Ice boom removal

[GAMBLER]

It looks like it’s under way.  I don’t know if they are just removing the broken section of the entire thing.  

Edited March 19 by GAMBLER

[orangediablo]

i'll get some updated pics tomorrow when i'm back in the office

[salmoseine]

[Gill-T]

I can confirm there is a bunch of ice coming down the river this morning 

[GAMBLER]

 

[rolmops]

Sorry, but this sounds very much like opinion and without facts to support it. Please do share some factual evidence if you want to convince me of your claim 

[GAMBLER]

  On 3/29/2025 at 3:16 PM, rolmops said:

Sorry, but this sounds very much like opinion and without facts to support it. Please do share some factual evidence if you want to convince me of your claim 

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It’s not my video.  Just sharing.  It makes sense.  It’s not natural for the ice to melt behind a man made barrier.  That’s common sense.  The ice sitting there keeps the Niagara colder longer.  If it wasn’t there, the ice would flow downstream into Lake Ontario and melt there.  

[rolmops]

I remember seeing pictures a few years ago of ice damming in the Niagara River that actually had ice having been pushed onto shore 5 or 6 feet high. I have always been under the impression that towards the end of winter strong western winds could brake up the ice on Lake Eerie and push it into the river with massive force and on its way into the river causing blockages and all sorts of uncontrollable events. and that that was the reason for the boom. The video seems to suggest that ice passing through the river is very gradual and non eventful.

Edited March 29 by rolmops

[LazyRiver585]

.

Edited March 29 by LazyRiver585
Wanted it to follow a different post

[Bozeman Bob]

  On 3/29/2025 at 9:32 PM, rolmops said:

I remember seeing pictures a few years ago of ice damming in the Niagara River that actually had ice having been pushed onto shore 5 or 6 feet high. I have always been under the impression that towards the end of winter strong western winds could brake up the ice on Lake Eerie and push it into the river with massive force and on its way into the river causing blockages and all sorts of uncontrollable events. and that that was the reason for the boom. The video seems to suggest that ice passing through the river is very gradual and non eventful.

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  No , the ice boom.was put in for one reason $ , follow the money . The Power Authority wanted the water intakes to get minimal amount of ice ,allowing for maximum water flow into the turbines . The Power A comes up with , we wanted to prevent ice damage to the homes / docks on G Island . Problem was , there wasn't a problem with that . And guess what , when they didn't have the ice boom , the large chunks of ice would bottom out on the river bed , cleaning and semi dredging the river bed , which was good for the upper river fish . That's all done now . According to the boom people , 90% of the ice melts before even getting to the boom itself . Not nice to mess with Mother Nature ,,,, IMHO they should of never put that boom in . 

[thumbburn]

Is the boom out yet?

[schreckstoff]

Seems to me that eliminating ice scour which we could assume should normally “scour” spawning habitat, could have a negative impact on species that evolved to depend on that, scoured habitat. 

 

The Niagara situation could be similar to  how the Oswego River locks&damns debris booms act to reduce the natural input of woody habitat into LO. Native sculpin ‘would’ use that wood to spawn (pun intended). 
 

I always ignored the ice boom chatter, seems like there might be more to it than I thought.

[LongLine]

If the ice "chunks" are big enough to scour the spawning beds then they'll cause a lot of damage to river front property such as docks, boat houses etc.  There's plenty of other things in the rivers to avoid running into. Who'll be the 1st fisherman to damage his rig hitting ice?  

[Bozeman Bob]

  On 3/30/2025 at 4:07 PM, LongLine said:

If the ice "chunks" are big enough to scour the spawning beds then they'll cause a lot of damage to river front property such as docks, boat houses etc.  There's plenty of other things in the rivers to avoid running into. Who'll be the 1st fisherman to damage his rig hitting ice?  

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 So what happened to all the riverfront property , docks  before the ice boom was installed ? They survived with minimal damage . Lived by the river before and after the boom and saw no damage without the boom .  Speaking of damage , what about the farmers who now , thanks to the ice boom , have a shorter growing season due to the boom holding all that ice in the Eastern basin . Yes , it prolongs spring for weeks ,if not longer ,because of the cold air coming off the lake . If your out dodging a ice flow ,maybe use your brain and wait until it is flushed out

[Gill-T]

I think Captain Hanley would like to be out fishing perch with his clients right now but can’t because of the ice. His business is affected by the boom. He also lives near the Lake Erie shore, he knows his heating bill is higher.  Before the power authority could renew their last lease and place an ice boom, the power company paid the local government a good chunk of coin because they knew the boom has a negative affect on home heating bills. 

Edited March 31 by Gill-T

[LongLine]

And how much damage has been avoided since 1964 (when boom first utilized) ?  How many more docks, boathouses, launch sites have been built since '64?  Modis imagery shows ice formation size has been reduced by approx 70% from 3/25/25 to 3/27/25, so how much of growing season has been lost. especially with the up & down "springs" we get?

 

If there's ice coming down the river, is it from erie or from welland and east of the falls?

 

Power companies don't pay anything.  They pass all costs along to their customers.  I wonder how much they'd add as a surcharge to his utility bill for repairing/replacing the main intakes to the power station every year.  

[Bozeman Bob]

  On 3/31/2025 at 1:55 AM, LongLine said:

And how much damage has been avoided since 1964 (when boom first utilized) ?  How many more docks, boathouses, launch sites have been built since '64?  Modis imagery shows ice formation size has been reduced by approx 70% from 3/25/25 to 3/27/25, so how much of growing season has been lost. especially with the up & down "springs" we get?

 

If there's ice coming down the river, is it from erie or from welland and east of the falls?

 

Power companies don't pay anything.  They pass all costs along to their customers.  I wonder how much they'd add as a surcharge to his utility bill for repairing/replacing the main intakes to the power station every year.  

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Yes more docks have been built , the population grew on Grand Island , more people bought river front property $$ and subsequently put up homes and docks . Has nothing to do with a boom being put in place . Talk to a local farmer if you want to hear about the affect on temps this plays havoc with . No water intakes ( all two of them ) are damaged from ice . They do have one or two small tugs that push ice away from the two intakes on the USA side . The Canadian side uses the Chippewa river to feed there power plant and do not have any issues with water flow . 

[GAMBLER]

  On 3/31/2025 at 1:55 AM, LongLine said:

And how much damage has been avoided since 1964 (when boom first utilized) ?  How many more docks, boathouses, launch sites have been built since '64?  Modis imagery shows ice formation size has been reduced by approx 70% from 3/25/25 to 3/27/25, so how much of growing season has been lost. especially with the up & down "springs" we get?

 

If there's ice coming down the river, is it from erie or from welland and east of the falls?

 

Power companies don't pay anything.  They pass all costs along to their customers.  I wonder how much they'd add as a surcharge to his utility bill for repairing/replacing the main intakes to the power station every year.  

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If you are worried about docks and boat houses being damaged by ice, what is stopping them from getting damaged when the boom breaks or they clear the boom with 250 sq miles of ice still left on Erie?  If are worried about damage, you shouldn't build there......  

[GAMBLER]

I wonder how much the ice boom affects spawning walleye, bass, steelhead, musky and sturgeon?  Has a study ever been done?  

[LongLine]

Ice cover prevents evaporation; hence the lake level will stay higher longer. (which for both Erie & Ontario is very low right now) I don't know how it affects the growing season but I'm sure some were complaining about their lake effect snow fall this year, especially on the east end. As to why the CDN plant not as affected, I can only guess it has to do with the historical clockwise flow of water in Erie (unlike Ontario) that generally drives it towards the US.

 

If the ice chunks are strong enough to "scour" the spawning areas, then they're strong enough to damage docks. If one is fishing/cruising and  hits a submerged/floating beam and damages their prop or worse...I guess they just shouldn't have been fishing/cruising there. (Don't we have enough "crap" to avoid out there?) 
 

[Gill-T]

Man, the winds need to stop blowing so we can all go fishing. ….

[Cbonaffinejr]

Lots of ice flows in the upper Niagara 

[Bozeman Bob]

  On 3/31/2025 at 6:04 PM, LongLine said:

Ice cover prevents evaporation; hence the lake level will stay higher longer. (which for both Erie & Ontario is very low right now) I don't know how it affects the growing season but I'm sure some were complaining about their lake effect snow fall this year, especially on the east end. As to why the CDN plant not as affected, I can only guess it has to do with the historical clockwise flow of water in Erie (unlike Ontario) that generally drives it towards the US.

 

If the ice chunks are strong enough to "scour" the spawning areas, then they're strong enough to damage docks. If one is fishing/cruising and  hits a submerged/floating beam and damages their prop or worse...I guess they just shouldn't have been fishing/cruising there. (Don't we have enough "crap" to avoid out there?) 
 

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A Seiche a few years ago made mincemeat of the boom , ice went over the 8' high stone walls on the Canadian side . From the Peace Bridge to the actual Fort Erie about a mile or so up river. And the boom itself loses sections just about every year . So all this ice that got " out " maybe damaged docks ,maybe it didn't .Most of the newer docks are steel pilons , set back or angled a bit with the river flow , which would minimize damage . So Mother Nature can still do what it always did ,Power Authority or no $$ Power Authority.  Just isn't consistent enough for any bottom scouring to be effective.  Not sure where I read or heard the gripe about that , maybe a Musky meeting from years ago ? Farmers were beefing a few years after it went in . Ever go to downtown Buffalo when its 70* at the airport and 50* on the waterfront in June , wonder how they like there May and June heating bills  .Except for Power Authority and some politicians I really haven't seen any positive things written about it .i also believe that the lake formed its own natural boom at the mouth of the river and came apart when nature did it's thing , which could of been scouring up the bottom of the river as well .

Edited March 31 by Bozeman Bob

[Mike M]

Lots of ice coming down east river around GI today. Most I've seen this year. Has ice boom removal begun ?? Or is this just whats coming thru the break in ice boom ??

[GAMBLER]

  On 4/1/2025 at 4:15 AM, Mike M said:

Lots of ice coming down east river around GI today. Most I've seen this year. Has ice boom removal begun ?? Or is this just whats coming thru the break in ice boom ??

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There was an icebreaker out off of buffalo harbor yesterday.  SW wind too.