The Truckee River Watershed Council’s River Friendly Landscaping Program is seeking to restore residential properties with significant erosion problems near rivers and streams in Truckee. The River-Friendly Landscaping program will award three single-family residences with $5,000 rebates and one multi-family residential property with $10,000 to reimburse homeowners for completed river-friendly landscaping.

The Truckee River Watershed Council and the Sierra Nevada Alliance launched the River Friendly Landscaping Program in 2010 to counteract the harmful runoff from residential homes. Funded by grants from the State Water Resources Control Board, the program aims to implement erosion-control and landscaping measures on residential properties that reduce pollution to the river and create sustainable landscapes.

Winners will also receive a custom landscape evaluation and site plan to help determine the needs of the property. Awards will reimburse materials and labor paid for by homeowners. River-friendly features can include native plants and flowers, retaining wall structures, gravel and mulch among a multitude of other river-friendly landscape features.

To be eligible applicants must own a home in the Truckee River watershed area and there should be significant erosion and/or storm water issues on the property. Applications are due Sept. 15 and winners will be announced Oct. 20.

For more information and to obtain an application, contact Reyna at reyna@sierranevadaalliance.org or (530) 542.4546, ext. 317.