Habitat
Restoration

Since Jamestown’s founding, the Chadakoin River has been a lifeline for the community, long powering its various industries while also providing a means to transport lumber and goods to places as far down stream as the Mississippi river and Gulf of Mexico. However, once its industrial uses dwindled the river was largely neglected, leading to log jams, hazardous debris accumulations, erosion, and increased flood risk right in the city of Jamestown. Perhaps surprisingly, a variety of rare fish and other wildlife continued to inhabit this urban river corridor.

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In 2021, Everwild Land Trust staff launched a multi-year Lower Chadakoin River Restoration & Activation initiative. With support from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds awarded by the City of Jamestown, Phase I work in 2022 removed extensive log jams, hazardous trees, and hundreds of cubic yards of debris, while also beginning efforts to control invasive species and reestablish native vegetation.

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Building on that momentum, continued funding throughout 2023 and 2024 has allowed for further debris removal in critical areas and the creation of a rapid-response reserve fund to address emerging threats like erosion, fallen trees, and unstable streambanks before they escalate into costly damage. Together, these efforts are restoring the river’s health, improving safety, and enhancing its natural beauty.

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Ongoing efforts in the Chadakoin River Basin, as well as in several trouble spots downstream from there are focused on rebuilding bank sections that are at risk of collapse due to erosion. Newly constructed banks are stabilized using native plants and wildflowers that are attracting birds, butterflies and other pollinators into the city. These resilient natural shorelines provide visual interest for anyone who walks the Riverwalk paths that follow sections of the river through the downtown area and lay the groundwork for sustainable recreation and greater public access initiatives that are being developed in collaboration with City leadership and the local community.

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Together we ensure that the Chadakoin River remains a vibrant and resilient resource for the community for generations to come and continues to be a haven for at risk willdife.

Since 2022, Everwild Land Trust has led a major effort to restore natural flow in Chautauqua County’s key waterways, the Cassadaga Creek and Conewango Creek corridors. Together, these watersheds drain nearly 490,000 acres, more than half the county, carrying snowmelt and stormwater through a network of tributaries into Conewango Creek, where flooding can occur when volumes exceed the channel’s capacity. Guided by our Comprehensive Regional Conservation Implementation Strategy (CRCIS) )  (link to “how we protect land” page), we’ve identified these waterways and their floodplains as some of the region’s most critical natural assets. Wetlands in the upper watershed help filter and slow water, while floodplains store millions of gallons during high flows—protecting downstream communities, farms, and infrastructure. These vegetated corridors also provide essential habitat connections for wildlife.

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Decades of neglect compounded by widespread tree loss from the Emerald Ash Borer left these creeks choked with debris, creating hundreds of log jams across more than 50 miles of waterway. Everwild Land Trust has coordinated large-scale removal efforts using skilled crews led by a certified arborist, small excavators and other low-impact equipment where accessible, and boat-based chainsaw teams in more remote areas to minimize ecological disturbance. By the end of 2025, the last major blockages were cleared, allowing water to flow freely for the first time in decades. With restoration well underway, we are now advancing a long-term, community-based stewardship model that will reopen these waterways for recreation like paddling and fishing, while continuing to protect acquire the most sensitive properties along these waterways to ensure that eagles, rare turtles, endangered freshwater mussels, and sensitive plant communities will continue to have vital habitats they need to survive.

Osprey populations were decimated by the effects of the insecticide DDT and declined by more than 90% between 1950 and 1970. But through a ban on the devastating use of DDT in 1972, combined with targeted conservation efforts, Ospreys have shown a steady population increase since then. Although no longer considered “Endangered” in New York State, Osprey are still deemed a “Species of Special Conservation Concern” by the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation.

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​Ospreys prefer to nest up high and near open water since most of their diet consists of fish. (This is also where they get the nickname of "fish hawk.”) Unfortunately, due to natural habitat loss, Osprey often end up using man-made structures like utility poles and cell towers (instead of trees and snags) for nesting sites, which can pose a hazardous situation if those structures have energized wires.

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In 2015, we installed a nesting pole and platform on our Loomis Goose Creek Preserve on Route 394 in North Harmony hoping to attract an Osprey pair and provide them with a safe nesting place. Though it took several years, an Osprey pair claimed the site as their home and successfully nested and raised their first chick there in 2020. The pair – whom we have affectionately named Femke (female) and Hauke (male) – have returned each year since. In 2024 and also in 2025, they happily surprised us with not just one but three chicks! In early 2026, ospreys are starting to return to the region and it is our hope that Femke and Hauke will once again raise a family on our preserve!

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For the past five years, we’ve had a motion-activated camera installed over the nest at the Loomis Goose Creek Preserve so we can follow along with the antics of “our” birds. If you want to share in the lives of Femke and Hauke and see pictures of their family life, or if you want to see when and where new platforms are installed, follow us on Facebook and Instagram and check our blog page here. The preserve is also open to the public from dawn until dusk, so you can also stop by and visit them in person! Although Osprey are fairly tolerant of human activity, please be mindful and respectful of their space when visiting.

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To help other Osprey families, we are working with local partners to install additional Osprey nesting platforms in safe and suitable locations. Three were placed in 2023 in the City of Jamestown (downtown by the Chadakoin River basin, at McCrae Point Park, and at Jones Memorial Park). In the spring of 2024, three more were placed at locations around Chautauqua Lake (one at Camp Onyahsa, one at University Beach in Chautauqua Institution, and one at Chautauqua Golf Club. Plans are in the works to add even more platforms as funding allows.

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You can support our efforts to establish even more local nesting platforms to help these amazing birds survive and thrive safely and healthily in Chautauqua County by making a general donation here.

Everwild Land Trust is proud to partner with the Western New York Land Conservancy on the Western New York Wildway. This ambitious, long-term plan will protect and connect the largest of our region's remaining tracts of wildlife habitat.

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The WNY Wildway will connect the vast forests of the Allegheny Mountains to the Great Lakes, and beyond. It will form part of the Eastern Wildway, which runs all the way from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The WNY Wildway will allow plants and animals to roam across the land as they once did, to move as climate changes, and to expand their ranges and ensure their survival. It will allow wildlife that have disappeared from our region to return home.

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As a lead partner of the WNY Wildway Partner Network, we will continue its mission to protect the lands and waters within the WNY Wildway project area. Everwild Land Trust serves as the co-chair of the Southern Region of the WNY Wildway Partner Network, a coalition of groups–including municipalities, Indigenous Nations, state and federal agencies, and community members–committed to building and supporting the WNY Wildway.

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 Visit https://www.wnylc.org/wnywildway to learn more and for resources to implement wildway-friendly practices on your property.