Photo by Cheryl Wertman
ALBION – These mothers are leading and watching out for their youngsters earlier today in front of the Wal-Mart at Albion.
Cheryl Wertman took these pictures and shared this message: “Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and grandmothers who support their sons, daughters, and grandchildren in all their academic and extra-curricular activities.”
Photo by Cheryl Wertman
Photo by Tom Rivers – The Erie Canal is pictured on Tuesday evening in this photo taken from the top of the stairs at the lift bridge in Knowlesville. The canal’s opening has been delayed due to the rainy weather.
ALBANY – The recent heavy rainfall has delayed the opening of the Erie Canal’s navigational season. The canal was due to open on Saturday for its 190th season.
The state Canal Corporation has pushed back opening day until next week.
“Conditions permitting, the Canal Corporation expects to be able to open most portions of the Canal System during the week of May 5,” the Canal Corporation advised today.
A revised opening schedule for the 2014 navigation season will be published as soon as possible, Canal Corp. officials said.
For updates and information monitor 1-800-4CANAL4 and www.canals.ny.gov.
Photos by Tom Rivers – Vernon Fonda, a conservation officer with the state Department of Conservation, stands near the edge of Johnson Creek just before the Lyndonville Dam. Fonda wants to improve the stability of the bank and accessibility of the site for fishermen. He envisions a floating dock near where he is standing, closer to the bridge over Route 63.
LYNDONVILLE – It’s one of the area’s most picturesque spots, and it also is a popular fishing hole.
The section in front of the Lyndonville Dam along Johnson Creek also is dangerous, with loose soil and a rocky embankment.
Vernon Fonda moved to Lyndonville about six months ago. He works as a conservation officer for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Fonda loves the Lyndonville community. He is president of the PTA, is joining the Lions Club and enjoys the area’s natural resources.
The spot by the dam needs to be stabilized to prevent further erosion, and he wants to make it easier for fishermen to use the site.
“Johnson Creek is world renowned,” Fonda said. “If we make the site safer it will increase tourism.”
He is trying to line up support in the community for the project. He said boulders, a floating dock, ramp with a railing, fencing, a kiosk to list fish that can be caught at the site, and other improvements are all under consideration.
Vernon Fonda also is a Lyndonville resident. He would like to beautify the area near the Lyndonville Dam. He shows where the bank is suffering from erosion.
Mayor Steve McAvoy welcomes Fonda’s input and energy in making the site more stable and safer. McAvoy said the village will need to work with the Army Corps of Engineers, DEC, Soil and Water Conservation District and other agencies that will all need to sign off on any work at the site.
“He’s really taken the bull by the horns,” McAvoy said about Fonda.
The village of Lyndonville owns the lands by the property. Erosion has been a concern, especially as the pace has quickened in the past six months or so, McAvoy said.
The dam is at an angle where the creek hits the embankment hard, especially after big rains or snow melts.
“It’s tremendous the force in there,” said Terry Woodworth, the village DPW superintendent.
Photo courtesy of Village of Lyndonville – During high waters, after a big rain or snow melt, Johnson Creek rises and eats away at the embankment.
The village looked at a stabilization project a few years ago and it was about $350,000 then and there were questions whether it would work, Woodworth said.
“It won’t be an easy fix,” he said.
The village would like to see the upper pond dredged, and the flood gates and piping repaired by the dam.
Woodworth is grateful Fonda sees the potential at the site, and has got the community interested in it. Fonda has connected with government officials, service organizations and local individuals and businesses about the project.
“Vern has got people looking at it,’” Woodworth said.
Fonda also has been trying to improve public fishing access along the creek downstream.
“This started as a stabilization project and now it includes making the area more accessible to fishermen,” Fonda said.
Photo by Sue Cook – This photo from a few weeks ago shows the Kanyoo Trail at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.
Press release
Ducks Unlimited
SHELBY – Ducks Unlimited has been awarded a $62,407 grant for coastal wetlands restoration work in Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. DU and their partners will enhance 1,000 acres of forested wetland through restored hydrology and reforestation.
“Iroquois has always been important to Ducks Unlimited,” said Sarah Fleming, Ducks Unlimited regional biologist. “The area is an important stop for migratory waterfowl. Reforesting provides valuable habitat, and putting in new culverts and removing portions of a dike will help this portion of the refuge function at a much higher level, providing more food and better opportunities for waterfowl on their way to the breeding grounds.”
The grant comes through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. Other partners in the grant proposal include Cargill, Friends of Iroquois NWR and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Work will take place in an area known as the Seneca Pool, and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2014. Almost every wildlife species uses wetlands at some point of its lifecycle, and a diverse range of wildlife species stand to benefit from the enhanced habitat, including American black duck, American woodcock and cerulean warblers.
Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to conserving North America’s continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 13 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information on our work, visit www.ducks.org.
Photos by Tom Rivers
The rainy spring is keeping farmers out of their fields. The big downpour today added to their woes. Many fields are flooded including the one pictured on top on Presbyterian Road in the town of Ridgeway.
This pipe runs under the road and directs water to the north side.
This is a picture of the same flooded field along Presbyterian Road. This picture was taken at about 8:15 p.m. today.
Earlier in the day, during the peak of the downpour, I stopped along Ridge Road and got this picture. This is on the western end of Albion, looking south from the Ridge.
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Orleans Hub editor turned 40 today and my present to myself was a jog while the sun was setting in Albion.
I brought along my Smartphone and took a few pictures of the scenery. The top photo was by an apple orchard along Butts Road.
Not far from the orchard is a bridge for the railroad tracks. I ventured up the embankment to the tracks because I like a little adventure. The pictures show the tracks looking east and then west toward the sun.
A little farther on Butts Road towards Route 31 and there is a nice barn with a quilt pattern on top.
I stopped by Bullard Park. It was awfully quiet with the temps in the low 40s. It will warm up with highs in the mid-50s from Sunday through Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Several groups are out today picking up trash and doing other beautification efforts along the Erie Canal in Orleans County, part of a state-wide effort to clean the towpath and canal.
The top photo shows Guy Eaton, left, and Pete Crandall of the Sons of the American Legion in Medina. They are spreading mulch by the Glenwood Avenue lift bridge next to the Legion.
Gary Hill, another Son of the Legion, picks up garbage by the canal. His son Dan also helped with the effort. The Sons are collecting trash along the Towpath at the Glenwood Avenue Bridge to the Bates Road boat launch.
Volunteers are welcome to help clean up the canal this weekend in advance of its opening on May 3 for its 190th season.
HOLLEY – In Holley, volunteers should meet at gazebo on East Avenue at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The village encourages people to wear gloves, and leather shoes or boots. Children under 12 can not operate machinery and must be accompanied by an adult. The clean up event lasts until noon.
The Kendall Masonic Lodge also is planning a cleanup at Holley’s canal park. Masons will be there at 9 a.m. on Sunday. Volunteers will split up into two groups and walk the towpaths on both sides of the canal, heading east gathering trash and debris.
Volunteers conclude at the County Line Bridge (Route 31) where there is a collection site at the boat launch.
ALBION – The Orleans County Snowdrifters plan to meet at the Eagle Harbor lift bridge at 9 a.m. on Saturday and clean rubbish along the canal to Bates Road in Medina and to Groth Road in Holley.
MEDINA – The Sons of the American Legion will meet at 10 a.m. on Saturday to rake, trim and mulch the garden at Glenwood Avenue bridge approach. They will also collect trash along the Towpath at the Glenwood Avenue Bridge to the Bates Road boat launch.
The Medina Lions Club will have its Environmental Cleanup Day from 9 a.m. to noon on May 3, cleaning up the public parks in the Medina area, including the Medina Erie Canal Basin, Lions Park located along the canal, Butts Park, and State Street Park.
Volunteers will clean up trash, rake up debris, trim bushes and prepare flower beds in the identified places. They will work from 9 a.m. until noon. The Lions Club will then provide a picnic lunch for all volunteers.
Press release
GCC Wellness Coalition
ALBION – To celebrate Earth Day, the GCC Albion Campus Wellness Coalition planted two trees on Wednesday, donated by Steve Nesbitt Farms, and Bella and Pino Aldaco. The trees stand for the growth of awareness in support of a healthy community.
Pam Lusk, Albion Campus Wellness Coordinator and Shelly Wolanske, WNY Prevention Resource Center Senior Community Development Specialist, assisted students in the development of their mission and efforts to build capacity.
Pictured above, include, from left: Chris Mason, Christine Chennell, Kassy Sutton, Melissa Qualey and Jason Burley.
For more information about the Wellness Coalition, please visit the group’s table at the Civil War Encampment on April 26-27 at the GCC Medina Campus Center.
Photos by Tom Rivers
WATERPORT – The owner of the power plant at the Waterport Dam has added chain link fences, warning lights, sirens, flotation rings and signage.
I stopped by the dam on Saturday evening after hearing about the changes. People can still fish by the dam. There is one spot where people can wade in the water but they must wear personal flotation devices and must stay within a designated, cabled-off area.
Brookfield Power Company has posted some of its property with restricted access.
Here is how the dam looked last fall.
Photos by Tom Rivers
WATERPORT – Damien Darrell of Lockport was out fishing Saturday evening from the bridge on Route 279 in Waterport.
Fishermen are often casting lines from the bridge. The 700-foot-long bridge is the longest county-owned span in Orleans. It is expected to close next month so repairs can be made. The bridge could be closed for about five months so contractors can complete nearly $2 million in upgrades.
The bridge stretches across Lake Alice. Many of the concrete box beams that support the bridge are badly deteriorated and will need to be replaced. The bridge will get a new surface with concrete, rubber membrane and blacktop.
The federal government is paying 80 percent of the project with the state paying 15 percent the county covering the remaining 5 percent.
Here is a photo looking under the bridge.
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Erie Canal is mostly empty now, but soon it will be filled and will be operational for its 190th season.
The State Canal Corp. is planning a May 1 opening for the canal (depending on the weather). The top photo was taken last evening in the bottom of the canal in Albion, east of the Main Street lift bridge looking towards a privately owned bridge. Gaines Basin Road is about another ½ mile to the east.
The gates on the canal along Albion-Eagle Harbor Road are reflected in the shallow canal in this photo taken from the privately owned bridge, which I have heard referred to as Bowman’s Bridge. The bridge leads to a couple houses and the former Albion water treatment plant.
Here is a picture of a puddle in a field by the towpath.
Photos by Tom Rivers – Department of Environmental Conservation officials deliver Steelhead from the Altmar Hatchery this afternoon at the Oak Orchard River. The fish will spend the next month in pens by Ernst’s Lake Breeze Marina.
The Steelhead are six months old and about 3 or 4 inches long. They will nearly double in size in the next month in the pens.
POINT BREEZE – Charter boat captains and other Point Breeze stakeholders welcomed more than 100,000 fish today that will be nurtured in pens for the next month or so.
The tiny Chinook salmon and steelhead will be released about twice their current size. That will increase their chances of surviving in Lake Ontario and its tributaries. The fish, while they grow in the pens, also will imprint on the river.
When they are mature and ready to spawn, they are more likely to return to the Oak Orchard to lay their eggs.
Mike Waterhouse, the Orleans County sportsfishing promotion coordinator, helps with the fish stocking in one of the pens.
The Point Breeze community started the pen-rearing project in 1998. Bob Songin, charter boat captain with Reel Excitement, has been leader of the project each year.
Volunteers are up at 5 a.m. each morning to feed the fish, which are fed five times a day.
Songin said the project has resulted in more mature fish that return to the Oak Orchard and also in Lake Ontario near Point Breeze.
“We have double the survival rate, which means we have more fish to catch,” he said.
Bob Songin, in red, leads the pen-rearing project. About 20 volunteers assist with the effort each year.
The Department of Environmental Conservation brought truckloads of fish from the Altmar Hatchery. The agency stocked 106,000 Chinook in the pens, and 14,000 Steelhead or Rainbow Trout for the pens. The DEC also stocked 7,000 Steelhead in the Oak Orchard River by the Twin Bridges near Narby’s.
Volunteers are welcome to sign up at Ernst’s Lake Breeze Marina for a chance to feed the fish. The DEC provides the food for the fish.
The pens will keep the fish safe from predators while the Steelhead and Chinook grow in the next month.
MEDINA – David Miller sent me the top photo of the Medina Waterfalls. It was unearthed at the Medina Historical Society, where the group has scanned in old community photos from glass plate negatives.
The photo isn’t dated but Miller suspects it’s from the early 1900s.
I took this photo of the waterfalls last Sunday, when there was still a lot of snow on the ground.
This photo is displayed inside Medina City Hall as part of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame. The photo is kind of small here. It is blown up on the wall inside City Hall. The larger sandstone building in back is a mill. The falls are next to it at left.
That mill is gone, but there are a lot of stone blocks in the wooded area by the waterfalls and Oak Orchard Creek today. There are even some of the stone walls remaining. I took this photo last Sunday.
Photos by Tom Rivers
This photo was taken on Sunday evening. I was standing in the water at the Oak Orchard Creek, not too far from shore. I was determined to get an unobstructed view of the falls. There are a lot of trees and branches that get in the way on land.
MEDINA – I was back at the Medina Waterfalls on Sunday evening, this time with Michael Gaughn and Kelsie Withey, who are making a video of the site. They are working for the Orleans Renaissance Group to highlight some of the unknown treasures in Medina.
Gaughn knows I like the waterfalls and think it’s an outrage that such a glorious asset is largely underutilized. The falls are right off the canal near the Horan Road bridge.
Mike Gaughn and Kelsie Withey ventured to the Medina Waterfalls on Sunday, making a video about the hidden treasures in the community.
The waterfalls are very difficult to get to by foot. It’s a treacherous journey, meandering past fallen trees, walking through thick brush and sinking in mud. The embankment can be steep at times and you could easily slide down and end up in the Oak Orchard Creek.
The Oak Orchard Creek runs along the canal towpath leading to the Medina Waterfalls.
I’d like to see a ladder off the towpath so people could get down to the falls without it being so difficult and risky. There should also be some hand railings to grab onto by the embankments.
I’d like the officials from the village of Medina, town of Ridgeway and Orleans County to work with the State Canal Corp. to make this site much more accessible to the public.
There could be a pedestrian bridge across the creek, a walking trail, and maybe an elevated platform by the towpath so people could view the falls without descending into the brush.
Here is the view of the top of the waterfalls after the Oak Orchard Creek passes under the Erie Canal.
I walked near the crest of the waterfalls for the first time on Sunday. These waterfalls are loud and fill the air with mist. They could be a big draw if they are more accessible.
I was only a few feet away from the top of the falls.
Gaughn and Withey are working on videos for the Bent’s Opera House and other hidden treasures in the community. Gaughn thinks the Oak Orchard River in this spot resembled many of the streams that are attractions in the Adirondack Mountains.
Withey captures footago of the Oak Orchard Creek and the Medina Waterfalls.
The Waterfalls turned the Oak Orchard Creek into a bubbling, suddsy stream. You can see the spire from St. Mary’s Catholic Church when you’re down in the gorge.
