BOISE, Idaho — Just behind Boise’s new soccer stadium, crews are building Expo Park, a project designed to reshape the Boise River using natural materials to slow water, fight erosion, and restore the riverbank.
Instead of relying on concrete or heavy rock armoring, the project uses a wetland-focused design. Crews are utilizing natural materials like willow cuttings and logs to keep the riverbank in place.
"Our goal is to restore these systems, and that's utilizing native materials in most cases," explained Zack Billingsle of RivHab.
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Billingsley serves as the manager of engineering and construction at RivHab, which offers sustainable water management design solutions.
He said the shift toward natural materials is being reinforced by regulators looking more closely at how these systems are built and protected.
"I think it just goes back to the regulatory agencies. [They] are recognizing that maybe we didn't do things the best way back in the day, and now we're trying to fix that mistake and trying to prepare for our future," Billingsley said.
WATCH: RivHab engineering manager talk about natural ways to combat erosion at the new Expo Park wetland
The project includes thousands of willow cuttings harvested locally and planted down to the groundwater, where they can begin taking root. The site also features log structures, brush layers, and willow baffles built to change how water moves through the area.
"What the design team in Ada County is really trying to accomplish here is: slowing this water down. To create a wetland complex," added Billingsley.
Slowing the water matters most when river water backs up, and runoff moves through the site at the same time.
"The purpose behind these is to stabilize these banks, slow the water that's coming down to prevent the erosion of this area right in front of us," Billingsley said.
The natural materials currently in place serve as a short-term solution. Long-term stability will come from the vegetation taking root over time, with the first year dedicated to root development.
"A couple of years from now, though, that's really when we're going to start seeing a big, big change from what we see out here today," Billingsley said.
Expo Park is expected to be fully completed in the fall of 2027.
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