Interior trims $2,905 from Kotzebue air service's Western Arctic parks flight order

The Department of the Interior took back, or deobligated, $2,905 on Oct. 28 from Golden Eagle Outfitters' order for on-call fixed-wing flights in Western Arctic National Parklands. The Kotzebue company's order still has $67,930 obligated, according to the federal award record.

The record lists the work as National Park Service flights for interpretation and natural resources. Money was first obligated April 24 for work running May 1 to Sept. 30. The deobligation came 28 days after that period ended.

The figures are obligations, money the government has promised to spend, not payments actually made. Postings can trail the action by weeks.

The National Park Service says access to Kobuk Valley National Park, one of the Western Arctic units, begins with flights to Kotzebue or Bettles and requires coordination with local air taxis.

Federal award records show Interior also trimmed two other Golden Eagle park orders: $9,359 from Primus Creek vegetation flights, leaving $13,641, and $13,507 from Noatak ethnography inventory flights, leaving $27,993. A Golden Eagle order for a fall polar bear aerial survey was cut by $42,829, to zero.

Other Alaska air services saw similar cuts. Interior deobligated $10,901 from a Bering Air helicopter order for a U.S. Geological Survey geophysics project and $224,078 from a Temsco Helicopters order for non-fire flight services, records show.