Dec. 25 – The Niagara-Wheatfield School District plans to spend $2.64 million to build a new outdoor learning space along Cayuga Creek and repair playgrounds at the elementary school level, with most of the money hopefully coming through the Niagara River Greenway.
According to project documents submitted to the Greenway, the outdoor instruction space will be located on the Niagara-Wheatfield middle and high school campus at 2292 Saunders Settlement Road. It will be part of the Cayuga Creek Living Shoreline Project, for which the district is partnering with the Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, the Tucarora Environmental Program Office and the Niagara Wheatfield Athletic Association.
Niagara-Wheatfield is seeking $2.43 million for the Niagara River Greenway, which requires approval from the Niagara County Host Community Standing Committee. The district received $204,400 from the Greenway Ecological Standing Committee in October for the planning phase and a $500 New York Sea Grant to purchase native trees and materials.
The shoreline restoration will extend from Saunders Settlement Road to the southern boundary of the Athletic Association and west of the creek. It will include an educational hub as a gathering space for classes, restoring the riparian zone to remove invasive species and planting native plants, installing settling basins to capture runoff before it enters the creek, and practices to reduce erosion along the creek control.
Of the $2.64 million in project costs, $2.04 million is for construction, $254,400 for planning and $337,375 for administration.
District Superintendent Dan Ljilijanich said this is part of a larger revitalization of the eco-campus, with the district in the past hosting 11 semi-annual events and teaching students how to clean the creek.
“It’s a project we’ve been working towards for six years,” Ljilijanich said.
The new playgrounds are planned for Colonial Village Elementary, Errick Road Elementary and West Street Elementary schools, the three such schools outside the Tuscarora Reservation.
Pat Creamer, science teacher at Edward Town Middle School, has been taking students to Cayuga Creek in the fall and spring for nearly two decades. They conduct various flow studies that measure the health of the creek, from measuring markers of industrial runoff to looking for macroinvertebrates.
“We use the stream as an outdoor living laboratory to understand the local environment and our connection to the Niagara River and the Great Lakes,” Creamer said.
He added that this project would improve safe access to the creek, as finding a way to it now leads to slips and falls. It would provide a space where students can more easily record their test data.
The primary school playgrounds are beyond their useful life, the slides are falling apart and the need to replace some swings.
Design of the Cayuga Creek shoreline restoration components will begin in January 2025, while construction of the outdoor classroom is scheduled to begin in 2026 after design is completed and financing is secured. Construction of the new playgrounds is expected to start in the summer or fall of 2025.
“We believe this is consistent with the Greenway mission,” Ljilijanich said.
If the district doesn’t get the Greenway funds, it will look for other sources of funding.
