All creatures great and small: Port Expansion Project watches over land and sea.

• Author: Lavrakas, Dimitra
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: ENVIRONMENT

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The Port of Anchorage's expansion project means more than just more consumer goods passing through the city. This highly complex, costly and largest project in the city's history will impact not only residents throughout the state, but also the natural inhabitants of the Cook Inlet and its marshlands.

There's more to consider in the Port of Anchorage's Expansion Project than Beluga whales--lots more. Wildlife monitoring also includes wood frogs, fish, migratory birds, and the other environmental mitigation measures that address contaminated soils and groundwater management,

ICRC, formerly a subsidiary of Koniag Inc., while involved in rocket launches and satellites and other high-tech equipment, also conducts environmental research, and is the company hired by the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD) to oversee the expansion project.

Most of the research the company will conduct is the first of its kind within the inlet.

BASE-LINE RESEARCH

"As you can see, an enormous amount of work has been done and done in a good way--far in excess of the environmental regulations," said Diana J. Carlson, ICRC program manager for the expansion project. "The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration didn't have a good sense of the numbers of Beluga whales, and so we have entered into an agreement with the Corps of Engineers to do studies.

"ICRC put together a system to monitor in-water noise levels, where we're watching the whales coming down with the fish. There isn't really a lot of data on the implications of pile-driving on the whale population--not on our whales or tides or temperatures. We're really trying to collect data on our whales."

Laurie Butler, ICRC environmental services manager, said so much remains unknown about the Beluga population.

"They claim this pod is very isolated, but they can't prove it if they leave in winter," she said.

A graduate of Alaska Pacific University (APU), Butler said the school has been conducting studies since 2004 on the fish in the inlet and the effects of construction on offshore habitats.

APU has a lookout at Cairn Point north of the port on Elmendorf Air Force base, where students observe and count whales.

"They are learning amazing skills," said Butler.

Leslie Cornick, associate professor of biology at APU, heads up the monitoring and data-gathering project.

"Really, I wouldn't call it a study," she said. "As a part of their permit, it's...