Cradle Beach Reforestation

Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper (BNW) is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that leads regional efforts to safeguard water resources for present and future generations and connects people to the water through education, recreation, and preservation.

The Cradle Beach Reforestation Project is located on the Cradle Beach, Inc. property in the Town of Angola, along Little Sister Creek. This area was once a healthy wetland forest with a thick canopy of ash trees, but almost all of them were lost due to the Emerald Ash Borer. Without this canopy, the site has become more open to invasive plants, erosion, runoff, and loss of wildlife habitat. Today, the twenty acre floodplain is mostly covered with herbaceous and young woody plants but is missing the forest structure and diversity it once had. To bring the forest back, 4,013 native trees and shrubs will be planted over two years. Groups of plantings will be protected by deer fencing, while smaller plant stock will be added in areas surrounding the fenced nodes and along the shoreline. The project also includes interpretive signage installation for visitors.