The ever-eroding Matanuska River

BUTTE — The 75-mile Matanuska River is known for many things like white water rafting or ambient background sound during a camping trip. But it’s also regarded in infamy, a powerful and deadly torrent that’s claimed many lives. Many homes have been lost to the river and recent grant acquired by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough through the Federal Emergency Management Agency is asking to buy out 14 properties, with mixed feelings amongst those affected by the mighty river.

“I spend a lot of time observing it,” Jim Sykes, of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, said.

Sykes went out to an “historic strip” along Mile 15 of the Old Glenn Highway, past Smith Road. Chris Wenner and his family fled their Butte home during the 2012 floods. Standing a few yards away from the highway, Sykes pointed to where their house used to be: about hallway into the roaring channel. The old well tube is still erect, adrift the water, the only remnant of the house.

“Historically, one can expect that,” Sykes said.

The beating channels run through ancient riverbeds, years upon years of erosion has taken considerable chunks land surrounding the notorious river. Glaciers feed most of the water into the river, making the water even more lethal, often dragging victims with thick silt.

The powerful force of the river flow in clearly undisputed. At one point, the MSB placed a dike in the river, in an attempt to divert the flow away from the land. Dikes are essentially a mass of giant boulders formed together to try and steer the water’s path. Reportedly, the dike wasn’t maintained and at one point, the massive rocks gave way to the river and were sent rolling down the waterway, presumably as if it were another pebble drifting away.

“Rivers do that,” Sykes said. “The river is powerful.”

The borough currently has five dikes in place along the river. Sykes thinks that adding one more could prove helpful but like the ones before it, it would be considerably expensive to put in place, somewhere around $650,000 or so, he estimated. The borough is obligated by their federal grant terms to maintain the dikes for 25 years, according to Sykes.

“It’s hard to get money for prevention, even though it can be more cost effective,” Sykes said.

Although flooding is a constant cornet with considerable disasters in its wake, erosion proves to be the most present and most concerning risk, according to Sykes. The constant wearing down is easy work on various areas at a time, retreating for a bit, but ever ready to return for more. The Wenner household wasn’t the only house to be taken by the water and according to Sykes, will not be the last, hence their efforts attempting to buy out the properties.

“The highway is always at risk,” Sykes said.

Sykes said that through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program , this area’s particular problem has competing with massive disasters like the hurricanes across the Lower 48. The other town apparently didn’t have their paperwork in order so Palmer was next in line and got the grant, according to Sykes.

Several mills like those ran by the Hermon Brothers seemed to be helpful, he said. Their constant digging of trenches seemed to help lower the water levels and keep some of the flow away from the land.

Sykes said that he’s seen many solutions to the river’s wrath, but all of them are temporary he said, save up and leaving the at risk property or even avoid buying it in the first place. He said that he understands the scenic admiration and sense of home many residents in flood planes have experienced over the years but he cited the inherit risk and visible reality.

“People fall in love with the beauty of it,`” Sykes said.

Sykes said that the flooding seems to be the worst around the Old Glenn Highway bridge but he wanted to this vantage point to show how vast the dilemma has proven to be, pointing to various landmarks, near and miles down the banks. He said that he’s pushing for the buyout option because it seems to be the most cost effective route.

“The bottom line is: this river has a history of movement,” Borough Floodplain Administrator and project manager for the grant, Taunni Boothby said.

Before Boothby started work at the borough, she specialized in statewide flood management. For well over a decade, she worked on various flood zones.

It doesn’t happen overnight And even when it does happen, people are often a little, well, they fall in love with their land you know? And rightfully so; and they just don’t want to believe that the river is taking it away,” Boothby said. “So it’s really better if people understand the river’s capacity for movement before they ever buy and build, or purchase something that’s existing because it’s really not a matter of if it’s a matter of when; and if you are going to commit to that property, you need to understand that risk.”

“It’s a little challenging for the borough. You can’t tell somebody they can’t purchase a piece of property,” Boothby said. “Everyone likes the water.”

“We need to find a way to protect the people and the road- not just the road,” Sykes said.

Like residents in hurricane and lava zones, there will almost invariably be a select few who stay until the house is gone. Sykes anticipates several people will feel much the same while others will take the buyout.

Ron Pearson is getting prepared to move, once he’s able to sell his house in Sutton. He said that the borough placed the aforementioned dike in the river incorrectly and didn’t maintain it. He said that made matters worse and nothing has been done for Sutton, in spite of millions of dollars spent made possible by their taxes.

“Where does all of the money go?” Pearson asked.

The FEMA grants are divided into two separate grants, one for Butte and the other for Sutton, according to Sykes. The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs’ Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is coordinating the award document for Hazard mitigation grant program, according to a document given by Rep. George Rauscher after an interview. The document contained a project description for grant showing a total of $3,368,100.00 for the total award amount.

“The total allocation of the 2013 November Storm awarded to the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHS&EM) was $5,920,659 under Federal Grant DR-4162-AK, CFDA# 97.039, according to the document, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, hereby referred to as "Jurisdiction" has been awarded $3,368,100, which shall be used to support activities essential to acquire, demolish and remove eleven homes and associated infrastructure located on ten parcels.”

Sykes said that the total cost of the project is still yet to be determined.

“It’s a very difficult thing,” Sykes said.

The performance period of this grant award is March 15, 2018 to September 15, 2019. The borough must follow the various requirements detailed in the grant’s terms and conditions.

In the meantime, the shoreline off the Old Glenn Highway continues to erode and several households are likely nearing their final decisions.

Rauscher sent a copy of the grant award document to the Frontiersman, at its request.

“There’s a lot more to it,” Rauscher said.

The borough will “acquire, demolish and remove ten homes and associated infrastructure located on nine parcels within the 100 year-flood zone, between the lower Matanuska River and the Old Glenn Highway,” according to the document.

The project is estimated to preserve acres of privately-owned land. Sykes said lands will “revert back to their natural state.”

The borough needs to fulfill several steps including finding a contractor, someone to appraise the houses, to make an offer, then negations. Finally, if the property owner agrees to the offer, they can take the buy out and look for another place to live. Sykes said that there were several moving pieces with their own expenditures.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at Jacob.mann@frontiersman.com.