BY KAREN BOSSICK

In the late 1980s Wood River High School biology teacher Larry Barnes was assessing seabird and sea otter populations for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Prince William Sound—just in case there was ever an oil spill there.

The unthinkable became reality four minutes after midnight on March 24, 1989 when the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in the Sound, ripping open its hull and spilling 11 million gallons of oil.

Today it remains one of the world’s greatest environmental disasters.

Barnes will discuss how the ecosystem has recovered in 28 years and what the effect was on the seabirds at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, at Whiskey Jacques.

The free presentation, “The Seabird Legacy of the Exxon Valdez,” is sponsored by The Outsider Corps.

The Outsider Corps, part of Seventh Generation Institute, hosts monthly presentations focusing on conservation and the environment. For more information, go to www.seventh-generation.org.