Interior adds $2,053 and more flight hours to Tok air service's Tetlin refuge order

The Department of the Interior on Thursday, Oct. 29, added $2,052.92 and more flight hours to 40-Mile Air's on-call airplane order for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. That brings the money obligated to the Tok company under the order to $26,049, according to the USAspending.gov award record.

An obligation is a binding promise by the government to spend money, now or later. The money counts as spent only when it is actually paid out. The award record shows what has been obligated, not what has been paid.

The order is for fixed-wing on-call flight services for the refuge. The record lists Tok as the place where the work is done.

Interior first placed the order April 17 for $23,996 under a multiple-award on-call flight contract, after receiving three offers. The order's service window ran May 20 to Sept. 30. The Oct. 29 change came 29 days after that window closed. USAspending notes that a posting can trail the action it records by weeks.

Last year's Tetlin order with 40-Mile Air obligated $49,988.70, roughly double this year's total, over a longer window, May 28 through Dec. 31, 2025, according to its award record.

Federal wildlife officers who patrol Alaska's 16 refuges use planes, among other vehicles, to connect with people across the state, the Fish and Wildlife Service says on its refuge page.

Federal records show seven other funded Interior orders for 40-Mile Air this year, totaling about $204,000. One is a $30,000 airplane order for Park Service moose flights in Gates of the Arctic. Another is a $45,000 helicopter order for Park Service wolf work in Yukon-Charley Rivers, which Alaska News reported Sept. 27.