River Currents
November 2009
Greetings Friend,
With many folks off the water as the weather cools, October tends to be meeting season for RIVERKEEPER. The great news is that much has been accomplished through these sessions:
- We rekindled energy around revitalizing Broderick Park, honoring the incredible role the site has played in empowering our African American community;
- We testified at Senator Thompson's state hearings in favor of funding for sewer infrastructure and stronger protection for our precious Great Lakes wetlands;
- We met in Milwaukee to discuss how the Buffalo Niagara region can secure its fair share of $475 million in federal funding for Great Lakes Restoration;
- We began negotiations with the Buffalo Sewer Authority to bring green sewer solutions to the City's sewer overflow problem;
- We identified ways the new Ice Boom site on the Buffalo River can improve both public waterfront access and River habitat
AND--just last week--
- We celebrated the Erie County Niagara River Greenway Funds' awards to six waterfront projects, delighted that construction will begin in 2010--improving our waterfront parks with Niagara Hydropower Relicensing funds.
As we prepare to celebrate our 20th Anniversary November 21st (Pleas Join Us!!) there is much to celebrate.
Thank you for all your continued support,
YOUR Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER,
Julie
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Moonlight Paddle
September's full moon drew a fleet of excited paddlers to Tonawanda Creek for our very first Moonlight Paddle. The group gathered at Veteran's Canal Park in Amherst, talking and laughing, busily pulling boats off cars, piling up gear, and spraying down bodies to keep hungry mosquitoes at bay during the warm hours of dusk. Circling on the grass, falling quiet with the sunset, the group listened to me telling the Creek's story:
Tonawanda Creek is the largest Niagara River tributary, draining a 635-square-mile watershed stretching from Java north to Batavia and west to Tonawanda, discharging 258 cubic feet per second into the Niagara at its mouth. Water quality in the Creek ranges from Class A (cleanest rating) in rocky headwater streams to Class C (not suitable for swimming or drinking) through lower portions of the Creek exposed to contamination. A celebrity denizen, the beautiful Long-eared Sunfish, a threatened species, is showing a healthy population in the Creek's rapids near Transit Road. The stretch we travel today is one with the Erie Canal - which splits from the Creek proper and makes a beeline for Lockport a few miles east of our planned turnaround.
We set out in the civil twilight, launching boat after boat into the calm water until fourteen vessels milled and schooled like awkward fish. Not a breath of wind stirred the overhanging trees, and the glassy water reflected swirls of molten orange and cotton-candy pink. As night fell, we moved under quiet bridges, joined by a fluttering of bats feeding on the insects that danced around us.
A big, bright moon rose before us, flanked by Jupiter, lighting our way. Deep shadows marked the wooded shoreline, rustling with the waking of nocturnal creatures. As the air began to cool, a thick mist rose up off the warm water and surrounded us with ghostly reflected light. We slipped quietly through the billowing shroud, our passage marked only by a miniature constellation of headlamps, slices of moonlight on gunwales and our paddles rippling the Creek's shining surface.
We stopped briefly in Ransom Creek's mouth, waving at a group of fellow moon-revelers setting up a bonfire on shore. The revelers waved back, hesitantly, not quite sure what this fleet of ghost-ships materializing out of the moonlight might portend. The return paddle tested our mettle, putting five miles of Creek under our boats. We returned to our launch chilly, tired, uplifted...and ready to plot our next moonlight adventure!
- Robbyn Drake
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We Need Your Help!
Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER is planning a tree planting restoration event at the Seneca Bluffs pocket park along the Buffalo River on November 7th, from 9 am until noon, and we would love to have you as a volunteer!
The Seneca Bluffs pocket park is a beautiful gem found along the Buffalo River in South Buffalo. Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER (in partnership with Erie County and Fish and Wildlife Service) has been restoring this parcel for years now and many important milestones have been met. Once farmland that was abandoned to become a dumping ground for trash, this park is now a haven for native plants and animals and a retreat for local community members.
You are invited to join us for a day learning about the Buffalo River, planting much-needed trees, and sharing coffee and donuts.
Please dress for the weather and bring your own work gloves if possible. Work gloves will be provided to those who are unable to provide their own.
