Western sandpipers migrate thousands of miles each year, from their breeding grounds in the upper reaches of Alaska to the coasts California and South America. One location, in particular, is an irresistible pit stop for sandpipers: a wide mud flat on the Fraser River Delta near the U.S./Canada border.

Not far away from those mud flats is one of British Columbia’s most important shipping terminals, and a new report by Seattle Times reporter Lynda Mapes says an approved expansion of that terminal could threaten the unique organisms sandpipers stop to feast on. 

Guests: 

• Seattle Times environment reporter Lynda Mapes. Read Mapes' full reporting on sandpipers, phytoplankton, and British Columbia's push to expand a container port here.