Niagara River News

Ontario St. Boat Launch
Have you even been to the Ontario Street Boat Launch? Located along the Riverwalk trail system, it's a popular place to launch a boat or catch a fish. The Black Rock-Riverside Good Neighbor Planning alliance is seeking proposals for a study to evaluate turning a half-mile stretch of land into a park that would include a playground, picnic shelters, indoor meeting space, and a dog park.

Unfortunately, the current preliminary plan also calls for paving over the mouth of Cornelius Creek, which emerges at the foot of Ontario St. Hopefully, the ultimate plan for this site will create a habitat-rich wetland at the mouth of the creek and address the sewer overflows that give the creek a persistent smell of semi-treated wastewater. In addition, Riverkeeper staff have noted crayfish, ducks, and other wildlife at the mouth of Cornelius Creek.

Click here to read the Buffalo News article about this.

Niagara River Toxic Update
Four environmental agencies met last night at the Holiday Inn on Grand Island to give an overview of cleanup efforts on the Niagara River in the last 20 years.

DEC's Don Zelazny said that 21 of the 26 of the most heinous hazardous waste sites have been remediated. The Niagara River is one of the most polluted places in the Great Lakes system, tagged as an "area of concern" in the 1970's by the International Joint Commission, which helps regulate waters shared by the United States and Canada.

Julie O'Neill, executive director of Riverkeeper, criticized the agencies for not seeking out public input or participation in river cleanup. She also criticized the agencies for sitting on the formal cleanup plan for the river, known as the Niagara River Remedial Action Plan. The four-agency commission is also reluctant to frame the remedial action plan to address the whole watershed. Perhaps they think the Niagara River will magically repel all the pollutants it receives from its massive land basin?

Click here to read the Buffalo News article by Aaron Besecker.