Four years after Buffalo completed a groundbreaking fish ladder along the Niagara River to help native emerald shiners migrate, environmental crews are expanding the design to open an important route to Lake Erie.Work is underway to extend special steel baffles along another 700 feet of the Buffalo seawall. This builds on a 78-foot pilot section completed in May 2022. According to project updates from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the expanded structure will slow the strong water currents along the wall, allowing tiny emerald shiners to swim upstream.The project is expected to be finished in December 2026. It is part of a multi-million-dollar federal and state restoration effort across the Niagara River Area of Concern. Once complete, the expanded baffle system will give shiners full access to Lake Erie, helping meet Fish Community Objectives and repair long-standing damage in western New York.
Restoring a key part of the food web
Emerald shiners are small, silver forage fish, but they play an important role in the food web of the Niagara River and eastern Lake Erie. Larger fish, including smallmouth bass and walleye, as well as birds such as terns and gulls, depend on them for food.For decades, development disrupted the fish’s migration routes. Strong currents along smooth concrete seawalls near Broderick Park created barriers that the small fish could not cross.Funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the first phase of the Emerald Shiner Fish Passage project repaired 78 feet of damaged seawall and added vertical baffles to slow the current. Phase II is now extending these low-speed channels across the remaining 700 feet of seawall.Federal officials said in an EPA project document that restoring the passage will help address the Degradation of Fish and Wildlife Populations Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI), a designation given to Great Lakes areas where ecosystems have been damaged.
An aerial view showing the constructed rock reefs protecting the shoreline. Image courtesy of NYSPRHP.
Turning industrial slips into habitat
The fish passage is part of a larger group of restoration projects along the Buffalo waterfront.Nearby, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is working on the Buffalo Outer Harbor Slip #3 Restoration Project. Construction began in fall 2023 with a protective breakwater across the entrance to the slip. In August 2024, USACE began placing clean sediment dredged from the nearby Buffalo River into the deep slip.Sediment placement will continue through three cycles, with the work expected to finish in 2028. After the final cycle, engineers will shape the riverbed and add natural features such as rock piles, gravel beds, and tree root wads.When complete, Slip #3 will provide 6.7 acres of shallow-water habitat. The area will support underwater and shoreline plants while giving native fish and birds places to feed and shelter. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) made the project a priority because it addresses the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI.
Restoring green spaces and wetlands
Nearby, the shoreline at Ralph Wilson Park is also being transformed. Construction began in late 2023 and includes removing a failing concrete seawall and replacing it with an engineered embayment.EPA documents show that major parts of the park’s habitat work were completed in fall 2024. Native planting and shoreline restoration continued through 2025. The project adds 5.6 acres of shallow-water habitat for river wildlife.Farther downriver, projects have focused on protecting wetlands from erosion and industrial runoff. At the Spicer Creek Wildlife Management Area, a $2.2 million GLRI-funded project completed in 2022 by DEC and EPA added low berms along the Grand Island shoreline. The project restored 16 acres of shallow-water habitat and 3,760 feet of coastal riverbed.At Grass Island, near Buckhorn Island State Park, a $5.5 million GLRI project added rock reefs, root wads, and aquatic plants across 13.5 acres of marshland. The reefs protect plants from waves and ice. The restored area has also attracted breeding purple martins during their May and August migrations.
The photo shows the extensive wetland at Buckhorn Island State Park. Burnt Ship creek is the access into that wetland from the Niagara River. Image courtesy of NYSPRHP
Earlier projects helped set the stage
The current work builds on restoration projects completed across the watershed over the past decade.In 2019, New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation completed the East River Marsh Extension project. It added five rock reefs, cable logs, and rock sills along 1,000 feet of shoreline. The project created nine acres of wetland habitat and reduced shoreline erosion.In 2020, crews finished restoring Burnt Ship Creek by removing 900 feet of dense hybrid cattails that had blocked water flow. The work reconnected the Niagara River with large interior wetlands at Buckhorn Island State Park, giving fish access to calm waters for spawning.Removing contaminated sediment has also been important. Between 2014 and 2015, USACE and DEC removed about 180,000 cubic yards of toxic industrial sediment from the Black Rock Canal navigation channel.With old pollutants removed and barriers along the seawalls being reduced, environmental managers expect the Niagara River to continue moving toward the removal of its formal environmental impairment designations.
