Frog Island is back on the map. The tiny 2-acre or so archipelago between Strawberry and Motor islands spent the last three decades submerged under the current of the Niagara River.
But one of Buffalo Niagara (New York) region’s newest ecological restoration projects brought the island back above water this year.
With it, fish are already returning to spawn in large numbers. Birds are flocking to Niagara’s newest island. And, young willow and dogwood trees are taking root.
The effort, by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation with funding from the New York Power Authority’s Niagara Power Project relicensing, created new habitat underwater for fish like muskellunge, a shoreline “transition” zone for various native plant species and upland areas for families of Caspian terns.
It’s a bona fide Buffalo comeback story, according to scientists involved with the $4.1 million project.