Rivers run through

March, 2, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman

WASILLA - In the past, Mat-Su residents could not bank on the borough's help when river erosion threatened their neighborhoods.

When Linda Smith, Circleview flood and erosion service area board member, first moved to Alaska from back east, she didn't know about the wandering nature of braided glacial rivers. And she definitely didn't know about mitigating erosion.

&#8220I didn't even know what a dike was,” Smith said.

She found out the following spring when emergency work was done on one of the dikes protecting Circleview from the Matanuska River. Smith was surprise at the speed and distance a glacial river can erode into its bank as it changes course.

&#8220Until you see it, it is really unbelievable,” Smith said.

When the neighborhood looked into funding for the emergency repair and for reconstructing four other deteriorating dikes, built in the 1990s, the residents found the borough did not have erosion control powers, Smith said.

&#8220The state says it's their river, but they don't take responsibility,” Smith said. &#8220When it first occurred, there wasn't a lot of support.”

So Circleview started a flood and erosion service area board, Smith said, and won a grant through the Natural Resource Conservation Service. The community also took out a loan from the borough to help pay for upkeep on the dikes.

&#8220We taxed ourselves,” Smith said.

Smith said Circleview's flood and erosion board was the only thing that kept the river at bay.

&#8220Have to go through a service area board to get anything accomplished,” Smith said. &#8220With more voices, you get more accomplished.”

To address these concerns, the Mat-Su borough has planned two meetings to get input and give information on how to protect land owners from the wandering banks of the Valley's glacier rivers. Borough officials will use public input to prepare a river erosion hazard ordinance for the Matanuska River and Knik River. The borough also is seeking instruction from Alaska Rim Engineering and Agnew Beck Consulting

&#8220We're still in the preliminary stage and the meetings are to get people's ideas,” said Frankie Barker, environmental planner with the Mat-Su

Borough.

Landowners along the Matanuska and Knik rivers and other interested parties are invited to participate.

During the meetings, there will be a presentation on the concepts up for consideration.

Smith said when she purchased her property on the Matanuska River, there was no disclosure as to possible erosion hazards.

This is one of the problems the borough would like to prevent with the new ordinance, Barker said.

&#8220We need a clear way to have people know when they are buying property that they may or may not be in an erosion area,” Barker said.

Other than disclosure, Barker said the right combination of erosion mitigation measures is still unknown.

&#8220The borough has do something to help,” Barker said. &#8220And the something is the big question.”

So far, the borough has tried two main mitigation techniques: building spurdikes in the river - massive rock jetties that protrude into the river and deflect water away from the bank - and using state and federal funding to purchase at-risk land adjacent to the river.

&#8220This river is so big and powerful, you have to do some major stuff,” Barker said.

Smith said she doesn't agree with the borough buying-out owners who have houses or land in erosion hazard zones.

&#8220When does it end?” Smith asked. &#8220If you let it keep eroding, you've got the people behind me.”

These opinions highlight the difficulty facing the production of an erosion ordinance.

A summary of the proposed ordinance will be released Friday for review prior to the meetings, according to a borough press release.

The public is invited to submit comments at the workshops, or by mail or e-mail, through March 16.

A full ordinance then will be prepared and presented for review and approval at public hearings.

Additional public and agency feedback will be invited at that time.

Smith said she plans to be at one of the meetings.

&#8220Need to be active if you want it to be done, maybe not 100 percent the way you want it, but get your opinion in,” she said.

The meetings are scheduled for March 7 at Butte Elementary School, 4006 S. Butte Road in Palmer; and on March 8 at Palmer High School, 1170 W. Arctic Ave. in Palmer. An open house and snacks are from 6 to 6:30 p.m., with the workshop from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

For more information, interested people can contact Alaska Rim Engineering at 745-0222 or Agnew Beck Consulting at 222-5424.

Contact Russell Stigall at

352-2267 or russell.stigall@

frontiersman.com.