The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are building on the success of a project to help one of the Niagara River and Lake Erie’s most important fish thrive despite decades of manmade impacts to the ecosystem.
With funding from the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), USACE will 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 an EPA Area of Concern (AOC).