Native History. Prince William Sound Alaska Native History, 28 Jan. 2025, Valdez, Marine Safety Unit Valdez.
19. Prince William Sound Area Contingency Plan, January 2023, pg 5.
20. Ferrara, Abigail, and Shelby Frasca. “Interview with Shelby Frasca, Incident Management Division Chief.” 6 Feb. 2025.
21. Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendations 1977 to 1980, Valdez Museum & Historical Archive, 2015.045.0006.41
22. Auxiliary recognized, by LT Ted Lindstrom, Newspaper Article, 4/24/1985, Vertical File, Valdez Museum & Historical Archive
23. Ferrara, Abigail, and Andrew Doherty. “Interview with Andrew Doherty, Port Operations Manager, Port of Valdez.” 26 Dec. 2024.
24. Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council Year in Review, July 2023 - June 2024, Valdez, AK, 2024, pgs 14, 23, 25.
25. Life on a Lighthouse… Anything But Romantic! Cape Hinchinbrook Lighthouse description and Visitor Log, Vertical File, Valdez Museum & Historical Archive
26. Ferrara, Abigail, and Joe Lally. “Interview with Joe Lally, Director of Programs Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council.” 6 Jan. 2025.