This statement is cross-posted from our colleagues at the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. The statement was released in response to calls to close locks on the canal system to prevent the spread of the invasive Round goby. The League agrees with their sentiment that, “Commercial and recreational navigation and invasive species mitigation can co-exist if all the stakeholders are willing to engage in open dialogue and seek long-term solutions.” Click here for a PDF.

A recent campaign to “Close one lock to save Lake Champlain from invasive fish” calls attention to environmental threats posed by the Round goby should it reach Lake Champlain via the Hudson River and Champlain Canal. However, the simple proposal put forth is wholly inadequate for managing a complex international waterway with multiple users and stakeholders.

Closing “just one lock” on the Champlain Canal or “one guard gate” on the Erie Canal sounds simple enough. But such a closure would severely impede and most likely eliminate all recreational and commercial boat traffic between Canada and the U.S. via New York waterways. These measures threaten to erase decades of waterfront investments made by communities all along New York’s canals and the Hudson River. And they threaten to significantly alter a legendary waterway about to celebrate its bicentennial.

Worse, closing a lock on the Champlain Canal, or a guard gate on the Erie Canal, would not eliminate the possibility of the Round goby reaching Lake Champlain. People spread the Round goby through the improper use and disposal of live bait. It spreads when watercraft, including boats, swim rafts, and other equipment are moved from one body of water to another, often by trailer. It spreads by ballast water discharged by transatlantic ships using the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System, which connects to Lake Champlain via the Richelieu River and Chambly Canal at the northern end of the lake.

The NYS Canal System adds to the vitality and economies of cities, towns, and villages along its length, as well as communities along the Hudson and St. Lawrence rivers, Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie. Boaters using the Canal System to travel throughout eastern North America also contribute to communities along the Atlantic Seaboard from Maine to Florida to the Great Lakes. Businesses that languished through the pandemic, including restaurants and marinas, depend on through-boaters to survive. Closing “just one lock” and one guard gate would eliminate all long distance through-traffic and could deal a fatal blow to those local proprietors.

The NYS Canal System continues to play a critical role in New York’s transportation network. While commercial traffic is no longer the canals’ chief use, bulk cargoes (e.g., crushed stone) and high value specialty cargoes (e.g., Genesee Brewery tanks, General Electric steam turbine rotors, U.S. Navy sonar components) continue to be shipped via canal. In some cases, the canal provides the only viable method of transporting these shipments. Do we really want to give up a low carbon means to move these components and other bulk cargoes via vessels that may be too large or costly to move by land?

The State of New York, local communities and businesses, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, and many others have been reimagining New York’s canals for more than 20 years – and making great strides. An effort to close the NYS Canal System without having a more robust public dialogue is much too extreme.

We share valid concerns regarding the spread of invasive species. But we need smarter solutions that carefully consider the environmental, economic, and community impacts of both threats and proposed mitigation measures.

We believe a win-win scenario where the NYS Canal System can remain an integral economic component of the Empire State’s future while also mitigating the spread of invasive species is possible. Let’s employ and test invasive species mitigation techniques, such as bubble screens and bio-acoustic fencing, before taking more dramatic measures such as lock closure.

Commercial and recreational navigation and invasive species mitigation can co-exist if all the stakeholders are willing to engage in open dialogue and seek long-term solutions.

Contacts:
Bob Radliff, Executive Director, bob_radliff@partner.nps.gov
Jean Mackay, Director of Communications, jean_mackay@partner.nps.gov

The League is thrilled to share that Senator May and Assemblymember Buttenschon’s bills to ensure regular quarterly meetings of the Canal Recreationway Commission have passed the Senate and Assembly! Thank you to the Senator and Assemblymember, as well as the large bipartisan group of legislators who supported this bill. The Preservation League believes this new legislation will establish consistency and give the Commission the tools to focus on important future planning efforts to support our Canal System and chart a new path forward, supporting our National Historic Landmark Canal System’s ability to leverage the economic benefits of tourism, recreation, and commercial use now and into the future. We were proud to support it!

Memorandum of Support A.7044 (Buttenschon)/S.5958 (May)
Click here for a PDF of this letter.

The Preservation League of New York State is New York’s statewide historic preservation nonprofit. We write in support of Bills A.7044/S.5958 relating to the operations and preservation of the National Historic Landmark New York State Canal System.

As New York State’s only statewide historic preservation nonprofit organization, the Preservation League invests in people and projects that champion the essential role of preservation in community revitalization, sustainable economic growth and the protection of our historic buildings and landscapes. We lead advocacy, economic development and education programs across the state and partner with local preservation organizations throughout New York. In 2019, we listed the NYS Canal System as a statewide Seven to Save to highlight the need for New York State to prioritize stewardship of its National Historic Landmark canals as an intact, fully-navigable international waterway for present and future generations.

The New York State Canal System was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016 due to its span, scope, authenticity and historic integrity. The Preservation League believes that the best future for our NYS Canal System lies in capitalizing on its past, marketing itself as a historic transportation corridor, improving amenities for canal users, and strengthening local, regional, and international partnerships to promote tourism, as well as recreational and commercial use.

We commend the New York Power Authority and New York State Canal Corporation for their ongoing restoration, maintenance, and stewardship of our National Historic Landmark canal system. This bill supports their work while providing important consistency for those who use the canal, whether for recreation, tourism, or commercial purposes.

We support the bill’s goal to establish a consistent operating schedule that provides users the opportunity to navigate through the autumn tourism season, as well as reinforcing the ability of commercial boat operators to use canal facilities as prescribed under New York State’s Codes, Rules and Regulations, and continued use of the canal system’s National Historic Landmark locks, moveable dams, and other engineering structures.

Our impressive New York State Canal System has national and global significance thanks to its authenticity as a continuously operating end-to-end canal system. The vibrancy of our canals brings billions of dollars each year to our state and communities along the canal corridor.

As we celebrate the canal’s 200th birthday, this legislation will support and enhance the canal system’s ability to leverage the economic benefits of tourism, recreation, and commercial use now and into the future.

Memorandum of Support A.7045 (Buttenschon)/S.5959 (May)
Click here for a PDF of this letter.

The Preservation League of New York State is New York’s statewide historic preservation nonprofit. We write in support of Bills A.7045/S.5959 relating to the meetings of the Canal Recreationway Commission.

As New York State’s only statewide historic preservation nonprofit organization, the Preservation League invests in people and projects that champion the essential role of preservation in community revitalization, sustainable economic growth and the protection of our historic buildings and landscapes. We lead advocacy, economic development and education programs across the state and partner with local preservation organizations throughout New York. In 2019, we listed the NYS Canal System as a statewide Seven to Save to highlight the need for New York State to prioritize stewardship of its National Historic Landmark canals as an intact, fully-navigable international waterway for present and future generations.

The Canal Recreationway Commission was founded in 1992 upon the creation of the New York State Canal Corporation. Its members include individuals involved in canal use, development, preservation, enhancement, and local governments from counties adjacent to or intersected by the Canal System. Following its creation, the Commission prepared and adopted the Canal Recreationway Plan in 1995. This plan focused on four primary elements: Canal Harbors, Canal Service Port and Lock Projects, the Canalway Trail, and a Canal System Marketing Plan.

Successful completion of the 1995 Canal Recreationway Plan, which laid the groundwork for our recently completed and hugely successful Empire State Trail, while celebrating the canal system as an operating waterway, provided a roadmap for the Canal System to transform from a predominantly commercial waterway to the vibrant, popular, scenic, economically viable, multifaceted resource we know today. The Canal Harbors and Service Ports created as a result of the 1995 plan created economic activity throughout the corridor, particularly in the cities of Schenectady, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.

We believe the three fundamental goals of the Canal Recreationway Commission, preserving the best of the past, enhancing recreational opportunities, fostering appropriate and sustainable economic development, mirror those of the Reimagine the Canals effort and support the work of the NYS Canal Corporation today.

The Canal Recreationway Commission currently meets subject to the call of the chairperson. By setting a regular quarterly meeting schedule, this bill will establish consistency and give the Commission the tools to focus on important future planning efforts to support our Canal System and chart a new path forward, supporting our National Historic Landmark Canal System’s ability to leverage the economic benefits of tourism, recreation, and commercial use now and into the future.

The Preservation League of New York State is New York State’s statewide historic preservation nonprofit. We lead advocacy, economic development and education programs across the state. We believe that the power of our New York State Canal System, a National Historic Landmark, is rooted in its history, authenticity as a continuously operating end-to-end canal system, vibrancy, and ability to leverage tourism now and in the future.

Upon reading Governor Cuomo’s “Canal System Revitalization Act” proposed in a 30-day budget amendment, we believe that actions taken with respect to our National Historic Landmark treasure should be done with transparency and thorough, meaningful public engagement.

While the Preservation League encourages and supports meaningful investment in our National Historic Landmark NYS Canal System, we have concerns with the bill’s stated Legislative findings and statement of purposes, as well as the actions and goals that follow.

In 1992, the NYS Legislature created the Canal Recreationway Commission. According to the NYS Canal Corporation:

In addition to maintaining and periodically revising the Canal Recreationway Plan, the primary responsibility of the Commission is to make recommendations concerning the future of the Canal System. Embodied in the Commission’s vision are three fundamental goals:

• Preserving the best of the past.

• Enhancing recreational opportunities.

• Fostering appropriate and sustainable economic development.

Given the overlap between the Canal Recreationway Commission’s purpose and goals and those stated in Governor Cuomo’s proposed Canal System Revitalization Act, we ask what purpose it serves to dissolve a commission that has not had an opportunity to meet since 2017, in order to create a separate and largely Governor-controlled entity?

The Canal System Revitalization Act proposed substantive changes to our National Historic Landmark NYS Canal System including removal of important preservation considerations, and therefore deserves opportunity for open presentation and discussion outside of the 30-day budget amendment process.

The Preservation League strongly urges the NYS Legislature to strike New Part VV from the Transportation, Economic Development and Environmental Conservation (TED) Bill and ask Governor Cuomo to engage in an open and transparent conversation about the purpose and goals of dissolving the Canal Recreationway Commission and establishing significant funding authority to a new and duplicative New York State Canal System Revitalization Trust.

Click here for a downloadable PDF of this statement.