Innovative $13.4M Niagara River Fish Passage Completed, Revitalizing Critical Great Lakes Food Web

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Buffalo celebrated the completion of an innovative $13.4 million fish passage at Freedom Park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 23. The project helps the emerald shiner — one of the Great Lakes' most important fish — overcome the powerful currents of the mighty Niagara River to move upstream after spawning, despite decades of man-made ecosystem impacts.

Funded entirely by the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the Emerald Shiner Fish Passage ensures a critical food source for larger fish and wildlife. It directly supports the $5.1 billion Great Lakes recreational fishery and brings the region one step closer to the goal of delisting the Niagara River as a Great Lakes Area of Concer

• $13.4 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative project successfully slows Niagara River to allow emerald shiner – a vital prey fish – to swim upstream and thrive.

• Hundreds of fish and new bird activity are already visible along the 778-foot-long structure at Freedom Park in Buffalo.

• Photos and video of the project are available https://www.flickr.com/photos/buffalousace/albums/72177720299115890/.

“For such a small fish, the emerald shiner plays a huge role in supporting a healthy ecosystem and a strong economy,” said Lt. Col. Aaron Anderson, USACE Buffalo District commander. “We’re excited to have brought this project to completion on time and within budget so that shiner can thrive and the Great Lakes region can enjoy the benefits.”

“Through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, EPA is teaming with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to restore habitat and rebuild native forage fish like the emerald shiner—the foundation of the Niagara River and Lake Erie food web,” said EPA Great Lakes National Program Office Director Teresa Seidel. “This is cooperative federalism in action, delivering measurable results that keep water clean for people and wildlife and move the Niagara River Area of Concern toward delisting.”

“I thank the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for completing the Emerald Shiner Fish Passage project. This work will help an important native species while strengthening critical infrastructure at Freedom Park,” City of Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan said. “As an avid birder, I know that protecting one species can help sustain entire ecosystems. Investments like this ensure Buffalo’s waterfront remains a healthy habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife for generations to come.”

The passage utilizes a series of specially designed, concrete-filled steel baffles mounted to the park’s seawall. These baffles create channels of slower water that shiners can swim against. Measurements following construction confirmed water velocities have dropped below the shiners' swimming threshold. Buffalo District team members have already observed shiners passing through the project into upstream portions of the river in groups of hundreds. The team has also observed common terns hunting fish along the seawall — an activity never previously seen at the site.

Though small and seemingly abundant, the emerald shiner is a critical prey fish at the base of the food web in the Niagara River and Lake Erie. Its population has been threatened by hydraulic barriers from hardened shorelines, like the Freedom Park seawall. Previous studies by USACE, the University at Buffalo and SUNY Buffalo State University identified this stretch of the river as moving too fast for the fish to navigate.

The final “full” phase of the fish passage was constructed from March 2025 through May 2026 under an $11.8 million contract awarded to Buffalo-based Bidco Marine Group. It spans 700 feet along the seawall at the south end of Freedom Park. Construction included repairs to the timber crib wall, the installation of steel plates at the waterline and the attachment of the concrete-filled metal baffles.

This completion builds upon a highly successful $1.6 million demonstration project at Freedom Park in 2022. Also funded by the GLRI, the initial demonstration repaired a 78-foot span of the seawall and tested the experimental baffle designs to ensure they could withstand the forces of the river while successfully slowing the water for the shiners.

Photos, videos, and an infographic about the Emerald Shiner Fish Passage project are available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/buffalousace/albums/72177720299115890/About the Niagara River Area of Concern

The Niagara River is a binational Area of Concern that includes the entire Niagara River.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the cities of Buffalo, Tonawanda and Niagara Falls received significant expansions in steel and chemical manufacturing, as well as grain milling along the shoreline of the Niagara River. This was due to open land and the availability of electricity and cooling water from Niagara Falls. Steel, petrochemical, and chemical manufacturing industries flourished along the Niagara River into the late 1970s. Subsequently, they declined, leaving behind a legacy of contamination and impairments.

A Niagara River AOC Habitat Restoration Plan finalized in 2019 outlines management actions necessary to remove the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI. BUIs are designations given by the International Joint Commission representing different types of significant environmental degradation. An interim success of remediation and restoration work is being completed within the Niagara River AOC to address designated BUIs. As cleanup work is completed, and monitoring demonstrates sufficient environmental health improvements, BUIs can gradually be removed.

As a critical prey species, the threat to emerald shiner populations are part of the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI for the AOC. A healthy shiner population feeds a healthy population of larger fish and birds. Walleye, a fish that sustains local recreational and commercial fishing communities, and the common tern, a state-listed rare bird, feed on shiners. Shiners are also used by humans as bait fish and for consumption. Improving passage for shiners helps restore fish communities and contributes to removal of the BUI.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is the Niagara River remedial action plan coordinator and with input from agencies and local partners, selected this project as a management action for the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI.

More information on the Niagara River AOC is available at: https://www.epa.gov/great-lakes-aocs/niagara-river-aoc-0 and https://dec.ny.gov/nature/waterbodies/lakes-rivers/great-lakes/areas-of-concern/niagara-river-area-of-concern.

About the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is a non-regulatory program to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world. The EPA leads a group of 16 federal agencies in theGLRI Interagency Task Force and Regional Working Group, strategically targeting the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem. GLRI Action Plan III was developed with input from states, tribes, local governments, universities, business, and others. It outlines priorities and goals for the GLRI for fiscal years 2020–2024, working to accelerate environmental progress in five focus areas:

• Toxic substances and areas of concern

• Invasive species

• Nonpoint Source Pollution impacts on nearshore health

• Habitats and species

• Foundations for future restoration actions

GLRI Action Plan IV, for fiscal years 2025-2029, was finalized in 2024. More information on the GLRI is available at: https://www.glri.us/.

The Buffalo District delivers world class engineering solutions to the Great Lakes Region, the Army and the Nation to ensure national security, environmental sustainability, water resource management, and emergency assistance during peace and war. Learn more at [www.lrd.usace.army.mil/buffalo]().