Water Wins 2025

In October, the shoreline restoration project at Ellicott Island Bark Park in Ellicott Creek Park saw its grand opening following construction changes. The Living Shoreline will protect about 15,000-square-feet of land to be more resilient from erosion, reduce stormwater pollution, remove non-native plant species,  all while still offering the public a spot to bring their dogs down to the water. 

There’s a new way for the public to help clean beaches and also capture important data. Waterkeeper joined New York State Parks, Erie County Parks Department and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center to introduce a the Beach Bucket program at three local beaches with a mission to keep our beaches and waterways clean this summer and beyond.

As part of a pilot program, stations were added to Bennett Beach, Wendt Beach and Beaver Island State Park. Visitors can grab a bucket from the stations and voluntarily pick up cigarette butt litter, plastic bottles and other washed-up debris. We also provide information about how to report what trash was collected.

Spring Sweep 2025 was a huge success! Over, 1,200 volunteers removed trash from 40 sites throughout the Niagara River/Lake Erie Watershed. They removed an estimated 10,460 pounds of trash to make our communities cleaner and help protect our waterways from litter.

We had another 54 people join our Solo Sweep program, and  together they picked up and recorded nearly 3,500 pounds of litter in the Clean Swell app this year. Thanks so much for volunteering!

Thomas. F. Higgins Riverfront Park, our latest Buffalo Blueway site, was officially opened following a major construction project. 

Higgins sits where the Buffalo River and Cazenovia Creek meet. The park suffered erosion from ice damage, so pinned ledge rock was installed along the shore to mitigate that problem. The trails were enhanced, new benches added, and a fishing pier was constructed. 

In summer 2025, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper and Ramboll staff visited Cradle Beach to install a sand fence along the Lake Erie shoreline. This initial work is part of a series of efforts to stabilize the shoreline and create new spaces for vegetation to grow and thrive. It is holding up well through several seiche events.

The partnership between Waterkeeper and Cradle Beach aims to protect a shoreline eroding from stronger storms off Lake Erie. In 2020, Cradle Beach experienced the largest storm on record, which eroded nearly 50 feet of the dune shoreline. The shoreline work is the first step towards long-term resiliency at Cradle Beach.

Another project at Cradle Beach is to rehabilitate 20 acres of forested wetland along Little Siter Creek. The Emerald Ash Borer devastated the ash trees and the goal is to plant about 1,500 trees in the future.

Construction began on the sixth Buffalo Blueway site along the Buffalo River. The Harlem Road Fishing Access Point and Launch marks the start of the Buffalo River, and enhancements will include a concrete paddle launch with staircase, a gravel pathway, shoreline vegetation, educational signage, a Blueway marker that is easy to spot from the water.

Harlem Road will soon offer the second ADA-accessible fishing pier on the Blueway, as well as an ADA-accessible pathway. 

Waterkeeper welcomed Eddy the Mascot to our ranks. Named by Mary, a longtime volunteer and supporter, the name plays off the definition of eddy, which is a current of water, often a circular current, moving contrary to the main current. Keep an eye out for Eddy at future events. 

Support from trained nurdle patrol volunteers helped us locate and remove over 10,000 nurdles from around Western New York! Great work. In May we hosted two trainings and taught 27 people how to go out, locate, and report nurdles they find.

For those not in the know, nurdles are small pieces of plastic used in manufacturing. This plastic pollution has been found on the shorelines of several waterways within the Niagara River/Lake Erie Watershed.

The Gill Creek Green Infrastructure Project saw massive work take place this summer where the creek goes through Hyde Park in Niagara Falls. Two stormwater pipes flowing directly into the lake were cut back and large catch basins were installed as a first step in filtration. Once stormwater flows into the catch basin it is then directed through two new wetland areas to capture and infiltrate over 2 million gallons of stormwater runoff annually.

Additional restoration elements include nearby meadow plantings, the creation of additional wetland habitat, and tree plantings along the shoreline. A fountain was also installed in the lake to help with aeration. 

Over the next year project partners will monitor the project and will complete follow up invasive species treatments and native plantings to ensure it is establishing in alignment with project goals.

There were 28 Riverwatch volunteers across eight teams who visited 58 sites. Volunteers alone accounted for 336 samples taken. That’s impressive work. BNW staff also monitored 39 sites for multiple parameters, including baseline (pH, Temp, Conductivity, TDS, DO, and Turbidity), PFAs, eDNA, Nutrients, E. coli, HABs, and Chloride. 

Waterkeeper staff also collected more than 160 E. coli samples and added new sampling sites along Big Sister, Little Sister, and Cattaraugus creeks. Staff continue to monitor chloride levels against the EPA’s 230 mg/L threshold to evaluate the impact of road salt on the local aquatic ecosystem health.

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) Continued to be an issue, especially in Gill Creek as it goes through Hyde Park. There were 17 HABs reported to and confirmed by DEC at this site. We worked with the City of Niagara Falls to send out notifications to alerting the community to the problem.  

We had another successful year of Buffalo YELP partnering with five Buffalo Public Schools and SUNY Buffalo State University. 18 students received three college credits for completing the program. Session highlights include macroinvertebrate sampling in Buffalo Creek, Kayaking on the Buffalo River, touring the Buffalo Sewer Authority Wastewater Treatment Plant, and providing tree stewardship in Ellicott Creek Park. Graduates celebrated aboard the Miss Buffalo during our third reunion event.

This year we also re-launched Niagara Falls YELP through the support of the Niagara Falls School District. We are working with 34 students in two classes, taking students to the Gill Creek Green Infrastructure construction site in spring of 2025.

Through other educational programming, our staff and volunteers reached over 900 Western New York students, and we also hosted three WNY Master Teacher Educational workshops to highlight Living Shorelines, the Buffalo River, and the power of locally collected environmental data.

RestoreCorps volunteers joined us at nine events throughout the year to plant and help us maintain sites around the watershed. Nearly 220 people came out to places like Unity Island, Forest Lawn, Gratwick Park, and Ellicott Creek to get about 1,450 plants & trees in the ground.

We hosted the second Freshwater Flicks fundraiser in partnership with the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, bringing an afternoon of inspiring storytelling to The Caz on Seneca Street. The nearly sold-out audience enjoyed nine short films from around the world that highlighted the beauty, challenges, and resilience of our waterways, all while taking in the venue’s food and drink offerings.

Many thanks to everyone who joined us — your participation helps advance clean water efforts throughout our community. Save the date for Freshwater Flicks 2026 – Sunday March 1!

Waterkeeper Weekend celebrated water season with two great events at Canalside. The community joined us for music, food, and conversations with local environmental organizations. Many thanks to Resurgence Brewing Company and Canalside for partnering with us for both events, and to all the participating organizations and attendees who made each weekend a success. See you in 2026!

Our Volunteer Ambassadors attended nearly 40 events and engaged with over 1,700 members of our community! Having them allows us to have a greater impact on the region by sharing our organization’s priorities and listing ways people can volunteer. 

After over 10 years of involvement, we were happy to report on the denial for the Chemical Waste Management request for a new landfill in Niagara County.

We understand there is a need in our country to safely manage and treat toxic wastes that are endlessly generated by industry, but that is a responsibility that should not be disproportionately dumped upon local communities like Niagara County, where residents have already suffered for generations. We should also never accept polluted wastewater being discharged to a Class A drinking water supply. Society needs to do better. 

Through six different experiences, our staff led 128 people in safe, guided, on-water kayak experiences! We were able to take people on the Buffalo River, Tonawanda Creek and the Niagara River. 

Design work has started on a proposed project to improve water quality and erosion control along Eighteenmile Creek. The plan is to improve the creek as it passes through the 18 Mile Creek Golf Course in Hamburg. We are currently working alongside the Town of Hamburg and are awaiting word on federal funding that would allow this proposal to move forward. Learn more here.

Outreach and design work continues for a coastal resiliency project to improve Dunkirk’s Wright Park Beach. Two informational sessions were held to explain the preliminary efforts to the public, and we have a survey asking people near the beach to supply feedback. This is Waterkeeper’s first project in its expanded geography. View the survey here.

Staff and officials with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continue to work through proposals to make improvements to Scajaquada Creek in the Town of Cheektowaga. Several community meetings have been held to share these details. 

Other public meetings will take place in early 2026 related to another Scajaquada Creek restoration effort. Waterkeeper met with members of its Community Advisory Group several times in 2025 as part of the overall Community-Driven Restoration Plan and more updates will be provided in the near future. We have also chosen a consultant to help with these efforts.