{"id":4087,"date":"2016-08-30T23:55:10","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T06:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/alaska-state-parks-agency-to-crowdfund-for-riverbank-project\/"},"modified":"2016-08-30T23:55:10","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T06:55:10","slug":"alaska-state-parks-agency-to-crowdfund-for-riverbank-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/alaska-state-parks-agency-to-crowdfund-for-riverbank-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaska State Parks agency to crowdfund for riverbank project"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANCHORAGE<\/strong> \u2014 With Alaska\u2019s fiscal crisis drying up funding for a number of state projects, officials hope a crowdfunding campaign will raise $50,000 toward shoring up a crumbling riverbank creeping toward century-old buildings at a state park.<\/p>\n

Alaska is among a growing list of governments and civic organizations across the country going that route as traditional revenue sources shrink.<\/p>\n

The riverbank project marks the state\u2019s debut in the increasingly popular practice of financing ventures through small payouts from large numbers of people.<\/p>\n

In recent years, funding sites such as Citizinvestor and Spacehive have provided cash-generating platforms for those public entities, tweaking the formula of private pioneers such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn our (state) website, we have a place where you can donate, but it\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve actually gone to crowdfunding,\u201d Alaska\u2019s northern area park superintendent Brooks Ludwig said. \u201cThis is new territory for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alaskans blame the shortage of capital improvement funds on oil prices that plunged two years ago and have stayed low ever since.<\/p>\n

But some projects can\u2019t wait for the industry to rebound. About 250 feet of the Tanana River needs to be stabilized at Big Delta State Historical Park, where the problem is threatening a roadhouse and an old telegraph station once used as part of a military communications system built in the early 1900s.<\/p>\n

The park, 90 miles southeast of Fairbanks, is located near a historic stopping point for travelers, traders and the military. The gem of Alaska\u2019s pioneer past remains a draw for tourists.<\/p>\n

The improvement plan for Big Delta is relying on the \u201cFund Your Park\u201d site run by the National Recreation and Park Association for its members, including Alaska.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just another fundraising tool,\u201d said Michele White, who manages the \u201cFund Your Park\u201d site. Since it was launched nearly two years ago, the service has been used for 50 projects across the country. Eleven of those projects \u2014 including the Alaska park \u2014 launched 30-day campaigns last week.<\/p>\n

Some campaigns have fared far better than others.<\/p>\n

Among the most successful involved the Texas city of Grand Prairie near Dallas. The goal was to raise $25,000 for all-inclusive swings that can accommodate disabled people at a park currently under development. The city ended up raising nearly $33,000 through the park crowdfunding site \u2014 a total that project manager Steve Plumer credited to a massive marketing campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome,\u201d he said of the experience. \u201cI think it\u2019s a great opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Users of the funding site are encouraged to keep their goals realistic.<\/p>\n

To that end, Ludwig said, Alaska parks officials decided to seek just a fraction of the money needed for the riverbank work expected to cost $319,000. Along with the $50,000 sought through crowdfunding, park officials have $100,000 in hand and want to raise the remaining $169,000 by soliciting donations from businesses, foundations and other government agencies.<\/p>\n

The Fairbanks-based Helen E. Snedden Foundation is contributing $15,000 through the crowdfunding campaign.<\/p>\n

Erosion of the river\u2019s banks has long been a concern, but this summer the bank has been gobbled up at a faster pace, prompting volunteers in July to move artifacts from the old cabin built in 1907 that was originally used as a telegraph office, according to Maureen Gardner, a longtime parks manager who recently retired.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water was getting so close,\u201d she said. \u201cThe bank was taken away so quickly. \u201c<\/p>\n

The cabin has since been moved about 50 more feet back from the river with the hope of returning it to the original site after the bank is stabilized, Ludwig said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust for history\u2019s sake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Read more news:<\/p>\n

Alaska Native elder and leader dies at age 77<\/a><\/p>\n

Sonar camera helps locate fisherman’s body in Auke Bay<\/a><\/p>\n

As Juneau counts votes by hand, lawmakers in Anchorage complain<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANCHORAGE \u2014 With Alaska\u2019s fiscal crisis drying up funding for a number of state projects, officials hope a crowdfunding campaign will raise $50,000 toward shoring up a crumbling riverbank creeping toward century-old buildings at a state park. Alaska is among a growing list of governments and civic organizations across the country going that route as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":4088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-4087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4087"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}