A power outage is planned for a portion of Bethel and all of Napakiak on Tuesday, April 5 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The outage will give utility workers time to try again to install a nesting platform for an osprey family before the spring migration of birds arrives in the region.
The areas of Bethel that will lose power during the outage are BIA Road, the Bethel Airport, and Kasayuli Subdivision. The entire community of Napakiak will lose power as well.
Bethel Operations Manager for the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) Lenny Welch said that the reason for the outage is to allow the utility to install a bird nesting platform above high voltage conductors on a pole west of Bethel's Blueberry Subdivision.
Last year, AVECknocked down an osprey nest built on that same pole after the nest diverted electricity from nearby wires and set the pole on fire. The nest had two eggs in it, and Bethel’s birding community was upset.
Welch, at the time, said that he felt badly about taking down the osprey nest with eggs in it. But he said that AVEC did it to prevent a larger electrical fire from occurring.
After the incident, the utility built a platform below the electrical wires on a nearby pole, but the osprey never used it. The utility workers had to shoo away the birds from building nests atop other poles. Welch learned that osprey prefer to build nests at the pole’s highest point.
AVEC is installing a platform that Welch hopes will satisfy the osprey’s needs if they return to Bethel again this summer. AVEC could possibly install another nesting platform on another Bethel pole soon.
