Alaska State Parks has launched an online campaign to help pay for work to protect erosion threatened buildings and artifacts at Big Delta State Historical Park near Delta Junction.
State Parks officials say the agency has about a third of $319,000 needed to bring in rock to shore up about 250 feet of the Tanana River bank that runs along the northern edge of the park.
The river has been running high in recent weeks, due to greater-than-normal rainfall this summer, and has eroded portions of the riverbank along which several historic structures are located. In one area, the river has eroded to within about 14 feet of a historic cabin that served as living quarters for Army Signal soldiers operating a telegraph system more than a century ago.
A contractor hired by State Parks has moved the cabin farther from the river. But agency officials want to protect that stretch of the riverbank from further erosion.
The officials unsuccessfully sought additional state or federal funding to pay for “armoring” the riverbank with large rocks to protect it from further erosion. Now, they hope to raise at least $50,000 through the “Fund Your Park” website over the next four weeks to help pay for the work.
The online fund-raiser is scheduled to end Sept. 23.
Editor's Note: Alaska State Parks has produced a YouTube https://youtu.be/vRCJmM7rOZI" target="_blank">video to explain the erosion problem and the online fund-raiser.
