Park Features

Activities

There are great outdoor activities to experience in all seasons.

• Summer
  We can experience nature by hiking through the trails, kayaking off the public launch, photographing the animal kingdom or even taking out the fishing pole.
• Winter:
  We can experience nature by snowshoeing through the hiking trails.

Park Facilities

History

The Seneca Bluffs Natural Habitat Park consists of approximately 15 acres of riparian floodplain located in a heavily urbanized area along the Buffalo River. Historically, the site had mixed-use including farming.

Seneca Bluffs was identified in 1994 as one of five unique and critical habitat areas in need of protection. The site provides habitat for a wide variety of flora and fauna and is part of a larger wildlife corridor along the river. Seneca Bluffs is also to become part of the future Buffalo River Greenway Trail. Seneca Bluffs also is less than 2 miles from Tifft Nature Preserve and is located within the Great Lakes migratory bird flyway.

Habitat types include a floodplain island, seasonally flooded wetland, forested floodplain, upland meadow, and 2500 linear feet of shoreline. A large diversity of migratory birds, wading birds, and waterfowl make use of the site. Over the years leaps have been made in the progress of the invasive species remediation. It went from almost 85% invasive and non-native in 2016 to roughly 20% in 2018.

Initial habitat restoration activities were completed by Erie County DEP in 2004 which consisted of debris removal and site re-grading, installation of a native warm-season grass meadow, upland riparian, seasonal aquatic depression, and installation of a gravel trail and a parking area.

Today a lot of the work and restorations on site are provided by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Seneca Bluffs received a $1.34 million grant allowing the US Army Corps to come into the park, dedicate their time and make many improvements including shoreline stabilization, invasive species removal and various plantings throughout the park. Check out what the US Army Corps of Engineers has done recently and some plans they have in store with the links below.

Tour Overview
Construction Restoration 
Work Day
Site Monitoring

Project Overview
2018 Earth Day Cleanup

Information is courtesy of Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper (http://bnriverkeeper.org/projects/habitat-restoration/habitat-restoratio...)