Rain Barrels in Buffalo News

Gerry Rising, the author of the Nature Watch column in the Buffalo News, has written a wonderful article about our Riverkeeper Rain Barrels. He is helping to spread the word about the availability of barrels in Western New York and answers almost every question about rain barrels. To view the article, click on the link below: http://www.buffalonews.com/lifearts/lifestylenews/story/401047.html

RIVERKEEPER Ecotours - Niagara Gorge Trail #8 Hike

On sunny and humid Saturday, July 19th, 11 guests joined me on a hike, starting from Artpark in Lewiston, along Niagara Gorge Trail #8. As we prepared to leave, hiker Judy Kaleta made friends with a particularly bold young starling who actually started walking alongside us as we began the hike. About 100 yards into the hike and apparently tiring from walking, the starling then jumped up onto a couple human shoulders for a free ride.

This hike is short and not very strenuous but allows people to view the gorge at its deepest and travels right to the base of the Niagara escarpment where the Falls began 12,000 years ago. Ending just a little upstream of the Lewiston-Queenston bridge, we talk about: how the River and gorge were formed; the river's physical dimensions and its place in the dynamic Great Lakes hydrology; the Power Trail--the development of modern hydroelectric power in its birthplace, Niagara Falls; flora and fauna and the unique gorge ecosystem; and the issues facing the Niagara River today. Besides the magnificent gorge from a perspective few people see, other sights on Saturday's tour included turkey vultures and herons fishing, and lots of beautiful wildflowers.




(bird and butterfly photo by hiker Jean Russo)




It takes about 2 hours and, so far, everyone that's taken it has enjoyed it and given us positive feedback. We're doing it again Saturday September 27th at 10 a.m.; for more details and to register (required), please visit our website http://www.bnriverkeeper.org/fbnr/membership/ecotours_over.htm or call our office, 716-852-7483. We also have a hike along Scajaquada Creek August 30th, four more bike tours (various routes) and four more canoe/kayak paddles on the Scajaquada & Cayuga Creeks and Buffalo River the rest of the season. Please visit our website for details and a complete schedule.

The Newly Launched Pipewatch Program

Riverkeeper is pleased to announce the creation of yet another program to help clean up our waterways!

Have you ever been paddling in, or walking along, a waterway and noticed pipes along the banks that seem to be draining directly into the water? Those outfalls are point sources of pollution and it is imperative that we locate them and find out what is being dumped into our streams.

The Pipewatch Program aims to locate, inspect, and monitor all of the outfalls in the Niagara River Watershed. We are in the first stage of the program where we need to locate all of the outfalls. Once the outfalls have been located we will begin to test the water that is being discharged in order to determine their potential for harming our waterways.

Our dedicated volunteers began paddling our waterways in early June and we have already begun to receive information about the outfalls. As outfalls are discovered and inspected, we will be mapping them so that you can see their locations. This link will take you to our googlemaps page < http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=111647279894937938118.000451841c66d5cfe5511>. Each “balloon” represents one outfall and clicking on the “balloon” will allow you to view a photograph of the outfall.

While our volunteers have been working diligently since the program began, we are still looking to recruit new volunteers. There are thousands of miles of streams in the watershed and the more volunteers we have out there, the faster we will be able to identify the points of potential pollution. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact Robbyn Drake at rdrake@bnriverkeeper.org or by calling (716)852-7483. New volunteers will need to take a short introductory course to familiarize themselves with the program.

Rain barrel surprise

Our demo barrels are now in the office if you would like to come by and check them out. Robbyn has kindly inspected them from the inside & out!

July 9th - Doing it in the rain.

Nearly 30 people showed up at The Bailey Peninsula in the rain continuing our efforts at the most beautiful piece of land in South Buffalo. Students from McKinley and South Park met on the bridge and joined forces. We have not been on site for five weeks and it showed. Japanese knotweed encroached on our "retaken" plot. Also, some ......(bad word).....park patron damaged our bench. We repaired it, and placed the roof/table braces. Hopefully, in two weeks the structure will be how we left it, so we can continue progress on it. I think once it is finished, it will get a little more respect from park patrons. The other negative human behavior occuring is cutting the duck bill (all metal-because the wood ones were burnt) tree support wires.

It is impressive to witness teenagers overcome obvious setbacks and persevere and a joy to see the future has capable environmental stewards. Thank you RiverKeeper for keeping winds in my sail during stormy weather.

We will be meeting every other Wednesday until August 20th, RAIN or shine....feel free to join us....after all...it is public space....and voluntary.

All in all, it was a productive day. Check out the entire slideshow by going to The Green Team blog.

Waterchestnut in Tonawanda Creek

Just wanted to alert everyone to a "new" aquatic invasive plant in this area. Waterchestnut (Trapa natans) has been quite a problem in parts of the northeast (especially Lake Champlain and the Erie Canal near Syracuse). On June 26th, we were conducting a fish survey when one of our technicians, Denise Clay, spotted what she thought was waterchestnut. We went back to take a look and sure enough, there were about 3 or 4 single plants located at the north tip of Ellicott Creek Island. (This is a closeup of a few "rosettes" of waterchestnut taken from the creek).:

This was quite a surprise since the closest known population (in the Canal System) prior to that was in central NY, near Montezuma. The major problem with this plant is it's ability to choke off a waterway, making canoeing, kayaking, fishing, and other recreational activities virtually impossible. Eric Snyder and I then went out a few days later in one of our canoes and found out that the plant is solidly established behind Ellicott Creek Island. Here's Eric with a handful of the plant with the backwater area in the background:

We found it scattered throughout the entire backwater area behind the island. Some colonies are close to 30 feet in diameter. We're hoping to schedule a "pulling day" in the very near future to try and remove the visible plants and get rid of some of the seed bank (seeds can lay dormant for years so it's good to get plants out of there for that reason alone). Meanwhile, if anyone happens to find this plant locally, please let me know. We're planning to survey a few more places along the creek this week to see if its found anywhere else.

Rain Barrels Now Available!

Rain Barrels are now available through Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper! We are excited to announce that we are selling rain barrels to help citizens to reduce stormwater runoff from their homes and to save water.

Riverkeeper rain barrels are $99.95 plus tax. Order by August 1! There is a 10% group discount for purchases of 10 or more - so we encourage you to a place group order with your friends, neighbors or block association. There is also a special membership offer - only $10 with the purchase of a rain barrel. Cash, check or credit cards are accepted. The 60 gallon barrels come in brown, gray, and green. Great gift idea for the environmentalist or the gardener in your life.

Visit our website at www.bnriverkeeper.org for more info or to order online. You are also welcome to contact me at kbentkowski@bnriverkeeper.org if you have any questions. Help us to KEEP THE RAIN FROM THE DRAIN!!!