Buffalo, NY – The Springville Dam Ecosystem Restoration partnership will host a public information meeting Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at the Concord Town Hall Auditorium located at 86 Franklin Street, Springville, NY, from 6:30–8pm. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the design and schedule to complete the project.
“The Springville Dam project will transform the Cattaraugus Creek watershed, increasing accessibility and sport fishing while decreasing the presence of invasive species,” said Mark Polancarz, the Erie County executive. “It is a tremendous investment that will result in a better dam and a healthier ecosystem overall.”
The Springville Dam currently splits the Cattaraugus Creek watershed in half, denying fish communities full ecosystem richness and abundance. This project will lower the dam spillway while maintaining a sea lamprey barrier and install a fish ladder with trap and sort capability that allows steelhead and other species access to the upstream reaches of Cattaraugus Creek and associated tributaries.
“The Buffalo District is excited to begin moving dirt for the restoration of the Springville Dam,” Lt. Col. Jason Toth, the commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District. “This project will play a key part in contributing to the ecological restoration of Cattaraugus Creek and overall protection of the Lake Erie watershed.”
Project partners include the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Erie County, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and is being executed under the Corps of Engineers’ Great Lakes Fishery Ecosystem Restoration program.
More information on the GLFER program can be found here: https://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/Home/GLFER/
