192 Conservation Department 



The Upper Niagara River. — Water flowing out of Lake Erie 

 at the head of the Niagara river produces a very swift current for 

 several miles. About five miles below Lake Erie the upper part of 

 the Niagara river is divided by Grand island into two channels, 

 the Tonawanda channel on the east and the Chippewa channel on 

 the west. A few miles above the falls of the Niagara, these chan- 

 nels unite again into one main stream. The most extensive and 

 luxuriant weed beds were found in the shallow bays and shoals 

 around Grand island, especially on the Tonawanda channel side. 

 The w^eed beds along the east side of the Tonawanda channel not 

 only were less extensive but were composed of a very limited num- 

 ber of species. The effect of the pollutions of various kinds from 

 Buffalo and Tonawanda as well as from several manufacturing 

 plants between these cities undoubtedly accounts for the absence 

 of many species in the existing weed beds and the total absence 

 of vegetation in several places along the east shore of the Ton- 

 awanda channel. 



Vegetation of the Upper Niagara River. — The locations of 

 the larger areas of weed beds in the upper Niagara river are indi- 

 cated by numbers on Map 2. The predominating species of w^hich 

 they are composed are indicated below : 



1. Between the Peace bridge and the International railroad 

 bridge. A few small areas of weeds occured on the American side 

 and extensive areas of vegetation occured on the Canadian side 

 of the river. The predominating species consisted of Potamogeton 

 Richardsonii, P. pectinatus, P. pusillus, P. gramineus var. gramini- 

 folius and Vallisneria spiralis. The emersed zone on the Canadian 

 side was occupied largely by Typha angustifolia, T. latifolia, 

 Scirpios aciitus, S. americanus, and Sagittaria Jaiifolia. 



2. Strawberry island and the shoal w^ater between it and Frog 

 island and Grand island as far as Beaver island. This area 

 included one of the most extensive and prolific areas of aquatic 

 vegetation in the Niagara river. The series of submerged sandbars 

 were covered with a dense growth consisting mostly of pondweeds, 

 Potamogeton Richardsonii, P. angustifoUa, P. gramineus, P. pec- 

 tinatus, Vallisneria spiralis and Najas flexilis. The greater part 

 of Strawberry island is only a large sandbar raised a few feet above 

 the level of the river and covered with a growth of Spartina 

 m,icheauxiana, Scirpus acutus and 8. americanus. These species 

 also extend into the shallow water around the island. In the shal- 

 low channels which dissect the island such species as Sagittaria 

 latifolia, S. heterophylla and Eleocharis pal list ris w^ere common. 

 It was learned from local sources that the area of Strawberry island 

 had been reduced considerably by the removal of sand. Sand was 

 being loaded on scows and hauled away at the time the island 

 was visited. If this continues, in time the whole island will 

 probably be replaced by shoal water. This will undoubtedly 

 modify the com])osition of the existing vegetation, considerably. 



3. The small bays above and below Rattlesnake island. These 

 contained extensive areas of submerged and emerged vegetation. 



