South Park High School planting volunteers. Credit: Shannon Holland, Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper

The Lower Great Lakes Fishery Resources Office (LGLFRO) worked with local community groups and volunteers to plant four acres of stream riparian and floodplain habitat at Seneca Bluffs and Bailey Peninsula parks located within the City of Buffalo, NY.  Both are natural habitat parks located in the Buffalo River Area of Concern (AOC), and sites of on-going habitat improvements.  Native tree plantings will increase canopy cover to control invasive vegetation (i.e. Japanese knotweed, purple loosestrife, and mugwort), provide spatial and vertical habitat structure, and improve water quality.  Over 50 volunteers were informed of the ecological benefits of native vegetation, provided a demonstration of planting techniques, and assisted with site plantings.  This work is being conducted as part of an initiative to increase the urban tree canopy and enhance the greenway corridor through Buffalo, NY.  Project partners are Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, South Park High School, Erie County Department of Environment and Planning, Re-Tree Western New York, Erie County Service Action Corps, Ecology and Environment, Inc., and Friends of LGLFRO.