Schulte had traveled to Alaska to conduct conservation work, the statement said. He and the helicopter pilot were flying west from Prudhoe Bay to an area where he planned to outfit shorebirds with recording devices when the helicopter crashed on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for Manomet Conservation Sciences.

The region Schulte was visiting has become a flashpoint in the debate over balancing the nation’s energy needs and confronting climate change. The oil company ConocoPhillips wants to establish an oil drilling venture there known as the Willow Project.

Schulte had also planned to visit the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where he was to lead a crew tracking the migratory routes of whimbrels, another shorebird, with satellite transmitters, Manomet Conservation Sciences said.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the crash of the Robinson R66 helicopter killed the pilot and passenger, the only two people aboard. Authorities have not announced what caused the crash and are investigating.

Alaska Public Media identified the pilot as Jonathan Guibas, 54, who worked for Pollux Aviation in Wasilla. Guibas’s mother told the news organization that Guibas had joined the company about a month ago, and had previously lived in California, Guam, and Virginia.

The crash occurred on the first day of the bird study, about 20 miles west of Deadhorse in North Slope, the northernmost section of the state, Clint Johnson, chief of the safety board’s regional office in Alaska, said Friday.

“It’s in a very remote part of Alaska,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing there. It’s treeless, barren, in the middle of no place.”

Earlier last week, the region had been visited by high-ranking members of the Trump administration.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin toured parts of the North Slope to advocate for President Trump’s desire to open parts of the Alaskan wilderness to drilling and mining.

The helicopter had taken off at about 10:40 a.m. The pilot had received special weather clearance, known as VFR, or visual flight rules clearance, Johnson said.

North Slope Borough Search and Rescue traveled to the crash site on Wednesday and retrieved the victims’ bodies; on Friday afternoon, NTSB investigators visited the scene, which is only accessible by helicopter, he said.

An NTSB meteorologist and air traffic controller are working with investigators, who plan to transport the helicopter wreckage to Deadhorse to continue their work, according to Johnson. Officials plan to place the wreckage in a sling tethered to a helicopter for the journey back to Deadhorse, which has an airport, he said.

Last Saturday, Schulte shared photographs of violet-green and tree swallows he had spotted at Creamer’s Field, a wildlife refuge in Fairbanks, Alaska, according to his Instagram page.

Schulte coordinated an American oystercatcher recovery program that was launched in 2009 at Manomet Conservation Sciences. Conservation work by the program and its partners along the East Coast helped to rebuild the American oystercatcher population by 45 percent, the organization said.

“Shiloh gave his life in the service of something greater than himself, dedicating himself to preserving the natural world for future generations,” the group’s statement said.

In March, Schulte discussed progress in regrowing the population of the American oystercatcher, a striking shorebird with long, orange-red bills and black-and-white plumage that lives along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, according to a news release from Manomet Conservation Sciences.

In 2008, he said the population had dropped to fewer than 10,000 birds across the Americas, a 10 percent decline. Conservation efforts reversed that slide and there are now more than 14,000 birds.

“This success proves that when we commit to conservation, we can restore declining species,” he said in a statement on March 13.

Following the devastating BP oil spill that released millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Schulte led a crew of researchers enlisted by the government to document the environmental impact on wildlife.

Schulte’s team was hired by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to locate resident oystercatchers in coastal Louisiana and outfit the oiled ones with radio transmitters to track their health, he told the Globe in 2010.

He earned a doctorate at North Carolina State University, where he studied American oystercatchers on the Outer Banks and helped to band and track the birds, according to his biography on the website for Manomet Conservation Sciences. As an undergraduate student, Schulte studied wildlife biology at the University of Vermont.

He was a competitive distance runner and earned a second-degree black belt in tae kwon do, the biography said.

In April, he ran the Boston Marathon, finishing the race with a time of 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 50 seconds. The time placed him 137th among 2,386 men between ages 45 and 49 who competed, according to results from the Boston Athletic Association.

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her @lauracrimaldi. Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.

An Alaska Railroad train derailed north of Talkeetna early Friday morning with no injuries reported.

Three crew members were aboard the work train at the time of the incident, according to a spokesperson for the railroad. The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear, they said.

Catherine Clarke, an Alaska Railroad spokesperson, said the derailment led to a puncture on the derailed locomotive’s 2600-gallon diesel fuel tank. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is responding to the incident.

“The damaged fuel tank has been secured and initial containment strategies put in place, as efforts continue to remediate the impacted site,” Clarke said by email on Friday afternoon.

Department of Environmental Conservation staff are coordinating with the railroad and other agencies on cleanup, officials said. In a situation report, DEC said Friday afternoon that the amount of fuel spilled “is unknown at this time.”

The derailment took place just after 3 a.m., approximately 22 miles north of Talkeetna on the Curry loop track — a section of the railroad that provides access to a quarry and is not accessible by road, Clarke said.

The derailment occurred around 400 feet from the Susitna River. There are barriers between the fuel spill and river, DEC said.

“The nearest culvert leading toward the river has been secured and blocked as a precautionary measure. No reports of impacts to surface water have been reported. No wildlife impacts have been observed,” the agency said in its situation report.

The Alaska Railroad typically transports around half a million passengers per year. The derailment was not expected to impact the railroad’s main line, which operates trains between Fairbanks and Seward, Clarke said.

For the third year in a row, a player from the Service High baseball program with the same last name was awarded Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year. But for the first time, the honor belongs to Rilen Niclai after his older brother Coen received it in each of the previous two seasons.

“I’m doing it for the family and to make them proud,” he said.

Niclai did just that Thursday afternoon as he helped lead the reigning champion Cougars to a 5-0 win over Juneau-Douglas in the opening round of the Division I state tournament at Mulcahy Stadium.

He hit a solo home run over the left-field fence in the bottom of the third inning in his second at-bat to extend Service’s lead to 2-0 which also meant he got to uncork his signature celebration with head coach Willie Paul.

“It felt great just seeing it go out and jogging the bases and going to see Paul for that celebration,” Niclai said.

During the winter workouts the duo came up with it and said ‘We have to do that’ during the season whenever he hit a home run. As Niclai embarks on the final stretch after touching third base, Paul imitates a quarterback faking a handoff and pretends to throw a back-shoulder touchdown pass to Niclai as he crosses home plate.

“It’s awesome to have those guys on the roster and be able to step up there exactly when you need them,” Paul said. “He’s a stalwart on defense and he’ll hop on the mound for us during this tournament and we expect big things. He’s pumped for (GPOY) and it’s been on his mind since he saw his brother win it twice.”

Coen is currently a freshman playing for the University of Oregon baseball team. Coen texted his younger brother every day of the season telling him ‘You’ve got this’ and ‘Go win this for me’ and texted him as soon as the Gatorade announcement was released at 5 a.m. Alaska time on Monday morning.

“I was happy to wake up to that,” Rilen said.

Paul thought his team’s overall performance on Thursday was good although he would’ve liked to have seen them perform better offensively given the emphasis they put into that aspect of the game in practice leading up to state.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys that stepped up in a time that we needed them and I thought that our defense played solid,” he said.

The got the Cougars back in the win column coming off a hard-fought loss to Eagle River in the Cook Inlet Conference tournament title game. It took 10 innings to decide a victor but Paul said “in a tough battle like that, there really is no loser in that game” and that his players didn’t dwell on the defeat.

“It feels like it because there’s a loss in the loss column but you get your guys together and you say ‘Hey man, we went toe-to-toe with one of the other best teams in the league’ and we fought hard for 10 innings and had a little bad luck,” he said. “They were all pumped coming out of that game, looking forward to this.”

Sitka 3, South 1

The Southeast champion Sitka Wolves remain undefeated against in-state competition after using a strong hitting performance in the bottom of the fifth inning to overcome a 1-0 deficit and score all the runs they’d need to beat the Wolverines. Leading the way on the plate was senior Tyson Bartolaba who was responsible for two RBIs off of one hit in his two at-bats.

Colony 6, Dimond 1

After being held scoreless through the first five innings, the bats for the Knights finally got going in the bottom of the sixth when they recorded all six of their runs to mount and complete a late comeback. Hayden Sherman and Brock Baker each recorded a pair of RBIs in the pivotal frame.

Division I Softball pool play roundup

South 11, Juneau-Douglas 3

The Wolverines were powered to victory by strong outing on the mound by right-handed pitcher Millicent Wurst who struck out 12 batters and only allowed four hits and three runs over five innings.

Colony 15, East 7

The Knights used an explosive performance on offense to outpace the defending state champion Thunderbirds. They were led by Kaidence Browning who recorded a hit on all three of her at-bats that included a home run to center field in the fourth inning and doubling in the first and third.

Juneau-Douglas 15, Dimond 0

The Crimson Bears notched their first win of the day in their second game when they shut out the Lynx in a game where they made the most of their at-bats while capitalizing on their opponent’s mistakes.

Colony 4, Chugiak 2

The Knights completed their comeback over the Mustangs in walk-off fashion when Browning came up clutch with her second home run of the day at the perfect time. With the game tied in the bottom of the seventh inning, she hit the ball to left field, resulting in the two runs needed to secure the decisive victory.

Alaska State Division I Baseball Tournament

Thursday-Saturday

At Mulcahy Stadium

Thursday

First round

Sitka 3, South, 1

Service 5, Juneau-Douglas 0

Colony 6, Dimond 1

Eagle River vs. Wasilla, 7 p.m. (late)

Friday

Consolation

South vs. Juneau-Douglas, 10 a.m.

Dimond vs. Loser Eagle River/Wasilla, 1 p.m.

Semifinals

Sitka vs. Service, 4 p.m.

Colony vs. Winner Eagle River/Wasilla, 7 p.m.

Saturday

4th/6th place, 11 a.m.

3rd/5th place, 1:30 p.m.

Championship, 4:30 p.m.