Kenai Peninsula landowners can seek 50% reimbursement for streambank work by Sept. 30

Cost-Share Money Opens for Kenai Peninsula Streambank Repairs

Kenai Peninsula landowners and public land managers can have up to half the cost of streambank repairs reimbursed under a state and federal program now taking proposals. The deadline is 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30.

The money comes through the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's 2027 Habitat Rehabilitation and Protection Cost-Share Program.

"Summer is here and the salmon have returned to the rivers, and landowners are inviting friends and family to fish from their property to fill their freezers full of salmon. Now is the time that they start to notice erosional issues along their bank," said Jessica Johnson, an ADF&G streambank rehabilitation biologist. Participating landowners "will be doing their part to support and maintain healthy juvenile salmon habitat and populations," Johnson said.

How the Program Works

ADF&G's Division of Sport Fish runs the program jointly with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Beyond the reimbursement, the agencies offer permitting help, design assistance and education. Private landowners and public land managers are both eligible.

Approved projects use coir logs, willow plantings, cabled spruce trees, rootwads and elevated walkways. Funds are limited. Not every project is selected.

Borough records show some Kenai riverside and bluff owners pursuing armored bank protection where erosion has reached homes and infrastructure. The cost-share program funds bioengineering instead.

How to Apply

Landowners and public land managers can reach Johnson, the streambank rehabilitation coordinator, by phone at 907-267-2403 or by email at [email protected]. Program details are posted on the ADF&G cost-share program website.

The deadline does not move. The erosion does not wait for it.