BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – New York State Assemblyman Pat Burke on Saturday announced $100,000 to clean up kayak launches at Seneca Bluffs Natural Habitat Park and Red Jacket Riverfront Natural Habitat Park.
"We want to make this a complete park because it's a really special place," Burke said. "You go around in an urban environment and you don't see urban habitats like this. We just saw some deer running by. It's a pretty incredible thing to be in the City of Buffalo and experience something like this."
In 90 minutes of cleanup around the Buffalo River, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper and volunteers filled more than a dozen trash bags with garbage and found other materials like empty propane tanks, tires, and one worker even said they found an animal skull.
"It shows why we need to invest in these types of habitat parks, especially those on the Buffalo River," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said. "We, for too many years, forgot about the beauty of these parks and facilities. We've brought them back."
Because the levels of the Buffalo River fluctuate depending on rain and wind, it creates more trash along parks like Seneca Bluffs.
Officials said the garbage collected Saturday paled in comparison to what the trash there was before there were more investment in parks.
