Niagara Falls Secures $2 Million to Restore Gill Creek and Revitalize Hyde Park

     A major environmental restoration project is moving forward in Niagara Falls after state officials awarded $2 million to improve conditions along Gill Creek, a key waterway running through Hyde Park.

     City leaders say the funding will support a large-scale effort to repair shoreline damage, enhance natural habitats, and expand public access to the creek, which flows through one of the largest urban parks in New York State outside of Central Park.

     The grant is through New York’s Water Quality Improvement Program whose purpose is to fund projects focused on environmental restoration, pollution reduction, and flood mitigation. Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino described the investment as both an ecological and community-driven initiative aimed at improving water quality while making the space more usable for residents and visitors.

     Environmental advocates involved in the project emphasized the importance of natural spaces for public well-being. Jill Jedlicka of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper said, “Parks and open spaces in the natural environment are the places that many people will flock to for healing, to decompress, and just to simply find joy and solace in nature.”

     The organization has been monitoring Gill Creek for more than a decade and will now take a leading role in implementing restoration plans. According to project details, the work will include stabilizing approximately 3,000 feet of shoreline, removing a deteriorating boardwalk, and planting native vegetation. Plans also call for transforming several acres of maintained lawn into riparian habitat, which is a natural buffer zone between land and water designed to improve ecosystem health.

     Jedlicka said the project is about more than environmental repair.

     “The primary directive out of this project and this funding is certainly to help improve the ecosystem and water quality, but also there are additional benefits for the community in terms of accessing their local environment,” she explained.

     In addition to enhancing recreational opportunities such as fishing access, the improvements are expected to reduce sediment runoff and pollution entering the creek. Long-term benefits will also include reduced erosion and lower flood risk.

     “We are reducing erosion, we are going to be reducing the flooding risk, and we’re also creating a healthier, more accessible green space in Niagara Falls,” Jedlicka said.

     Construction is expected to begin in spring 2027 and continue through the summer months.

     State officials noted that the Gill Creek project is one of more than 130 initiatives funded as part of a broader environmental investment exceeding $200 million. The funding is intended to address longstanding environmental challenges, particularly in communities that have faced decades of industrial impact.

     Local leaders also highlighted the project’s role in supporting tourism and quality of life. Mayor Restaino said the improvements will enhance Hyde Park as a destination for both residents and the millions of visitors who travel to the area each year.

     “The City of Niagara Falls is overrun with about nine million guests that consistently come this way, and one of the things that might be of interest to those guests and those visitors is the opportunity to enjoy some of that outdoor activity that we think projects like this as well as their future forward look will be able to offer,” he said.

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Niagara Falls Secures $2 Million to Restore Gill Creek and Revitalize Hyde Park