This spring Alaskan Copper & Brass installed a nesting platform for local osprey. It is visible from State Route 167.

Osprey are retrieving debris left out in farms and other fields to use as nesting material. These materials, as seen hanging from the platform, present a serious entanglement issue for the young that are now in the nest, observed Matthew Rinearson, of Alaskan Copper & Brass.

Local farmers and businesses need to be made aware of the risks they are creating, Rinearson said.

If one ventures out along the periphery of the pumpkin fields near Smith Brothers Farms, one can find copious amounts of these material discarded.