State cost-share helps Kenai and Mat-Su fix eroding riverbanks

Riverside landowners on the Kenai Peninsula and in the Mat-Su can get the state to help pay for fixing eroding banks — as long as they fix them in a way that's good for salmon.

The same state-federal cost-share program is taking proposals in both regions, reimbursing private landowners and public land managers for repairs to eroding streambank or shoreline. The Kenai program covers up to half the cost, with a Sept. 30 deadline; the Mat-Su version covers up to two-thirds and closes Oct. 30. Fish and Game's Division of Sport Fish and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service run it, and throw in permitting and design help.

The program funds one kind of fix: bioengineering — willow plantings, coir logs, cabled spruce, and rootwads that hold soil while leaving salmon habitat intact — rather than the rock armoring some owners reach for when erosion threatens their homes.