Talkeetna's erosion fight reaches a new stage: buying people off the riverbank

Talkeetna's fight with the Susitna River has reached the point where the Mat-Su Borough is preparing to pay people to leave the riverbank.

The borough assembly declared a local emergency for Talkeetna on July 21, adopting Resolution 26-065, days before heavy rain pushed the Susitna toward flood stage near the end of Main Street, where the bank has been eroding for years. The move was aimed less at any single storm than at federal money the borough cannot fully use on its own.

The borough has lined up two funding streams. One is a $2 million FEMA grant to design a comprehensive flood-protection system, requiring a $500,000 local match. The other is a $1,812,504 federal program to voluntarily buy out property in flood-prone areas, requiring a 25 percent match of $604,168 — about $2.4 million in projects combined.

The obstacle is that match. Talkeetna's flood service area, funded by a local tax, generates about $80,000 a year and has less than $100,000 on hand, so the borough is asking the state to make up the difference and turn the federal awards into actual work.

"Talkeetna continues to face significant and recurring flood risks that threaten public safety, critical infrastructure, private property, and the long-term viability of the community," Borough Manager Mike Brown said in the declaration announcement. "Local resources alone are not sufficient to meet the challenges ahead."

The borough says a lasting fix will take a coordinated effort with the state, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service; short of that, its recent work amounts to temporary emergency repairs. What sets this stage apart is the buyout piece — for some parcels at the end of Main Street, the plan now contemplates a retreat rather than a wall.