Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, September 4, 2025

Summary

Alaska News Nightly – September 4, 2025

Podcast: Alaska News Nightly (Alaska Public Media)
Host: Casey Grove
Air Date: September 4, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of Alaska News Nightly covers significant statewide issues from debates over land management policy affecting development and subsistence in the Interior, persistent frustrations in the effort to account for missing and murdered Indigenous people, recent police activity in Sand Point, wildfire concerns near Tok, the opening of a new school in Napakiak amid environmental challenges, upgrades at Coast Guard Base Kodiak, and new research on the risks Alaska’s seabirds face from vessel collisions.

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Key Stories & Discussion Points

1. US House Votes to Repeal Central Yukon Resource Management Plan (RMP)

• Segment start: [00:27]
• The House voted along party lines to repeal a land use plan affecting 13 million acres in Alaska, intended to "advance major developments" such as mining at Ambler and the Alaska LNG project.
• Supporters (primarily Republicans like Rep. Bruce Westerman and Alaska Congressman Nick Begich) argue the RMP stifles economic opportunity and was crafted without adequate local consultation.
  • Notable quote: “The people that I've spoken with, the landowners, the Alaska Natives who were not consulted...they have stepped forward and said, we need to remove this plan.” — Casey Grove quoting Rep. Begich [01:46]
• Tribal Opposition: Michael Stickman of Nulato counters that tribes were involved and the plan protects “subsistence activities areas” and salmon spawning grounds, while still permitting some extraction.
  • Notable quote: “Sure, we locked up a lot of areas for potential production of these things, but those areas that we closed off, those are primarily subsistence activities areas, huh? Or spawning grounds for salmon, huh?” — Michael Stickman [02:33]
• Subsistence users are concerned transferring land to state control would erode rural subsistence hunting/fishing priority.

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2. Barriers to Advocacy for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP)

• Segment start: [03:52]
• Reporter Kyle Hopkins (Anchorage Daily News & ProPublica) discusses the state’s refusal to release names of murdered Indigenous people to the nonprofit Data for Indigenous Justice.
• The state claims it does not maintain a list, frustrating efforts to track or memorialize MMIP cases.
  • Notable quote: “You can't come up with solutions without knowing the scope and the depth of the problem, just the basic building blocks.” — Kyle Hopkins [04:23]
  • Casey Grove adds: “The state is saying, we don't know, and we're not gonna bother to spend two or three hours to look through some paperwork to provide that list. And so it just begs the question, well, why not then?” [06:25]
• Hopkins notes the gap echoes issues of being “missing in the media” and statistics.
  • Notable quote: “The most basic building block of data, just how many people are we talking about? Is unavailable. And that's a choice. It's a choice the state is making. I mean, they could provide it.” — Kyle Hopkins [08:14]
• Hopkins says the governor and Department of Public Safety were unresponsive to records requests and questions about their data capabilities ([09:06]).

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3. Sand Point Police Shooting during Drug Trafficking Arrest

• Segment start: [10:25]
• A Sand Point police officer shot a man suspected of drug trafficking who “produced and brandished a hatchet” while attempting to flee on a fishing boat ([11:05]).
• The suspect was medevaced to Anchorage in stable condition; the shooting occurred in the midst of the Silver Salmon Derby, with many families and children nearby.
  • Community impact: “...It was probably 30% of the children in the community.” — Rayette McGlashan, derby organizer [11:57]
• Approximately $970,000 in meth and heroin were found on the boat. The incident is under investigation.

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4. Wildfire Investigation near Tok

• Segment start: [12:55]
• 11 new human-caused wildfires occurred in a two-mile stretch of highway near Tok.
• While locals speculate arson, authorities like Emory Johnson emphasize multiple possible causes, including vehicle sparks ([13:12]).
  • Notable quote: “Forestry has been able to respond to them very quickly and there's also a Park Service module out there. They do have a little bit more resources out in that area.” — Emory Johnson [14:08]
• The continuing risk highlights a persistent fire season despite localized rains ([14:33]).

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5. Napakiak’s New School: A Response to Erosion and Community Resilience

• Segment start: [15:02]
• After a near-disastrous flood in 2024, Napakiak opens a new school building as part of a “managed retreat” from riverbank erosion.
  • “The new school building is a large step in the community's response to to riverbank erosion.” — Samantha Watson [15:48]
• The school is now a vital community space, intentionally designed to reflect local landscapes and culture, with practical features like boot grates and a focus on sports facilities.
  • “You walk around with this new building and there is among the community members a joy, and they feel uplifted. And for a community that's been through so much, they needed that...” — Former teacher Andrew West [18:10]

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6. Kodiak Coast Guard Base Expansion

• Segment start: [19:20]
• Infrastructure is being built to house additional crew and families as three new Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) are homeported, with two larger Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs) to follow.
  • “It's not specifically, you know, if you're on one of those boats, you're going into that housing unit, but just in general the need to provide additional housing for all the units stationed here in Kodiak.” — Lt. Cmdr. Tyler Viera [20:05]
• The base is expanding dock space and constructing special maintenance facilities to support the increased operational footprint.

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7. Conservation Study: ‘Bird Storms’ from Ship Collisions with Seabirds

• Segment start: [22:07]
• As vessel traffic increases in Alaska, new research maps “bird storm” collision risks, notably in Unimak Pass and the Bering Strait.
• Jeff Williams (USFWS) recounts a notable bird storm incident: "It was one of these foggy nights. Birds just come flying in." [22:29]
• Researchers suggest mitigation could include adjusting deck lighting; however, no comprehensive data yet exists on mortality impacts.

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Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments

• Casey Grove, on performative government action:
  "That's different than taking the necessary steps to actually solve that problem." [00:45]

• Kyle Hopkins, on government refusal to supply basic data:
  "It just begs the question, well, why not then? What's the point of any of this if you don't have just the basic LEGO bricks that you need to kind of understand the issue, I guess." [06:25]

• Emory Johnson, wildfire caution:
  "Even with a lot of Alaska experiencing colder weather, some experiencing flooding, we still are having these areas that are experiencing high fire danger. So these human caused fires can be preventable." [14:33]

• Andrew West, on the impact of the new Napakiak school:
  "For a community that’s been through so much, they needed that, and it's wonderful to see." [18:10]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:27 – Central Yukon RMP US House vote and debate
• 03:52 – Frustrations tracking Missing & Murdered Indigenous People
• 10:25 – Sand Point police shooting amid drug investigation
• 12:55 – Human-caused wildfire investigation near Tok
• 15:02 – Napakiak school grand opening and community resilience
• 19:20 – Kodiak Coast Guard expansion and infrastructure updates
• 22:07 – Research on ship-seabird collisions (“bird storms”)

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This episode delivers a comprehensive look at ongoing policy debates, community resilience in the face of environmental challenges, escalating law enforcement and public safety issues, infrastructure developments, and conservation science relevant to Alaskans statewide. The tone is direct, informed, and community-focused, with strong local voices and critical questions about leadership and accountability.

Transcript

[Casey Grove]

Support for Alaska Public Media on demand.

[Narrator/Anchor]

Comes from Siri, an Alaska Native corporation with operations and investments spanning five continents, 45 states, and two US territories. We're taking strong, decisive action to remove barriers that prevent us from accessing our.

[Tim Ellis]

Own energy and minerals.

[Narrator/Anchor]

The US House votes to undo a major resource management plan in Alaska. From Alaska Public Media. This is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Thursday, September 4th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, a reporter relays the frustrations of activists trying to get the names of murdered indigenous people from the state.

[Casey Grove]

Saying, look, we've created a task force. Look, we're putting out press releases about this issue. That's different than taking the necessary steps to actually solve that problem.

[Narrator/Anchor]

Those stories and more tonight on Alaska news nightly. The U.S. house voted along party lines yesterday to repeal a land use plan covering 13 million acres in Alaska, mostly in the interior and the Dalton highway corridor. Republican proponents say nullifying the Central Yukon Resource Management Plan will help advance two major Alaska developments, mining in the Ambler area and the Alaska LNG project. Congressman Bruce Westerman of Arkansas says the goal is to transfer some of the federal land to the state of Alaska to provide certainty for the developments. We're taking strong, decisive action to remove barriers that prevent us from accessing our.

[Tim Ellis]

Own energy and minerals.

[Narrator/Anchor]

Alaska Congressman Nick Begich sponsored the resolution. He argued on the House floor that the Biden administration didn't listen to Alaskans when it crafted the central Yukon plan.

[Casey Grove]

And the people that I've spoken with the landowners, the Alaska Natives who were not consulted by the previous administration in.

[Narrator/Anchor]

The development and approval of this resource.

[Casey Grove]

Management plan, they have asked, they have.

[Narrator/Anchor]

Stepped forward and said, we need to remove this plan. Begich says the plan locks up Alaska resources. Westerman read a letter from Alaska Native Corporation Doyon calling on Congress to abolish the plan. In Nulato along the Yukon river, tribal Representative Michael Stickman says he doesn't understand why Begich says Alaskans weren't consoled. Stickman says he worked on the plan, as did a large number of tribes. Stickman says it protects subsistence resources, but also allows mineral and petroleum extraction.

[Casey Grove]

Sure, we locked up a lot of areas for potential production of these things, but those areas that we closed off, those are primarily subsistence activities areas, huh? Or spawning grounds for salmon, huh?

[Narrator/Anchor]

Subsistence users worry about conveying land to the state of Alaska. On federal land, rural residents have a priority for subsistence hunting and fishing. On state land, they don't. And they say the Ambler Road would bring urban hunters to the region, putting more pressure on caribou herds and other wildlife, important subsistence. The resolution still has to pass the Senate and be signed by the president to take effect. Senate passage is likely since Both of Alaska's U.S. senators are sponsors. An Alaska Native group seeking the names of Indigenous people murdered in the state ran into a roadblock this summer when the Alaska Department of Public Safety rejected their request. The nonprofit, Data for Indigenous justice had been trying to assemble the names to read them at a rally for missing and murdered Indigenous people. But when state officials said they weren't able to provide the information, as the group told the Anchorage Daily News, it revealed a problem that the state wasn't actually keeping track. That's despite statements in recent years by Alaska's public officials, including the governor, that law enforcement were working to address disproportionately high rates of violence against Native people. Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica reporter Kyle Hopkins recently wrote about the rejected records request. And he says Data for Indigenous justice had a simple how do you solve a problem if you can't describe the basic elements of that problem?

[Casey Grove]

You can't come up with solutions without knowing the scope and the depth of the problem, just the basic building blocks. And so in 2021, this group says, look, there's a lack of information, but they come out with their own MMIP list. And then what they were doing just recently, just over the summer, was they went to Alaska state troopers and said, can you please provide us a list of names of all the people who were victims in the homicide cases that you've investigated over the past three years and also tell us which of those victims were Alaska Native and the intent there was to shore up and kind of buttress their own MMIP database. And I think the assumption was that years after there had been this acknowledgment and really this admission from the state of Alaska, the governor appointed an MMIP task force that cited this nonprofit's findings. Kind of admitted, look, we're missing this data. This is a problem. Years after that happened, I think there was this assumption that, well, certainly now the state troopers, the state of Alaska must be keeping track. But when this nonprofit made that request, which was it's like a two sentence request, the state said, no, we're not keeping track of that and basically we're not going to do that for you. We're not going to spend the time to do that for you.

[Narrator/Anchor]

I might ask this kind of callous question, I guess, but why does it matter, I guess, to have the names themselves?

[Casey Grove]

Well, I think what we Heard from data from Indigenous justice when they were telling us about the state's response or kind of the rejection of this records request, the response was that it appeared that there's a difference between doing things to say that you've done them and being performative and saying, look, we've created a task force. Look, we're putting out press releases about this issue. That's different than taking the necessary steps to actually solve that problem. The response, and I wouldn't want to speak for this nonprofit, but what they said in interviews was that the. The refusal to spend just really, I mean, literally, it'd be like two hours to come up with these names. The refusal to do that research to them was a sign that the state was more interested in being performative rather than actually kind of addressing the topic. But I think from a really simple, common sense point of view, if your priority is to solve the problem of missing and murdered indigenous people, you know, what is the one data point that you'd start with? How many people are there? What are their names? And the state is saying, we don't know, and we're not gonna bother to spend two or three hours to look through some paperwork to provide that list. And so it just begs the question, well, why not then? What's the point of any of this if you don't have just the basic LEGO bricks that you need to kind of understand the issue, I guess.

[Narrator/Anchor]

Can you characterize what the problem is that we've got this acronym for mmip? Missing and murdered Indigenous people. Like, as it pertains to just knowing that these cases have happened? I mean, in your reporting, it seems like you've identified this problem of just that there hasn't been as much of a spotlight shown on these type of cases. Is that. Would you say that.

[Casey Grove]

Yeah, I think you've had this awareness over the past 10 years, and. And I think Canada, like the Yukon, I think is probably a decade ahead of us on having this conversation and identifying these gaps in knowledge and holding institutions accountable. And I think media. I think we're account. As a reporter, I'm accountable. I think we have. There's been this recognition over the past decade that a person goes missing. They go missing from a village or from Anchorage, or they're murdered and their body is found and their death is assumed to be a suicide, or it's undetermined. And maybe there's not the kind of effort to figure out what really happened that there would be in other cases. And then they go missing in the media, which is, we're culpable for that, at least I am personally. And then they go missing in statistics, which is what's happening now, where the most basic building block of data, just how many people are we talking about? Is unavailable. And that's a choice. It's a choice the state is making. I mean, they could provide it.

[Narrator/Anchor]

So what did the state say when you went to them with these questions?

[Casey Grove]

I don't get answers directly from the governor anymore, although I do give questions to the governor. I hand walked a list of questions to the governor's office and delivered those. I got no response to those questions from the governor. And I think it's fair to ask him him these questions because he's the one who is putting his name on press releases saying that he's going to work with indigenous groups to address this issue. Then when it comes to his Department of public safety, they didn't answer questions such as, why isn't your records software capable of doing this? Why not spend the time to do it? Their response was, look, we've done X, Y and Z already. They said, we have a list of missing persons that we put out. What they said was, it's absurd for us to say that, to imply that they're not making enough of an effort because they had rejected this request from an advocacy group. So that was their response. As you know, it's not really supposed to matter who makes the request. So I think there's a hint of acknowledgement within their response that the decision to give those records or not is potentially based on who's asking and that's not how public records law works.

[Narrator/Anchor]

That was Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica reporter Kyle Hopkins. You can find his full [e-mail].

[Casey Grove]

Still.

[Narrator/Anchor]

To come on Alaska News Nightly. After evacuating the old building in 2024, Napakiak students have a new schoolhouse. You walk around with this new building and there is among the community members a joy that's ahead. Stay with us. A local police officer in the eastern Aleutian fishing community of Sand Point shot a man suspected of drug trafficking aboard a fishing boat on Monday, according to Alaska State Troopers. Trooper spokesman Austin McDaniel says local officers were watching the boat, which had been seized as part of a trooper led investigation. They saw its captain board it Monday afternoon and attempt to flee. An unspecified number of officers boarded the boat.

[Casey Grove]

The adult male captain produced and brandished a hatchet. As a result of the captain's actions, the standpoint police officer fired their weapon at the man and struck the man.

[Narrator/Anchor]

The man was medevaced to Anchorage. Troopers say his condition is stable. Troopers did not identify the officer, the captain or the vessel by name, but did confirm the captain was a local Sandpoint resident. A video circulating on Facebook shows the boat accelerating in the harbor, running up against a retaining wall, then hitting two other boats. A Sandpoint resident who saw the event from his boat said the captain rammed the 58 foot boat into the dock before the local police officer boarded the vessel. The shooting happened as Sandpoint's Community Silver Salmon Derby was taking place at the harbor. Rayette McGlashan helps run the derby. She says many families with children were at the event when the shooting happened.

[Emory Johnson]

The Silver Salmon Derby is an activity that our whole community, children and families participate in. And so it was probably 30% of the children in the community.

[Narrator/Anchor]

Officers say they found roughly $970,000 worth of methamphetamine and heroin on the fishing boat. This follows a series of arrests related to drugs and drug trafficking in Sandpoint in recent years. McDaniel said investigators had not determined if the incident was related to previous drug cases. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. The Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection is investigating a rash of human caused wildfires around Tok. KUAC's Tim Ellis reports.

[Tim Ellis]

A forestry news release says since last Thursday, 11 fires have been sparked along a two mile stretch of the Alaska highway just west of Tok. Forestry spokesperson Emory Johnson says there's some speculation that the fires were set by an arsonist.

[Emory Johnson]

I know a lot of people are suspecting arson and it may be, but there's also numerous other causes that we're looking into as well.

[Tim Ellis]

Johnson says the fires along that stretch of the highway from mileposts 1319 to 1321 could have been caused by vehicles. For example, a chain that slips off a big rig and throws sparks as it's dragged along the asphalt.

[Emory Johnson]

There's a couple really close to the Alaska highway, so there could be the chains potential. So it's hard to say. I mean there's an airstrip out there, there's the road right there and everybody and anybody has access to drones.

[Tim Ellis]

Some of the fires started farther back into the thickets of black spruce and tundra that grow along both sides of the highway in that area. But quick responses by forestry personnel and a federal firefighting crew have snuffed those fires before they spread beyond an acre.

[Emory Johnson]

Forestry has been able to respond to them very quickly and there's also a Park Service module out there. They do have a little bit more resources out in that area.

[Tim Ellis]

Johnson says even though it's late in the summer and rains have dampened many other areas around the interior, the wildfires around Tok serve as a reminder that the fire season persists there and elsewhere around the state.

[Emory Johnson]

All this is showing us is that, you know, even with a lot of Alaska experiencing colder weather, some experiencing flooding, we still are having these areas that are experiencing high fire danger. So these human caused fires can be preventable.

[Tim Ellis]

Forestry officials say that won't change until the eastern interior gets widespread season ending rain or snow in Delta Junction.

[Casey Grove]

Tim.

[Tim Ellis]

I'm Tim Ellis.

[Narrator/Anchor]

Students in Napakiak went to school in their bingo hall and other community buildings last year. Now the village has a brand new school. As KYUK's Samantha Watson reports, its grand opening marked a large step in the community's long term retreat plan as they face riverbank erosion.

[Samantha Watson]

This is the sound of a school full of kids trying to be quiet. The kids sit in clusters in the entryway of their brand new school building as grown ups from the community and school district give remarks at a ribbon cutting ceremony. They wiggle and listen as Walter Nelson takes the microphone.

[Narrator/Anchor]

As you all know, we have been.

[Tim Ellis]

Dealing with erosion issues for decades and decades here in La Parkia.

[Samantha Watson]

The new school building is a large step in the community's response to to riverbank erosion. While other Yukon Kuskokwim Delta communities are working to relocate because of climate change, Napakiak's particular strategy is what's called a quote, managed retreat. Nelson has been helping manage the city's 50 year plan that involves rebuilding in parts of the town less impacted by riverbank erosion. The old school building sat on the edge of the Kuskokwim River. For years, the waterline gradually encroached on the school. Then after a series of storms in 2024, water reportedly came within 6ft of the school gym. It prompted the school's evacuation and classes continued for students in a hodgepodge of available spaces, including Napakiak's bingo hall. Warren Nicolai, an LKSD project manager who followed the building's construction, spoke of the importance of having a place to gather for education.

[Tim Ellis]

You know, our elders used to live in Kazgik. The men used to go stay in the Kazgik and they were taught by local community leaders. And the importance of a school is, you know, that is part of our culture.

[Samantha Watson]

This school year, Pre K through 12th grade students are back under one roof in the new building with about a mile of distance between it and the Kuskokwim the school runs on its own water well and water treatment, powered by its own generator. Nikolai says the space is now a piece of the greater community. The school can be a space for basketball, a sport that stokes fiery fandom throughout the region.

[Tim Ellis]

You know, the gym is the most important piece to the school.

[Samantha Watson]

To me, it's a space LKSD and its partners designed with Napakiak's own kids in mind. The chairs, walls and bulletin boards are colored to match the blue sky, green tundra and gold bluffs seen out the many classroom windows in the elementary wing. Student cubbies have built in grates to make it easy to vacuum mud from boots when it dries during the school day. It's a space that former teacher Andrew west says the kids deserve. West was one of the last teachers in the former school building before it was torn down and classes were held in community spaces.

[Narrator/Anchor]

You walk around with this new building and there is among the community members a joy, and they feel uplifted. And for a community that's been through so much, they needed that, and it's wonderful to see.

[Samantha Watson]

West describes it as a solid place, and for a student body that's been moved around in the face of erosion, that word solid means a lot. Students and faculty have only had access to the building since the end of August, but books begin to fill the library's empty shelves, and bare display cases await future awards and art projects. Outside of the school, the kids run to the playground. It's brand new and one of the fancy ones, like a modern art installation. Students hang upside down on monkey bars and climb on a spinny contraption no one seems to know the name for, though they're still settling into the new school, and it's a place that's already theirs to love. In Nepakiak, I'm Samantha Watson.

[Narrator/Anchor]

The country's largest Coast Guard base is building up its infrastructure to accommodate new vessels and more crew members coming to Kodiak within the next few years. In August, the Coast Guard put into service the second of three new fast Response cutters to be homeported in Kodiak. Each one has a crew of roughly 25 on board. Many have brought their families to town. The third one is expected to arrive and be in service before the end of this year. Those crews, their families, plus other new personnel on base and at Air Station Kodiak, all need housing. Lieutenant Commander Tyler Viera, with the Coast Guard's Facilities Design and Construction center, has been working in Kodiak for the last two and a half years. Viera says 25 new duplexes, or 50 units total, were completed earlier this summer.

[Casey Grove]

Yeah, it was the general plus up. So it's not specifically, you know, if you're on one of those boats, you're going into that housing unit, but just in general the need to provide additional housing for all the units stationed here in Kodiak.

[Narrator/Anchor]

Viera says the Coast Guard is also planning a housing expansion to build 15 additional duplexes at the same Nemetz complex in the coming years. That project could go out to bid by the spring of next year. On top of the new crew members and families that came with the cutters, Viera is expecting an additional 300 people to come to Coast Guard Base Kodiak within the next 10 years. Meanwhile, Viera is also overseeing an expansion of dock space and a fuel pier project. He says this will create a floating pier and bigger berths to dock up to five ships at the same time. That's all three new fast response cutters and two larger offshore patrol cutters, or OPCs, expected to be built by the fall of 2027. These two larger cutters are expected to bring roughly 100 crew members each and be home ported in Kodiak.

[Casey Grove]

So at least the two OPCs and then the three FRCs and then, you know, we're always an important logistics hub. So not only just home ported vessels, but future Coast Guard operations in the Arctic District.

[Narrator/Anchor]

A new maintenance and weapons detachment building equipped with a 3D printer, fabrication and mechanical equipment was also completed earlier this year to help service and maintain the new vessels coming to Kodiak. Vera says that building is expected to be staffed by 50 or more service members. Upgrades have also been made to the cutter storage warehouse on base, and a new buoy yard was built as well. According to a Coast Guard press release, ships could pose a risk to seabirds migrating through Alaska's waters. Researchers mapped where ship traffic overlapped with bird traffic to pinpoint areas where flocks are more likely to smack into vessels, a phenomenon called bird storms. KTO's Alex Solomon has the story.

[Alex Solomon]

In the early 2000s, a group of researchers got caught in a bird storm. Jeff Williams was retrieving fishing nets on a research vessel in the Aleutian Islands when suddenly hundreds of fork tailed storm petrels descended on the scientists. Williams leads the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife refuge at the U.S. fish and Wildlife Service.

[Casey Grove]

It was one of these foggy nights. Birds just come flying in. It's about this time of year, fall, so the birds have just fledged. Many of them they've been raised most of the summer.

[Alex Solomon]

The birds seemed attracted to the ship's lights, like moths to a flame, so the scientists shut them off. Then they blew hair dryers to warm up the dazed, wet and cold storm petrels before releasing them. He says the birds fluttered down onto the boat and not many of them died. But other flocks aren't as lucky.

[Casey Grove]

Some birds, like eiders, something like that, larger waterfowl, they're flying really fast. If they have a collision with a boat, they're going so fast that they probably die.

[Alex Solomon]

Williams says these so called bird storms happen multiple times a year in the Aleutians, especially when massive colonies gather to feed and breed. But he says there isn't much data on how many birds actually die when they interact with boats in Alaska's waters or how often that happens. A paper published in the journal Conservation Biology last month made a first attempt at assessing the potential risk to birds by mapping where they are most likely to interact with vessels in much of Alaska's waters, including the Aleutian Islands and up in the Arctic. Williams says the findings track with what he's experienced and plenty of anecdotes he's heard.

[Casey Grove]

There's no regimented ways to collect information. Right now we're kind of in the early periods of just recognizing some of that what's going on. We know it happens. Even on vessels that try to do the right thing, it still happens.

[Alex Solomon]

The researchers overlapped bird observations with boat tracking data. Kelly Capsar is a postdoctoral researcher at Michigan State University. She crunched the data and made a risk score from 0 to 100 based on the overlap.

[Emory Johnson]

And it says if it's 0, no seabirds there, no vessels. 100 was the maximum amount of seabirds and the maximum amount of vessels that we saw.

[Alex Solomon]

She found bottlenecks where that overlap was highest. Two spots jumped off the map, Unimac Pass and the Bering Strait. Auklets, shearwaters and northern Fulmars were most exposed to vessel traffic in these areas, and marine traffic is increasing as the climate warms, some productive fisheries are shifting north and Arctic sea ice is melting, opening up the high latitudes for longer periods. Ben Solander is the director of geospatial science at Audubon Alaska, and one of the authors of the paper. He says these passageways are vital for millions of migrating seabirds, and there are measures ships could take to try to avoid them.

[Casey Grove]

Make sure that that light is aimed at the deck where you need it, not up into the sky where it can draw in birds from a much further area. There's other things, like changing the wavelengths of the light so birds are more responsive to some wavelengths of light.

[Alex Solomon]

But he says this research is just a first stab at seeing where the overlap could become a conservation problem. It doesn't identify any actual impacts vessels have on birds. The analysis also did not include Southeast due to data gaps, but the research team is hoping to make similar maps for the region in the future. In Juneau, I'm Alex Solomon.

[Narrator/Anchor]

And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any of tonight's stories, we're [e-mail] and wherever you get your podcasts. We had reports tonight from Liz Ruskin in Anchorage, Theo Greenlee in Unalaska, Tim Ellis in Delta Junction, Samantha Watson in Napakiak, Davis Hovey in Kodiak and Alex Solomon in Juneau. If you want to send us a news tip, question or comment, email [e-mail] Our audio engineer is Chris Hyde, Madeline Rose is our producer and I'm Casey Grove. Good night, Sam.