Kenai refuge education building being repainted under $48,000 contract

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded 358 Investments LLC of Del Norte, Colorado, $48,358 for exterior work at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge's environmental education building in Soldotna. The record classifies it as painting and as repair or alteration of a school. The purchase order drew nine offers as a small business set-aside. The work began Sept. 18 and runs through Nov. 5, according to USAspending.gov.

Refuge environmental education programs reach "over 12,000 students and/or visitors annually," a 2023 draft refuge review of public uses says. Since 1983, more than 40,000 Kenai Peninsula youth have taken refuge field trips.