AP: US Senate passes funding bill authorizing Kodiak land swap

The U.S. Senate passed a bill that includes a provision authorizing a land exchange in Alaska between the federal government and a private owner.

The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports the Coast Guard funding bill, if signed into law, would allow the swap of the privately owned Ayakulik Island off southwest Kodiak Island for federally owned tideland in Womens Bay south of the city of Kodiak.

The nearly 11-acre island is a nesting place for red-faced cormorant, a bird native to the Aleutian Islands.

The island would be set aside for conservation under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Ayakulik Island is partially owned by Jim Jansen, chairman of Lynden Inc., a shipping and logistics company.