Cattaraugus Creek is a stream, approximately long, in western New York in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

.Gravel mining; Summary of permits for mining activities in the Cattaraugus Creek watershed
''Cattaraugus Creek watershed resource guide and proposed watershed planning strategy'', 2006, Boyer, B., Carpenter, B., Renschler, C., & Kellam, R.V., Funded by: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes National Program Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District, Retrieved 21 June 2014.Kirby, C.D. (1976). ''The Early History of Gowanda and The Beautiful Land of the Cattaraugus''. Gowanda, NY: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company, Inc./Gowanda Area Bi-Centennial Committee, Inc.''Historical sketch of the Village of Gowanda, N.Y. in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of its incorporation, August 8, 1898''. Buffalo, NY: The Matthews-Northrup Company, Leonard, I.R., Reprinted 1998, Salem, MA: Higginson Book Company. The creek drains a wooded rural portion of western New York southwest of Buffalo into

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

. In its lower course it flows primarily through the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca tribe. William Beauchamp identifies the name ''Cattaraugus'' as deriving from the

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

word ''Gah-ta-ra-ke-ras'', meaning "stinking shore" or "foul-smelling river bank." This in turn is likely a

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

from an extinct Attiwandiron, Erie, Wenro, or Wendat (Huron) language, combining the verb root -i'tar-, referring to clay or mud, and -akera(n)-, describing a bad or strong odor: hence, tke'tarakeras, place of strong-smelling mud or clay. (The Seneca language does not have a distinct R sound; the Seneca language equivalent, Canawaugus, was originally used for a site further east.) This name is a result of the natural gas that oozes from the river mud.

Description

The creek rises in Java Lake in Wyoming County. In the village of

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

it is joined by Clear Creek. It flows westward out of Wyoming County to the hamlet of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, where the creek becomes the boundary between Erie County to the north and Cattaraugus County to the south. Near Springville, the creek is impounded by the Scoby Dam. From Springville to Gowanda, Cattaraugus Creek passes through the

Zoar Valley Zoar Valley is an area of deep gorges along the Main and South branches of Cattaraugus Creek in western New York, United States. The valley is located along the border of Erie County and Cattaraugus County, roughly between the villages of Gowanda ...

Multiple Use Area. This conservation zone is a favorite recreation area for fishing and rafting. The South Branch of Cattaraugus Creek, also known as Skinner Hollow, originates in East Otto and flows southwest into the village of Cattaraugus before veering northwest to Cattaraugus Creek along the

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

town line, joining the main creek just east of Gowanda, a village that straddles the main stem of the creek and is thereby in two counties. Along its lower course Cattaraugus Creek flows past the hamlet of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

, on the south bank of the creek in the Cattaraugus Reservation. For its final miles, the creek forms the border between Erie County and Chautauqua County, then flows into Lake Erie by Sunset Bay in the town of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

in Chautauqua County.

Fishing

Each year around October to November, thousands of anglers descend on the lower course of Cattaraugus Creek to take advantage of the annual

steelhead trout Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...

runs. Currently, the extent of steelhead migration up Cattaraugus Creek is limited by the Scoby Dam near Springville. However, a proposal to lower the currently dam by about was put forth by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

in 2014. If approved, the dam's lowering and the installation of a

fish ladder A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as move ...

would allow steelhead to move into an additional of Cattaraugus Creek and its tributaries. The $6.6 million (

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

) project would allow anglers to seek steelhead at an additional of public stream access, a large increase over the current of the stream that is currently publicly accessible for fishing below the dam. The dam's removal could also allow Cattaraugus Creek's steelhead populations to become more self-sustaining as they gain access to suitable spawning habitats available above the dam. Currently, the steelhead fishery is maintained only through annual

stocking Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transpare ...

of fish. Critics of the project have raised concerns about impacts on resident

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

populations above the dam, and the possibility of introducing

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

such as the

sea lamprey The sea lamprey (''Petromyzon marinus'') is a parasitic lamprey native to the Northern Hemisphere. It is sometimes referred to as the "vampire fish". Description The sea lamprey has an eel-like body without paired fins. Its mouth is jawless, ...

into stretches of the creek currently free of such organisms. The USACE proposal includes barriers that are intended to restrict the movement of sea lamprey beyond the dam.

Flooding

The creek is prone to rapid flooding, and two significant floods hit the creek in 2009Gowanda to receive $700K in FEMA funding
''The Post-Journal'', Jamestown, NY, 31 January 2014, Retrieved 3 February 2014.
''The Observer'', Dunkirk, NY, 31 January 2014, Retrieved 10 February 2014. and 2014.Gowanda declares state of emergency due to flooding
''WGRZ.com'', Buffalo, NY: WGRZ, 14 May 2014, Retrieved 14 May 2014.Heavy rains flood Gowanda, Silver Creek, N. Collins
''The Buffalo News'', Buffalo, NY: Berkshire Hathaway, 14 May 2014, Retrieved 14 May 2014.Streets in Gowanda turn to rivers carrying mud
''WIVB.com'', Buffalo, NY: WIVB, 13 May 2014, Lenihan, E., Retrieved 14 May 2014.

Environmental issues

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation describes Cattaraugus Creek as "one of the healthiest watersheds in the area." Potential threats to the creek's ecosystem include

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

of the surrounding area, overdevelopment of the Zoar Valley, and

.Pignataro, T.J. (April 30, 2017)
Cattaraugus Creek, an international draw, needs TLC to head off looming problems
''The Buffalo News''. Retrieved May 1, 2017.

Nuclear waste

Nuclear waste has contaminated Cattaraugus Creek and other areas around West Valley, New York.West Valley Demonstration Project
''United States Department of Energy'', West Valley, NY: United States Department of Energy, 2014, Retrieved 22 June 2014.West Valley Demonstration Project site treatment plan fiscal year 2010 update
''West Valley Demonstration Project'', West Valley, NY: West Valley Environmental Services, LLC, 2010, Schalberg, T.E., Retrieved 22 June 2014. Although almost all of the high-level nuclear waste has been removed, according to the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rel ...

(DOE), nuclear and hazardous wastes are still buried in unlined trenches on two sites at a former privately operated nuclear fuels reprocessing facility alongside Cattaraugus Creek north of the village of West Valley in Cattaraugus County. The DOE's Demonstration Project at the site transferred high-level nuclear waste into glass canisters. Reprocessing of spent fuel rods from military and civilian nuclear power plants between 1966 and 1972 resulted in burial of low-level radioactive waste (LLNW) on and burial of high-level radioactive waste on another there. The facility that created the nuclear waste there closed in 1972, and was begun in 1961 by Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS), a subsidiary of W.R. Grace & Co. (the focus of the book and film ''

A Civil Action ''A Civil Action'' is a 1995 non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr about a water contamination case in Woburn, Massachusetts, in the 1980s. The book became a best-seller. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction. The case is ...

'') and American Machine & Foundry, on of land leased from the State of New York. The Atomic Energy Commission reported in 1966 that of liquid radioactive wastes were discharged into on-site streams and Cattaraugus Creek, into which on-site streams flow. These activities were authorized by the State of New York, title owner of the entire site through its agency, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA,) and by the federal

Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...

(NRC), successor to the Atomic Energy Commission. NYSERDA holds a license from the NRC, which has ultimate jurisdiction over high-level nuclear wastes.

Getty Oil Getty Oil was an American oil marketing company with its origins as part of the large integrated oil company founded by J. Paul Getty. History J. Paul Getty incorporated Getty Oil in 1942. He had previously worked in the oil fields of Oklaho ...

took over the site in the 1970s and continued receiving nuclear fuel rods and dumping nuclear waste there until 1976 when, after numerous releases to the ground and atmosphere, public concern over contamination led the DEC to withdraw its permit for discharges into Buttermilk Creek. This, together with more stringent federal regulations and greater economic competition for nuclear waste disposal led NFS to shut the plant down, leaving New York State with the property. Although cleanup of some high-level nuclear wastes was begun in the 1990s and continues at what is now known as the West Valley Demonstration Project, regarding LLNW, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has stated, "There is no intent to recover the wastes once they are buried."

References