Gill Creek is a highly impaired waterway that flows through many neighborhoods and public parks.
Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper is proud to continue to focus on the Gill Creek corridor as a priority location to apply our projects and programs. We aim to restore the creek to a safe, healthy, and fun community waterway.
In 2022, we received funding from the Greenway Ecological Standing Committee to support the next phase of the Gill Creek Conceptual Restoration Plan, and we completed the plan following community input in 2023.
Conceptual Restoration Plan Process
In 2021, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper invested in drafting a preliminary conceptual restoration plan for the Gill Creek Corridor. The goal was to have an overall framework to outline basic strategies for achieving holistic waterway revitalization. The main strategies identified in the draft Gill Creek conceptual restoration plan included:
- the design and implementation of several living shoreline restoration projects along Gill Creek and Hyde Park Lake;
- improved golf course management practices that reduce fossil fuel, nutrient, and chemical inputs;
- targeted community outreach and education about water-smart landscape practices and fostering stewardship of restored areas; and
- improved connectivity and access to surrounding regional assets and trail systems.
By 2022, we moved forward on the next phase of the restoration plan and prioritized robust community, partner and stakeholder engagement.
This led us towards refining the restoration plan, identifying priority areas for future projects, garnering support for implementation, and including living shoreline concept development to tee-up top priority projects for future funding requests.
