BUFFALO — A project is underway to help one of the Niagara River and Lake Erie’s most important fish thrive despite decades of manmade impacts to the ecosystem.
The effort is being undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, in a cross-agency partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
With funding from the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the Army Corps is beginning work to build a 700-foot-long fish passage at the City of Buffalo’s Freedom Park to help emerald shiners overcome the velocity of the Niagara River and move upstream after spawning, providing a critical food source for larger fish and wildlife, offering sustenance for the local community, and contributing to goals for delisting the Niagara River as a Great Lakes Area of Concern (AOC).
Contractors were set to mobilize at Freedom Park on March 31 to prepare to begin work.
“A healthy ecosystem is vital to the nation’s waterways, with the emerald shiner playing a big role,” said Lt. Col. Robert Burnham, USACE Buffalo District commander. “Working with the EPA and our partners, we’re excited to bring this project to fruition and ensure this little fish with a big impact can thrive in the Niagara River.”
The Buffalo District will work to minimize impacts of construction and ensure safety for users of Freedom Park, with some portions of the park being closed during construction and access to Bird Island Pier closed on a limited basis as needed. The majority of the project area will be fenced off.
The emerald shiner is a small, but critical prey fish at the base of the food web in the Niagara River and Lake Erie. It is often overlooked due to its size and seeming abundance, but the fish’s population is threatened by hydraulic barriers from hardened shorelines like the seawall along Freedom Park. Studies conducted by USACE, the University at Buffalo, and SUNY Buffalo State University identified this stretch of the Niagara River as having water velocity too fast for shiners to swim as they attempt to move upstream after spawning.
The USACE Buffalo District constructed a demonstration project at Freedom Park in 2022 to test the experimental designs for the fish passage. Funded by the GLRI, the $1.6 million demonstration project entailed repairs to a 78-foot span of the park’s existing seawall and installation of metal baffles designed to withstand the forces of the mighty Niagara River, reduce water velocity, and ensure the passage of shiners after spawning. All three measures were hugely successful and inspired final plans for the current project.
The USACE Buffalo District awarded an $11.8 million contract to Buffalo-based Bidco Marine Group on Sept. 16 to construct the “full” fish passage for emerald shiners.
The “full” structure will span 700 feet along the seawall at Freedom Park, from the middle of the park to the start of the Bird Island Pier which runs along the Black Rock Canal under the Peace Bridge. Construction will include repairs to the timber crib wall, installation of a steel plate within two feet above and below the typical waterline, concrete surface repair, and filling voids with grout and concrete. Once repairs to the wall are made, metal baffles will be attached. The baffles will be filled with concrete – a design selected from different baffle types tested during the demonstration project.
Construction is planned to be completed by December 2026. The work will be conducted on shore and in the water along the seawall. A portion of Freedom Park will be closed during construction, with fencing and signage placed to ensure safe operations and protect park visitors.
The project is 100% federally funded by the EPA through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Niagara River Area of Concern
The Niagara River is a binational Area of Concern that includes the entire Niagara River.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the cities of Buffalo, Tonawanda and Niagara Falls received significant expansions in steel and chemical manufacturing, as well as grain milling along the shoreline of the Niagara River. This was due to open land and the availability of electricity and cooling water from Niagara Falls. Steel, petrochemical, and chemical manufacturing industries flourished along the Niagara River into the late 1970s. Subsequently, they declined, leaving behind a legacy of contamination and impairments.
A Niagara River AOC Habitat Restoration Plan finalized in 2019 outlines management actions necessary to remove the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI. BUIs are designations given by the International Joint Commission representing different types of significant environmental degradation. An interim success of remediation and restoration work is being completed within the Niagara River AOC to address designated BUIs. As cleanup work is completed, and monitoring demonstrates sufficient environmental health improvements, BUIs can gradually be removed.
As a critical prey species, the threat to emerald shiner populations are part of the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI for the AOC. A healthy shiner population feeds a healthy population of larger fish and birds. Walleye, a fish that sustains local recreational and commercial fishing communities, and the common tern, a state-listed rare bird, feed on shiners. Shiners are also used by humans as bait fish and for consumption. Improving passage for shiners helps restore fish communities and contributes to removal of the BUI.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is the Niagara River remedial action plan coordinator and with input from agencies and local partners, selected this project as a management action for the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI.
More information on the Niagara River AOC is available at: https://www.epa.gov/great-lakes-aocs/niagara-river-aoc-0 and https://dec.ny.gov/nature/waterbodies/lakes-rivers/great-lakes/areas-of-concern/niagara-river-area-of-concern.
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is a non-regulatory program to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world. The EPA leads a group of 16 federal agencies in the GLRI Interagency Task Force and Regional Working Group, strategically targeting the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem. GLRI Action Plan III was developed with input from states, tribes, local governments, universities, business, and others. It outlines priorities and goals for the GLRI for fiscal years 2020–2024, working to accelerate environmental progress in five focus areas:
• Toxic substances and areas of concern
• Invasive species
• Nonpoint Source Pollution impacts on nearshore health
• Habitats and species
• Foundations for future restoration actions
More information on the GLRI is available at: https://www.glri.us/.