NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The Niagara River Gorge is seven miles of primal beauty. A rugged landscape formed over 10,000 years ago.
"Since the last ice age, it was water and isostatic rebound — which is the movement of the earth after the weight of the ice sheets was lifted — the land kind of lifted up and that's how where we get that flow from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario," said Aaron Heminway, a biologist with New York State Parks.
The gorge is a wealth of biodiversity, from plants to mammals, the environment is rich with life, fully connected and reliant on all within the web.
"All of these systems and all of these plants and animals sustain each other, and rely on each other for one resource or another," Heminway said. "And without those things, without that biodiversity, those systems tend to start functioning improperly, they become out of balance."
Bird life is abundant at the gorge all year long, even in the winter. Since it doesn't freeze, the river provides prime habitat for fish eating birds, and attracts thousands of gulls from all across North America.
"At any given time you can find from 19 to 26 species of gull in the Niagara River in the gorge, which is roughly half of the gull species on the North American continent," Heminway said. "You can have anywhere from 10,000 to a 100,000 gulls here especially during the winter time."
The resilience of life in the gorge is all the more remarkable considering the negative effects humanity has had on the ecology. Industrial pollution, land clearing and the introduction of invasive species have all taken a toll. But though we destroy, we also possess the ability to restore.
"We've recognized in the past thirty, forty, fifty years, how important that is, and so, we've really begun to put forth efforts to restore and maintain and repair those negative effects," Heminway said.
A number of groups both large and small are working toward sustaining this amazing landscape, but it will take all of us together to keep the gorge healthy for generations to come.
"Here in Western New York, we have this jewel in the gorge, and it's up to all of us to respect what it is, what it has been for thousands of years and what it will be in the future," Heminway said.
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