Niagara Falls entities look to 'utilize Greenway funding to really impact every community'

By Benjamin Joe

The City of Niagara Falls is looking to use a little over $3 million from its Niagara River Greenway host community benefit funds in shoreline restoration and infrastructure upgrades in its parks.

Called the “Transformation Investment in City of Niagara Falls Community Greenspace, Water and Ecological Resources,” the Host Communities Standing Committee will decide whether to release the funds on Feb. 11.

Part of the project is the use of $560,000 to continue the city’s relationship with Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, which will use the funds to design environmentally sound shorelines on a piece of Gill Creek in Hyde Park. After construction, which has not been funded, the group will also maintain the shoreline using $60,000 of the proposed funds.

BNW laid the groundwork for the plan in its Gill Creek Conceptual Restoration Plan in 2023, which looks at the existing conditions along the creek. Emily Root, director of ecological programs, described these conditions in a brief phone call.

“The Gill Creek is one of the most impaired waterways and a tributary to Niagara River. It’s gone through a lot of modification and pollution and different actions that has degraded its health over many decades (through) industry and development,” she said. “Hyde Park Lake was actually created through the damming of Gill Creek, so it modifies the natural makeup of the creek and that affects what the health of the creek looks like.”

Shoreline restoration will include the removal of invasive species, which do not benefit the environment, and replacing them with indigenous plant-life, Root said.

“Right now, a lot of the way we manage our shoreline around the country is to mow them to the edge. Really clean lines with loads of grass, which really isn’t to the waterways’ benefit in terms of water absorption,” she said. “As the water flows over the land and into our waterways, it really doesn’t allow for a lot of that water to be absorbed into the land before it reaches the shoreline and also leaves the shoreline very vulnerable to erosion.”

Root said that, once design is complete, construction, which focuses on Duck Island, will commence, probably early in 2026. This “construction” will move earth and create wetlands where there are now pipes directing stormwater into the creek.

Another aspect of this proposal is community engagement, which will include giving high school juniors and seniors at Niagara Falls High School opportunities to earn college credits.

Mark Laurie, Niagara Falls City School District superintendent, talked about his hopes for the Young Environmental Leaders Program, or YELP, which is a partnership between BNW and the environmental science program at the school.

“We want to bring YELP back for a couple of reasons,” Laurie said. “I think it’s very important to teach our students about environmental principles, local environmental science and environmental justice. I think YELP is a good program because they get hands-on lessons from the waterkeeper’s staff. They can even get three college credits for completing this class.”

Laurie also said that there may be opportunities for paid summer work for students while they are in high school, which could lead to a career. The course itself will also be highly engaging for the students, he noted.

“It would be a combination of in class and out in the field,” Laurie said. “They’ll go on watershed tours, sampling in local waterways, exploring fish population and maybe go to the Wastewater Treatment Plant or even tour the Love Canal or landfill.”

In the 2025-26 school year, 20 students will be affected, but Laurie said he hopes to build this “pathway” for additional students in the 2026-27 school year. Funding for the YELP program is $55,000, which will also be requested from the Host Community Standing Committee on Feb. 11.

The final piece of the city’s request, and what would use the most funds, is the infrastructure of parks. Nearly $2.4 million will be dedicated to upgrading equipment in 11 sites in Niagara Falls.

Kevin Forma, director of planning and development in Niagara Falls, said the city has already identified many projects, such as roof-replacements and ADA accessibility, where the dollars could go toward.

“Some of these items have not been improved for a decade or more,” he said. “We’re really trying to invest the money in and around the community to improve these facilities for the local population in Niagara Falls.”

Forma also noted that many playgrounds, slides and swing sets need to be upgraded, and that the goal is to get, “the community up and moving and exercising using the park’s amenities,” for the communities’ physical and mental health.

“It’s an opportunity for us to utilize Greenway funding to really impact every community from LaSalle all the way through the Highland community, through central Niagara Falls and beyond,” he said.

The Host Communities Standing Committee will meet at 1 p.m. at the Town of Niagara Town Hall boardroom.